The effects of frequent use of a web-based sight-reading software on eighth graders’ music notational literacy

Due to its potential of improving an individual’s music notational literacy and the ease of use within the ensemble setting, the purpose of this study was to determine if frequent use of a web-based sight-reading software (sightreadingfactory.com) in full band rehearsals and group lessons would improve a band student’s individual music notational literacy level. For this study, the researcher utilized the pretest–post-test control–group statistical design with three groups of eighth-grade band students. Group 1 (n = 25) used the software at the beginning of every full band rehearsal, Group 2 (n = 31) used the software at the beginning of every small group lesson rehearsal, and Group 3 (n = 23) did not use the software in any capacity and served as the control group. The study lasted for eight weeks. The researcher individually administered the pretest to all student participants in Week 1 of the study and the post-test during Week 8. In order to determine which treatment caused the greatest change in music notational literacy, the researcher compared the mean gain scores of each group using an ANOVA and found statistically significant findings (F = 3.84, df = 2, p = 0.026). Group 1 (n = 25, M = 2.80, SD = 1.76) students’ mean gain scores were significantly higher than Group 3’s (n = 20, M = 0.90, SD = 2.02, p = 0.006 indicating) evident that the web-based software was most effective in the full ensemble rehearsals.