Identification of expressiveness in small ensemble performances by middle school students

The purpose of this study was to determine if middle school students' performance ratings would differ if the performance were presented by audio-only, video-only, or audio/video combined, and the extent to which findings would corroborate earlier findings with adults (Lucas and Teachout, 1998). Middle school students (N = 283) rated the expressiveness of small ensemble performances presented on videotape, using a five-point Likert-type scale (1 - not expressive, 3 = average, and 5 = very expressive). A string quartet and a vocal quintet each performed two pieces of contrasting style (fast/slow); the pieces were performed both expressively and nonexpressively and recorded on videotape (8 performances). The videotape was edited using video-only, audio-only (black screen) and audio/video for each performance to total 24 performances (presentation mode). A three-way ANOVA with two repeated measures was used to analyze the data. Significant (p < .01) differences were found for ensemble experience, expression, and presentation mode. A significant interaction between expression and presentation mode revealed that performances with an aural component (audio-only and audio/video) were rated as more expressive than the video-only performances, but subjects were better able to distinguish between expressive and nonexpressive performances when the presentation included a video component (video-only and audio/video).