Learning Rudiments of Music Reading with Cumulative and Noncumulative Teaching of Conditional Relations1

Abstract

This study investigated the effects of cumulative training of conditional relations on learning rudiments of musical reading. The stimuli were sequences of notes in three modalities: sound (A); treble clef pentagram (B); and picture of keyboard (C). Five undergraduates were exposed to the Noncumulative Condition, which consisted of training AB and BC and testing, using different stimuli in each experimental phase. For the other five participants of Cumulative Condition, stimuli trained in Phase 1 were revised in the training of Phase 2. The Cumulative Condition showed maintenance of a larger number of AB relations, higher performances in tests of equivalence stimulus classes and higher scores of recombinative reading than Noncumulative Condition.