Action Research in the General Music Classroom by Mark Belloto

The theme or subject for my Action Research, I believe, is a simple one. Do students perform on mallet percussion instruments (Orff Instruments in this case) better when they hold the mallets close and slightly above the bars, or when they hold the mallets higher, or closer to their shoulders? It has been my experience that young students at the elementary level pay little or no attention to the proper placement of the mallets or how to hold them and this often results in a less than desirable Orff Playing experience. Often, they strike the wrong notes, hit the bars too forcefully and thus knock them off of the instrument and do not follow or keep a steady beat.

The specific grade levels that I will perform this action research in is Grades 2 and 3. The Georgia QCC’S that will be covered are:

GM2.6: Performs up-down and step-leap patterns on melodic instruments from letter notation.
GM3.6: Performs simple instrumental melodic patterns and rhythmic patterns by ear and from notation.

Some additional Georgia QCC’S that will be covered include:

GM1.6: Demonstrates awareness of steady beat through playing an instrument
GM2.14 and 3.17: Describes personal response to listening selections.

The song that I have chosen to use with the students for this research is entitled, “Every Night” which is an Appalachian Folk Song. It is found on page 190 of our older Share the Music textbooks. This song will make an excellent choice for helping to develop skills in how to hold the mallets. Students will play only on the measures that have long notes and will rest for four counts between each measure that they play.

As of September 6, 2010 I am adding video excerpts of the classes involved in this action research and a summary of the Student Questionnaire given to fifteen students following our efforts in the classroom. This summary is in the form of a Microsoft Excel Sheet.

The results of the survey did not yield the conclusions that I had hoped for or expected. For example, one of the most important questions in the survey was question number two (2) which asked students "when holding the mallets close to their shoulders do they play notes more correctly or incorrectly". Thirteen (13) of fifteen (15) students responded by indicating that they played more notes correctly when holding the mallets close to their shoulders. On the other hand, question number eight (8) asked students if, "holding the mallets closer to the bar caused them to play notes more correctly or incorrectly". In this case, ten (10) of fourteen (14) students indicated that they played more notes correctly than incorrectly with one (1) student not answering either way. This shows that either the students were untruthful in their answers, did not fully understand the question and the purpose of our research or were unfocused on the task. It was my hope that the students would recognize that they performed more accurately when holding the mallets closer to the bar as had been my observation as instructor. See if you do not agree with my conclusion by observing the video excerpts.