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Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

2014

Conference

Cedarville University

Music Performance

Articles 1 - 2 of 2

Full-Text Articles in Arts and Humanities

“We Don’T Need No Instrumentation”: The Educational Benefits Of Pop A Cappella, Jeremy C. Witt Apr 2014

“We Don’T Need No Instrumentation”: The Educational Benefits Of Pop A Cappella, Jeremy C. Witt

The Research and Scholarship Symposium (2013-2019)

A cappella singing has been a standard in American vocal music for many decades. The first a cappella choir in America is said to be the St. Olaf Choir founded by F. Melius Christiansen. As we progressed through the nineteenth century many other a cappella ensembles formed, such as the Glee club. The start of collegiate a cappella is most often credited to the Whiffenpoofs from Yale. They began in 1909 and are still running today. Also, at this time we began to see the barbershop quartet take form and gain popularity across the country. It was best known for …


Working Memory In Musicians Versus Non-Musicians: A Differential Study Using The N-Back Task, Kara Nonnemacher Apr 2014

Working Memory In Musicians Versus Non-Musicians: A Differential Study Using The N-Back Task, Kara Nonnemacher

The Research and Scholarship Symposium (2013-2019)

The current study investigates whether long-term musical training and practice are associated with greater working memory abilities. Other studies have shown that musicians have cognitive advantages over non-musicians, including working memory. Forty-six college-aged participants were given an auditory-spatial n-back test. The n-back test requires participants to determine whether or not each auditory and spatial stimulus in a sequence matches the stimulus n stimuli ago. In this study, n=2. Participants were classified as either a musician or non-musician based on their years of musical training. Comparing n-back scores between musicians and non-musicians showed no significant findings. Since …