Measures of
Creativity in Sound and Music (MCSM)
Author: Dr. Cecilia
Wang
University of Kentucky
Lexington, KY 40506-0022
Email: cecilia@uky.edu
You are welcome to use
this testing instrument for educational or research purposes as long as you
notify the author and share the results with her.
This test
is designed to measure the Fluency and Imagination factors of Divergent
Thinking skills of lower-elementary grade children. It is modeled after
Torrance’ Thinking Creatively in Action and Movement (TCAM). As in TCAM,
it is administered to the child individually and it also has four
activities. This test takes about 20-30 minutes to administer and it
requires the child to respond by making sound/music and movement. The
test yields scores in Fluency (Activities 1 and 3) and Imagination (Activities
2 and 4) measures, with inter-judge reliability coefficients of .99, .72, .99,
.96 respectively for the four Activities; and .99 for Fluency and .90 for
Imagination. The inter-item consistency was found to be .87, .83, .87, and .92
for the four Activities respectively; and .51 for Fluency (Activities 1 and 3),
and .54 for Imagination (Activities 2 and 4). Concurrent validity between MCSM
and ratings of student creativity by the music teacher was .43 for Fluency and
.14 for Imagination (Balzer, 1988). The significant level of .01 was used for
the above data, from 32 second graders.
Given
the high reliability and established measures in divergent thinking, this test
can be useful for teachers wishing to compare the creativity thinking skills
among his/her students. It is also useful for researchers who are interested in
using this instrument as a dependent variable for baseline measures, and/or for
instructional outcomes in creative thinking. The test may be suitable to
use for children ages 4-8, with no or little musical instruction, however, more
testing and data are still needed to provide usable norms. Special attention
should be given to factors that could affect the test scores; these factors
include environment or atmosphere for the testing, and background and
maturation of the children.
There are four
activities in MCSM, to be administered to each individual child with no time
limit. Some children will take longer to express his/her ideas while others
take less time. The test administrator should take care to be consistent in
every aspect related to test delivery, including the use of verbal and gestured
reinforcement. The test should be given in a medium-size room with open space
for movement and away from any distraction. For each activity, have the testing
materials ready, and then read the given instruction to the child. Do the
demonstration as described until the child understands what to do. Record the
child’s response and your rating on the answer sheets. Activities One and
Three yield scores for the Fluency factor by counting the number of responses
provided by the child. Activities Two and Four yield scores for the factor of
Imagination as rated by the test administrator on a five-point scale.
Activity One: The child is asked to
make as many different sounds as possible from two given plastic containers and
to use these sounds to play steady beats. One container is box-like with six
sides while the other container is much smaller in size (3 oz.) and cylindrical
in shape; both have a lid.
Materials needed:
Tupperware containers, one rectangular (one-quart), one cylindrical (3 oz.),
with lids.
Note: Make sure the child plays steady beat, not just any noise. It should be some organized sound (steady beat for this item). Ask the child to keep playing until you stop him/her. The child can choose his/her own tempo; playing about eight beats would be satisfactory.
Activity Two: The child is asked to
portray the sound of some described events by playing instruments he or she
selects from a given group of rhythm instruments.
Materials needed:
A large tambour, bongo, double tone-block, tambourine without head, triangle,
cymbals, sand blocks, metal brush, variety mallets—rubber, wooden, felt,
yarn.
Note: Spread rhythm
instruments on a flat surface. Students may use several instruments for each
item. Stress the sound effect. The child should have experience with the given
instruments but can play them anyway he/she wishes, including any combination
of mallets or instruments, on any part of the instrument, and different ways of
producing sound on each. If the child starts to give a verbal response, hand
him the instruments and ask him to show you. Be consistent among all children
tested.
Activity Three: The child is given a
bass xylophone with the bars C and G in a perfect fifth interval (or D and A),
and two mallets. After the administrator demonstrates playing an ostinato (ta
ti-ti ta ta), the child is asked to show what other ways he can make different
ostinati, varying both note values and ways of producing them.
Materials needed:
Bass xylophone and a pair of mallets.
Note: The child need to
know the term “Ostinato” ahead of time. They can experience playing
ostinati by using speech ostinati or rhythmic ostinati to accompany familiar
songs in sessions prior to testing. For this test, ostinati are considered
different as long as either the rhythmic pattern or the hand combination is different.
(For example, a steady beat pattern played by the right hand alone is a
different ostinato from a steady beat pattern played by both hands together.)
Do not count any playing without a clear repeated pattern.
Activity Four: The child is asked to move to short excerpts of pre-recorded program music which expresses a definite mood, or projects a certain sound imagery.
Materials needed: Make a
recording from pieces in the following order. The music can be found in the RCA
Adventures in Music series of in the
Bowmar Orchestral Library Series.
·
Practice and
Demonstration: “Pantomime” by Kabalevsky, from “The
Comedians”, RCA, Grade 1
·
Excerpt 1:
“Dagger Dance” by Herbert, from “Natoma”, RCA Grade 3
·
Excerpt 2:
“The Elephant” by Saint Saens, from “Carnival of the
Animals”, Bowmar #51
·
Excerpt 3:
“Dance of the Mosquito” by Liaov, Bowmar #52
·
Excerpt 4:
“Ballet of the Unhatched Chicks” by Moussorgsky, from
“Pictures at an Exhibition”, RCA Grade 1
·
Excerpt 5:
“Circus Music” by Copland, from “The Red Pony”, RCA
Grade 3
·
Excerpt 6:
“The Twittering Machine” by Schuller, RCA Grade 2
Note: The title of the composition or the
suggested program in the music should not be revealed at all. The response must
come from the child. The administrator should “say” the verbal description
on the page and encourages the child to relate the sound by pretending to be
something, as the sound seems to suggest. Give hints that one can move
different parts of the body as one moves around the room—we can move our
arms, our head, our body, our legs, anyway we like to. The administrator should
demonstrate how he/she might move to the practice example and ask the child to
join in. Repeat the practice excerpt if the child takes longer time to start
moving.
Announce
each new piece at the beginning of each music excerpt and ask the child to get
ready to move and pretend. The child does not have to begin right at the
beginning of the excerpt; the excerpt may be repeated if more time is needed
for movement. The administrator may stop the music and proceed to the next as
long as he/she is satisfied that scoring is complete for that item. (The child
may continue moving in the same manner and get bored or tired soon).
If
the child starts to describe the movement, encourage him to show it to you instead.
It is most important to be consistent in your evaluation. The movement does not
have to fit the title or the suggested program. Judge the movement as to
whether it reflects the musical elements and mood of the piece. Using facial expression to reflect how
the music feels can count towards the Mood category.
MCSM
The Test
Measures of
Creativity in Sound and Music
Author: Cecilia Wang, University of Kentucky
Name
of Child: _____________________________________
Age
in Months: _____________________________________
Date
of Test: ________________________________________
Name
of Test Administrator: _________________________
School/Location:
_____________________________________
Scores: Fluency Imagination
Activity One ____________
Activity Two ____________
Activity Three ____________
Activity Four ____________
TOTAL ____________ ____________
ACTIVITY ONE
How many ways?
Say: Suppose
these (plastic containers) are musical Instruments. I want you to think of as
many ways as you can to make different sounds from them. Show me now you can
use each of these sounds to play a steady beat.
Demonstrate: Show different ways of clapping
steadily----palm to palm, palm to back of hand, two fingers to palm, etc,
always keeping a steady beat.
1. ______________________________________ (Record the
child’s playing)
2. ______________________________________
3. ______________________________________
4. ______________________________________
5. ______________________________________
6. ______________________________________
7. ______________________________________
8. ______________________________________
9. ______________________________________
10. ______________________________________
11. ______________________________________
Etc.
Scoring: Count the number of different responses.
ACTIVITY TWO
Can you play to sound like?
Say:
Now let us play some real musical instruments. See if you can play any
of them to sound like each of the thing I tell you. You may act it out also.
Fee free to change instruments any time you want.
1.
Can you play the sound like a thunderstorm with lightning? Show me how
heavy the storm is.
1 2 3 4 5 (Circle
the rating.)
No sound Adequate Excellent,
like the sound
2. Can you play the sound like a
giant walking?
1 2 3 4 5
No sound Adequate Excellent,
like the sound
3. Can you play the sound like a
horse? (Can be any of these: gallop, walk, trot, and run)
1 2 3 4 5
No sound Adequate Excellent,
like the sound
4. Can you play the sound like popcorn?
Imagine you are cooking popcorn using a popcorn maker.
1 2 3 4 5
No sound Adequate Excellent,
like the sound
5. Can you play the sound like a
small river flowing?
1 2 3 4 5
No sound Adequate Excellent,
like the sound
6. Can you play the sound like someone
typing on the typewriter?
1 2 3 4 5
No sound Adequate Excellent,
like the sound
Scoring: Add total number of points circled.
ACTIVITY THREE
What other ways?
Say: Here is one way to play an ostinato on the xylophone.
Demonstrate: Play both hands together, saying “ta titi ta
ta”, left hand playing C, right hand play G, repeat a few times playing
and saying the pattern.
Say: What
other ways can you play on the xylophone to make different ostinatos? Keep
repeating each pattern until I stop you.
Notate each ostinato as played by the child: notes with stem up for
right hand, stem down for left hand.
1. G___________________________________
C___________________________________
2. G___________________________________
C___________________________________
3. G___________________________________
C___________________________________
4. G___________________________________
C___________________________________
5. G___________________________________
C___________________________________
6. G___________________________________
C___________________________________
Etc.
Scoring: Count the number
of different responses.
ACTIVITY FOUR
Can you move like the music?
Say: Music can have many moods. There is music for dancing,
music for playing, music about animals, music about different people and things.
I am going to let you listen to several different pieces of music. The sound of
each piece may help you pretend to be something else, or to do something. Show
me how you can move to the music.
Demonstrate: Move to the practice example and
invite the child to join you.
Say for each excerpt: Here is the next piece of
music. Get ready to move and pretend.
Check all items that apply for each piece of music.
|
1. Piece
number one. ______
No movement ______
Mood ______
Rhythmic ______
Melodic ______
Dynamics 2. Piece
number two. ______
No movement ______
Mood ______
Rhythmic ______
Melodic ______
Dynamics 3. Piece
number three. ______
No movement ______
Mood ______
Rhythmic ______
Melodic ______
Dynamics |
4. Piece
number four. ______
No movement ______
Mood ______
Rhythmic ______
Melodic ______
Dynamics 5. Piece
number five. ______
No movement ______
Mood ______
Rhythmic ______
Melodic ______
Dynamics 6. Piece
number six. ______
No movement ______
Mood ______
Rhythmic ______
Melodic ______
Dynamics Scoring: Give one point
to each category for each piece. Add total points. |