The effect of audio recording and playback on self-assessment among middle school instrumental music students

This study examined the effect of audio recording and playback on middle school instrumentalists' self-assessment. Middle school student musicians (N = 112) completed a self-assessment immediately following their individual performance of an etude. The student musicians then listened to a recording of their individual performance and completed another identical self-assessment. A third identical self-assessment occurred 2 days later, again utilizing the recorded performance as subject material. The self-assessment tool asked students to rate individual aspects of their performances on a 7-point Likert-type scale. The elements of tone, pitch, and rhythm all evidenced significant differences in self-assessment ratings from the live performance to the recorded performance 2 days later. There were also significant differences in self-assessment ratings between the live performance and recorded performance conditions for the elements of pitch and rhythm. Only tone evidenced a significant difference in self-assessment ratings from the first recorded condition to the second recorded condition. Implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.