The Efficacy of Discerning Musical Parts within the Context of an Instrumental Ensemble

The goal of this study was to determine whether students could aurally identify the less dominant inner musical lines of instrumental pieces. An assessment was created through Qualtrics to test this hypothesis with collegiate music majors at the University of Tennessee. In the assessment, students were required to discern a single part from chamber pieces to large symphonies or wind ensemble works by selecting one of four different lines notated from the piece. These lines were transposed to the key and clef of the instrument students were asked to identify. Results were taken from Qualtrics and analyzed through SPSS. The results indicated that identifying the inner lines of instruments was generally easy for music students. Based on an analysis of various parameters in the music, students found texture and timbre to be the parameters that made the voices easier or more difficult to identify.