Abstract

This study was conducted to analyze the effects of regular sight reading studies of classical guitar students on their sight reading and their performance of classical guitar. In the research, experimental method was used with a pretest-posttest control and experimental group. The application process was carried out with 14 undergraduate students studying Music and Fine Arts Education Department from Marmara University. In the study groups, 7 students from the individual instrument training course made up the experimental group (n=7) and another 7 students from the individual instrument training made up the control group (n=7). Data were collected using “The Guitar Performance Grading Scale” and “The Sight Reading Performance Evaluation Scale”. The study included a 10-week experimental process. The process was carried out within 1 week of pretest evaluations by a jury of experts, 8 weeks of individual guitar enstrument training performed by the researcher and 1 week of posttest evaluations by the jury. The data obtained was analyzed after the application and interpreted by statistical techniques. In the application that was done with the groups to analyze the influence of a regular sight reading practice upon sight reading skills, a significant difference was found between the experimental and control group posttest “Sight Reading Performance Evaluation Scale” scores in favor of the experimental group. In the other application done to analyze the influence of a regular sight reading practice upon classical guitar performance, a significant difference was found between experimental and control group in favor of experimental group “Guitar Performance Grading Scale” posttest scores. According to the findings, it has been concluded that the education given to the experimental group in the research positively influenced and improved the sight reading skills and classical guitar performances of the students; thus, various suggestions were given on the subject.

Key words: Instrument training, classical guitar education, sight reading, performance.