Construction, Interpretation, and Use of a Sight Reading Scale in Organ Music with an Analysis of Organ Playing into Fundamental Abilities
music, however, the lack of reliable and valid criteria of likeability and of difficulty seri ously retarded the development of reading scales. The following study indicates how these obstacles to progress in musicology may be overcome by the application of certain psychometric methods.1 Prior to the construction of materials to be used in the process of developing a sight reading scale, it was necessary to arrive at objective criteria of likeability and of diffi culty. Here the criterion of use in the field was applied. Through the cooperation of organ students and graduates of Concordia Teachers College, Seward, Nebraska, and River Forest, Illinois, it was possible to secure 468 samples of organ music best liked and within the playing ability of the persons sub mitting them. The questionnaire was so ar ranged that an individual's complete reply made available for study: (1) the least and (2) the most difficult organ compositions within the group of pieces best liked by him, and (3) those measures judged by him to be most difficult, as well as (4) other measures best liked by him in each of the two selec tions chosen.