Positionings of Turkish music oriented chordal and cadential progressions in alternate tunings and their levels of efficiency in guitar education

The purpose of this study is to investigate how effective is to perform Turkish music oriented chordal and catential progressions and to use alternate tunings in developing guitar playing skills. Chordal and cadential structures configured within the process included different voicing techniques used in Turkish music such as, quartal and mixed harmony and they were positioned in the maqam scales of Huseyni, Nikriz and Saba. In the study, pre-test/post-test design with a control group was used. Study group consisted of the 1st, 3rd and 4th year guitar students (n=16) in the academic year of 2012-1013, in Erzurum University, Kazım Karabekir Faculty of Education, Music Education programme. The experimental group?s members (n=8) received guitar training 16 periods per week for 12 weeks by using 4 alternate tuning systems used in guitar education, while the control group?s (n=8) members received training with classical tuning system.As data collecting tools, an equivalence test named ?Achievement scale for guitar playing skills? (ASGPS), pre-test/post-test ?Achievement scale for constructing chordal and cadential structures? AKKYB, and an expert opinion form were used. With equivalence test AKKYBO, guitar playing skills of the study group?s members were measured by experts in the field and at the end of this process, the experimental and the control group were formed by using random assignment and behavioral changes related to the independent variable were measured. Mann Whitney U test was used in analysing the data to identify if there was a significant difference between the pre-test and post-test results of the students in the experimental and control group and Wilcoxon signed rank test was used to identify if there was a signifcant difference between the the test results of the groups in their entirety.According to the results obtained:(a)No statistically significant difference was detected between the students ?guitar playing skills? scores in the pre-test results (U= 24; p>0.05). When the rank averages considered, it could be said that the experimental group has a higher average but statistically, this difference isn?t significant.(b)A significant difference was found between the students ?guitar playing skills? scores in the pre-test and post-test results (z: -2,521; p<0.05), on behalf of the post-test. When considered, rank averages and sums show us that the difference observed is in favor of the positive ranks or in other words the post test.(c)A significant difference was found between the pre-test and post-test scores of the students in the experimental group, after receiving training in the tuning system ?S? (z: -2,380; p<0.05). When considered, rank averages and sums shows us that the difference observed is in favor of the positive ranks or in other words, the post test. Therefore it could be said that, the training given by using the tuning system ?S? has a developing effect on students guitar playing skills.(d)A statistically significant difference was detected between the Experimental and Control Groups ?guitar playing skills? scores (U= 13; p<0.05), on behalf of the control group. Rank averages and sums show us that students in the control group has higher scores than students in the experimental group in terms of guitar playing skills. According to this result, it could be said that the tuning system ?K?, statistically, has a more developing effect on the experimental group?s guitar playing skills than the tuning systems ?M?, ?R? and ?T?.(e)No statistically significant difference was detected between the experimental and control groups ?guitar playing skills? scores (U= 21; p>0.05). When considered, rank averages and sums show us that students in the experimental group has higher scores than students in the control group in terms of guitar playing skills. However, statistically, this result doesn?t constitute a significant difference between the tuning systems ?K?, and ?S?.KEYWORDS: Chord, Cadence, Tuning, Alternate Tunings, Guitar Education, Guitar Playing Skills.