The report summarizes results of a survey of musical performance abilities of Americans of various ages. During 1971 and 1972 a national assessment program was conducted to measure the musical abilities of nine-year-olds, 13-year-olds, 17-year-olds, and young adults from 26-35 years of age. Exercises were divided into five groups: singing familiar songs, repeating unfamiliar musical material, improvising, performing from notation, and performing a prepared piece. Results indicated that (1) in singing familiar songs, almost all individuals were able to maintain rhythmic patterns, but relatively few were accurate in pitch; (2) in repeating unfamiliar musical material, very few were able to repeat the melodic or harmonic patterns; and (3) in improvising melody, about half of the individuals from all four age groups attained acceptable scores. Very few individuals were able to accurately sight-read a line of music, either vocally or instrumentally. Although 25% of the population claimed to play an instrument, very few were able to give acceptable performances. A concluding section discusses performance levels of subgroups according to sex, race, parental education, region, and community type. (Author/AV) Primary type of information provided by report: Results (Selective).