Measure of Rhythmic Ability in High School Students Who Are Involved in Motor Activities

Accompanied or Not By Music

Elisana Pollatou,1 Eleni Liapa,1 Nikolaos Diggelidis 1 & Evridiki Zachopoulou2

1Department of Physical Education and Sports Sciences, University of Thessaly, Trikala, Hellas

2Department of Early Childhood, Technological Institute of Thessaloniki, Hellas

Abstract

Rhythmic ability is considered an important factor in the perceptual-motor development of children and it plays a crucial role in the performance of motor skills. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the rhythmic ability of High School students who are involved in motor activities accompanied or not by music. The sample of the research consisted of 125 children (62 boys and 63 girls) 13 ± 2 years old. For the evaluation of rhythmic ability, High/ Scope Beat Competence Analysis Test (Weikart & Carlton, 1995) was used. A 2-way ANOVA analysis of two independent factors was applied. According to the results, there was a statistically significant effect of the factor sport-motor activities in the children’s performance during their rhythmic ability test (p<.05). The performance scores of students that were involved in volleyball, basketball and handball (motor activities not accompanied by music) were much lower (M=8.55, 7.77, 7.38 respectively) than the performance score of the students that were involved in folk dance (a motor activity accompanied by music - M=10.46). The performance differences in rhythmic ability between two sexes was statistically significant (p<.05, girls scored better than boys in 124 beats/min) but not their interaction with sports-motor activities. It was concluded that music accompaniment contributes in the development of rhythmic ability.

Key words: rhythm, motor activities, high school boys and girls