A developmental sequence scale of rhythmic ability in kindergarten age children

Abstract: The purpose of this study was to design and implement a developmental sequence of rhythmic patterns (Ballen's Scale of Verbal Rhythmic Imitation: BSVRI), in order to determine rhythmic ability in kindergarten age children. The subjects were twenty kindergarten children, age five years, two months to six years, five months, from a predominantly subsidized low income public day care center. As a control for rhythmic aptitude, the Primary Measure of Music Audiation, PMAA, (Gordon, 1979) was administered. The children were then seen individually for two five-minute sessions to perform the sequence of rhythm patterns (BSVRI). The scores from the author's rhyhtmic scale were evaluated by raters to see if there would be a decrease in the score of each rhythmic pattern as the difficulty of test items increased. Results indicated that, indeed, the BSVRI rhythmic patterns were in sequential order from the easiest item presented first to the most difficult item presented last, as observed by the subjects' decreasing score of each rhythm pattern presented. The scores, from the rating scale adopted by Cratin (1987), were correlated with the scores from the PMMA. Correlations between aptitude (PMMA) and the BSVRI indicated no significance. An assessment of interrater reliability was performed in order to assure the consistency of the results. Pearson Product-Moment Correlation Coefficients (r) indicated high interrater reliability in four areas; melodic rhythm1, melodic rhythm 2, melodic rhythm and overall rhythm. Interrater reliability appeared low for tempo and meter. The conclusions supported the author's scale, the BSVRI, as having potential as a means of assessing rhythmic ability in kindergarten children. Suggestions, improvements and future research possibilities were expressed.

Keyword(s): Children, kindergarten, developmental-sequence, rhythmic-ability, primary-measure-of-music-audiation.

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