Music Supported Exercises in Gymnastic Education

Abstract

Balance and rhythm skills are very important in gymnastics education. Therefore, the aim of this research, examine the effects of coordination exercises on balance performance and rhythm skills in children when applied with music as a different method in basic gymnastics education. The study was conducted in an experimental design with pretest posttest control group and lasted for 11 weeks. 20 children aged between 9-12 participated the study. All of the children got gymnastics education for a maximum of 2 years. A personal information form was used to identify the participants. Balance measurements were taken with the Y-Balance Test (YBT), and rhythm measurements were taken with the Rhythmic Competence Analysis Test (RCAT). Mann-Whitney U and Wilcoxon signed-rank tests were used in the analysis of the data. As a result of the study, a significant difference was obtained between the pretest-posttest rhythm measurements and balance scores of both the experimental and control groups. It was concluded that musical coordination exercises gave similar results in terms of balance and rhythm development in line with the standard gymnastics program, but it was not more effective as a different method.