The Effects of Learning Procedure, Tempo, and Performance Condition on Transfer of Rhythm Skills in Instrumental Music

Abstract

In this study, I examined the effects of learning procedure and performance tempo on the ability of middle-school-level instrumentalists to perform previously learned rhythmic passages in novel test melodies. Sixty-four advanced- and intermediate-level middle school band students practiced four three-measure rhythmic passages, using one of four learning procedures for each rhythmic passage, until achieving a specified performance criterion, and subsequently performed lest melodies that included the same rhythms. The learning procedures represented verbal and manual techniques that are common in rhythm instruction in instrumental classes and that had been used regularly in daily lessons in which all subjects participated. Performances were evaluated on the basis of tempo accuracy, rhythm accuracy, and pitch accuracy. Results indicate no significant multivariate effect attributable to learning procedure; however, significant differences were found among performance tempi, p < .02. Subjects' tempo accuracy was adversely affected by differences between the tempo at which specific passages were originally learned and the tempi at which they were subsequently performed.