The Effect of Prescribed Rhythmical Movements on the Ability to Read Music at Sight

r v . . HE ABILITY TO READ MUSIC llas long been recognized as a valuable tool by which students can broaden their musical experiences.l However, the musical experiences of many students have been severely limited because of an inability to read music at sight. Many music educators have expressed the belief that sightreading deficiencies are in large part due to difficulties witll rhythm patterns. Although supporting experimental research is lacking, two analytical studies do suggest that rhythm problems are prime determinants of sight-reading difficulties. A study that attempted to determine tlle relative difficulty of rllythmic and pitch elements in musir reading ancl the way in whicll they influence the duration of reading pauses concluded that factors constitute the limiting conditions for rate of reading or average pause duration whenever the rhythm is not extremely simple. This implies that increase in rate of reading depends upon improvernent in ability to grasp rhythmic figures.2 Thomson's analysis of errors in sight-reading by violinists and clarinetists yielded essentially the sarne conclusion. More than half of the errors made by performers -were errors in rhythm. This fact would seem to indicate that, in actual music reading, a major problem appears to exist in the playing of the correct rhythm pattern.3 On the basis of this conclusion, he recornmended that more stress be placed on learning to play rhythms in order to read well at sight. In analyses such as Thomson's it is impossible to tell whether the errors in reading rhythms can be attributed to deficiencies in the reading of rhythm per se, or whether some of the errors might be the result of other technical difficulties in the exercises performed. Experienced music teachers realize that errors in the performance of rhythms are