Comparison of Rhythm Perception in Dancers and Musicians

Abstract

The present study compared the rhythm perception abilities in Carnatic musicians (vocalists) and Bhararanatyam dancers. Twenty Carnatic musicians and 20 Bharatanatyam dancers (aged 19-39 years), with experience of 5 years or more in the respective fields were recruited for the study. The testing was conducted in 2 parts - (i) Synchronization with the rhythm of a musical excerpt (ii) Perceptual judgment of whether an imposed click train follows the beat of a musical excerpt. For the first part of the testing the participants were asked to tap the perceived rhythm of a given musical excerpt of average 30s duration. For the second part of the testing, participants were made to perceptually A judge whether a click track superimposed on a musical excerpt follows the rhythm of the excerpt (on beat condition), or if the click tempo is faster or slower than the musical expert or the clicks are not on beat of the excerpt (off beat condition). One way MAN OVA was carried major the statistical analysis. Results of the statistical analysis showed that there is no significant difference between dancers and musicians in the rhythm perception skills. Results also showed that experience correlated positively with rhythm skills.