Development of young adults' fine motor skills when learning to play percussion instruments

Abstract

When playing percussion instruments, the main activity is done with the help of a motion or motor skills; to perform it, developed fine motor skills are necessary: the speed and precision of fingers, hands and palms. The aim of the research was to study and test the development of young adults' fine motor skills while learning to play percussion instruments. While carrying out the research, the analysis of teaching and psychological literature was performed, a test from the Vienna Test System (Motor Performance Series) was given, establishing and structuring experiments were conducted, and parametric statistical analysis was carried out. In the test, for the variable ‘Length of performance of the aiming task in seconds’ (the right hand) in the experimental group, the results have the probability of 95% and they have statistically significantly improved in comparison with the results of the control group. In the test, for the variable ‘The number of mistakes made in the test of hand stability’ (the left hand) in the experimental group, the improvement of the results is more significant than that in the control group (t= − 2, p<0.06) . In the task variable of the test ‘Line tracking’ – the number of mistakes made (the left hand) – in the experimental group the results have improved considerably, whereas in the control group it is on the contrary – the results have declined (t= − 3.67, p<0.001 – probability 99.9%). When comparing the identified changes in the results of the experimental and control groups, it was concluded that the following aspects had improved to a greater extent (with a probability of 95%) in the experimental group as opposed to the control group: the speed of the right hand movement, stability of the left hand, precision of the left hand.