Development of Ability to Express Rhytam, Tempo and Dynamics Through Sign Language Learning

Mozak upravlja svim procesima u tijelu, a podijeljen je na dvije funkcionalno različite hemisfere. Izvođenje križno-lateralnih pokreta, koji istovremeno aktiviraju lijevu i desnu hemisferu, potiče njihovu bolju suradnju. Integrirano korištenje mozga doprinosi razvoju kognitivnih procesa poput osjeta, percepcije, učenja, mišljenja, govora, obrade vizualnih i zvučnih informacija te mnogih drugih složenih misaonih aktivnosti poput obrade glazbe, koja uključuje djelovanje više kognitivnih procesa odjednom. Takav utjecaj mogli bi imati i pokreti znakovnog jezika, komunikacijskog sustava gluhih i gluhoslijepih osoba, stoga se u ovom istraživanju htjela pronaći povezanost između njegovih specifičnih pokreta i kognitivnih sposobnosti odgovornih za izražavanje glazbenih sastavnica ritma, tempa i dinamike. Sedmero ispitanika tri je tjedna uvježbavalo izvođenje znakova hrvatskog znakovnog jezika što je, prema pretpostavkama hipoteze, trebalo pospješiti sposobnosti izražavanja ritma, tempa i dinamike. Ispitanicima su na provjerama bile reproducirane pjesme, a oni su trebali za vrijeme slušanja izvoditi znakove koji prate riječi pjesama, u odgovarajućem ritmu i tempu, pazeći pritom i na dinamiku pjesme. Podaci su prikupljeni postupkom sustavnog promatranja, pomoću video zapisa, a interpretirani su kvalitativnim pristupom. Analizom snimaka dviju provjera ustanovljeno je da je kod svih ispitanika došlo do napretka sposobnosti izražavanja ritma i tempa, ali ne i dinamike. Takav način izražavanja glazbenih sastavnica pokretom mogao bi se uključiti u nastavu glazbene kulture kao zanimljiv način uvježbavanja sposobnosti izvođenja ritma, tempa i dinamika.The brain controls all processes in the body and has two functionally different hemispheres. Performing crosslateral movements which activate both brain hemispheres simultaneously improves the cooperation of the two hemispheres. When both hemispheres act together, it positively affects the development of cognitive processes such as sensation, perception, learning, thinking, speaking, processing visual and acoustic information, and many other complex cognitive activities such as processing music, which includes the activation of multiple congitive processes at once. Sign language movements, used by deaf and deaf-blind persons to communicate, could have the same influence. The purpose of this research was to find a connection between specific sign language movements and cognitive abilities responsible for expressing musical components such as rhythm, tempo or dynamics. Seven participants practised performing Croatian sign language movements for three weeks which, based on the research hypothesis, supposed to improve their abilities to express rhythm, tempo and dynamics. While listening to different songs, the participants had to perform sign language movements that matched the lyrics to the rhythm and the tempo of the songs, and, at the same time, pay attention to the dynamics. The data collection method used in this research was systematic observation using video recordings. The data was interpreted by means of qualitative analysis. By analyzing the video recordings of two tests, we found that the participants’ abilities of expressing rhythm and tempo improved, but there was no progress in their ability to express dynamics. It was concluded that sign language could become a part of music classes in school as an interesting way of practising expressing rhythm, tempo and dynamics