Gymnastic Music - What Every Gymnast Should Know About Music in This Sport

The essence of rhythmic gymnastics is the ability to harmonize body and apparatus work, which in turn interprets and expresses the rhythm and quality of the accompanying music. Having discussed briefly the fundamentals of the apparatus techniques and body elements, we turn now to the aspect of music, a very important part of rhythmic gymnastics.

All the exercises are performed to music and all the work in performance should be a direct reflection of the music, be it classical, jazz, rock 'n roll or whatever. It is not imperative to be a musician to be a rhythmic gymnast or coach, but it most certainly helps if you have a sense of rhythm and you appreciate and understand music, if only a little.

Simply to know the difference between beats, and be able to count or tap out a basic 2/4 or 3/4 rhythm helps i.e. to recognize whether there are two beats or three beats in the bar. This is important in understanding and feeling the type of movement which suits the two or three beat type of music, because they are very different.

Three beat music is essentially a waltz time, and whether played quickly or slowly it suggest a lilting or swaying movement, whereas the two beat music is more pulsating and suggests a sharper movement, that of marching or springing.

This is a very basic description and of course there are other more complex time signatures which in the initial stages we need not concern ourselves with. Most of us know what type of music we like listening to, why not ask yourself whether you could move to it? If you have a feeling for the melody or the beat, you might find yourself tapping your foot, or your fingers, or nodding and swaying your head in time with it.

You might even feel the urge to get up and dance to it. However, I would suggest that it is only the overall rhythm which you are affected by, and that there are other more meaningful factors which become apparent if you listen carefully and try to analyze the music.

By this I mean, for example, the contrasting qualities of strong and light, achieved by using the full range of notes on the instrument, the low bass notes giving the impression of heaviness, the higher treble notes giving an impression of lightness, the use of many notes up and down the keyboard (arpeggios), perhaps in quick succession, giving a feeling of broadness and power, or the playing of a single note giving a softer and lighter impression.