Music and Mathematics: The Effect of Matching Musical Meters with Geometric Shapes on 6th Graders’ Learning Outcomes

Aksak meters such as 5/8, 7/8, 9/8 are not formed equally and teaching these meters to the students usually takes a long time and learning these measures requires a dedicated effort. The aim of this research is to determine whether the teaching 5/8,7/8,9/8 aksak meters to the students in sixth grade through geometric shapes is more effective than regular techniques used in the music lesson. The research group was composed of 120 sixth grade students between ages 11-14 in one private and one public school in Ankara. The research was composed in randomized pre-test, post-test control group experimental design. During 8 weeks teaching aksak meters through matching musical meters to geometrical shapes technique was practiced with the experimental group. The data was analyzed on the IBM SPSS Statistics 22 Program. Mc Nemar test was used for the dependent relationship between two categorical variables. According to findings of this research, students in the experimental group scored higher points in their post-test than students in the control group and improved their efficacy in distinguishing the aksak measures. This shows that teaching aksak Meters through geometric shapes affected students' learning outcomes in a positive way.