Which Musicians have the best rhythm?
And how can rhythm be tested?
There are two main aspects of a musicians’ job: play the right notes, and play them at the right time. Sometimes, people struggle with that second part.
But playing at the right time is something all musicians are required to do, whether they play Classical music, Pop, Christian Deathcore or Luxembourgian Hip-Hop. Surely though, some musicians would be better at this than others, right? Of all musicians, from Drummers and Pianists to Thereminists and Potatoists, who do you think would be able to play the notes at the ‘most correct’ time? i.e. which musicians have the best rhythm?
It depends on the style of music. Classical musicians are likely to have a different sense of rhythm compared to contemporary, i.e. Jazz and pop musicians. Why? Because the music requires a different style of rhythm. Whereas classical music ebbs and flows, changing pace with the expression of the piece, contemporary music is a based around a metronomic beat; a consistent pulse which (generally) keeps the same pace throughout the song.
But, that’s not exactly a satisfying answer, is it? What if we actually wanted to test this, and find out which musicians have the best rhythm?
Part 1: The Study
In 2016, Psychology researchers at Concordia University in Canada created a study to find out which musicians have the best rhythm. 9 drummers, 11 pianists, 10 singers and 12 string players took part. In the study, all participants completed four tasks:
‘Rhythm Synchronisation Task (RST)’ where they listened to, and then tapped along with musical rhythms
‘Beat Synchronisation Task (BST)’ where they listened to musical rhythms and then tapped the underlying beat to these rhythms
‘Synchronisation-Continuation Task (SCT)’ where they tapped with a metronome and then continued tapping after the metronome stopped
‘Beat Alignment Perception Test (BAPT)’ where participants listened to musical rhythms and tried to work out if the metronome played alongside was in time or out of time with the rhythm.
Seems simple enough; give musicians a bunch of tasks, see who did the best and then crown them ‘King of Rhythm’. So, who won music?
RST: Everyone’s performance was approximately the same
BST: Drummers performed slightly better than everyone else, but everyone’s performance was approximately the same
SCT: Pianists performed marginally better than string players, but everyone’s performance was roughly the same
BAPT: Everyones’ performance was approximately the same
Sorry, probably not the shocking clickbait results you were hoping for.
So, what gives? This study says all musicians were about as good as each other. But, that definitely doesn’t apply to everyone.
So, why was there an overall lack of differences in rhythm between musicians? Well, there are a few possibilities.
Part 2: The Explanation
Concerning the Rhythm Synchronisation Task, the researchers claim:
“…musical training, whether rhythm-focused as in the drummers, or melody-focused as in the singers, improves rhythm perception and production.”
Seems reasonable. All of these musicians had been playing for, on average, 13 years and were practising around 10 hours per week. The researchers hadn’t noted any huge discrepancies between skill level. The relationship between their skill and ability to accurately tap likely wasn’t dependant on their instrument, as the researchers also mentioned:
“Training on using precise movements to produce music improves the ability to tap accurately, regardless of the specific movements that one is trained in.”
So, if you play music, your sense of rhythm will improve.
Usually.
On the Beat Synchronisation Task, drummers outperformed everyone else in this test, but only if the rhythm was in triple meter, i.e. 3/4, 6/8 or 12/8, as opposed to duple meter, i.e. 4/4 or 2/4.
Why might drummers be a little more accurate at triple meter rhythms? It may come down to what instruments’ usually’ play in different types of music. Let’s listen to something in 12/8: Queen Latifah’s soulful classic ‘I Know Where I’ve Been’ from Hairspray.
Listen to the verses. The drummer is playing a common 12/8 backbeat, marking all 12 eighth notes out on the hi-hat. Playing all 12 notes leaves little room for error, and allows the drummer to ‘feel’ all of the subdivisions of the music.
The other instruments, though? They’re not playing anywhere near as many notes. The guitar is only playing 2 chords per bar, compared to the drummers’ 12 notes, with enormous gaps in between each chord. This leaves much more room for error. The guitarist may not be ‘feeling’ all of the subdivisions, possibly relying on the drummer to some extent.
But, the researchers note that this may be dependant on genre:
“…drummers are more accustomed to synchronising with rhythms in triple meter, however, this likely depends less on instrument-specific training, then genre-specific training.
These grooves, more commonly found in Blues & Soul, require drummers to play more notes. So, it’s likely they may have better timing accuracy in triple meter, as they can ‘feel’ all the subdivisions with more clarity than other instruments.
Concerning the Synchronisation-Continuation Task, the researchers offer some interesting explanations:
“Pianists are likely to develop a particularly high level of finger dexterity, possibly explaining their reduced motor variability and drift.”
Interesting, so dexterous fingers may be the key to consistent rhythm?
Not necessarily, but it may explain these subtle differences. Whereas pianists use their fingers to actively play notes, string players use their fingers to hold down strings or hold a bow. The sound of each note comes movements of the arm and wrist, rather than purely the fingers themselves. Therefore, tasks requiring finger-tapping would likely be best suited to those who make a living out of finger-tapping.
For the Beat Alignment Perception Test, it might seem reasonable that drummers can perceive rhythm more accurately, given their performance on the BST. But, the results showed no differences between musicians. Why? The key to understanding this difference may be simple. Movement.
“This difference may be due to the importance of movement in beat perception, even for rhythm experts.”
Without movement, rhythm means nothing. Science says so. Percussionists were shown to improve their perception of rhythm when moving in sync to the music but showed no improvement when they were not moving to the music.
You’ll almost always see musicians move in some way when performing. Take this clip of Vulfpeck. Watch Jack Stratton (on keys).
Or Steve Moore, the ‘mad drummer’ doing….whatever this is.
What do you see in both? Movement. Albeit, slightly odd ones. But movement nonetheless.
So ultimately, who has the best rhythm? Is it drummers with their crazy windmill arms? Is it pianists with their dextrous fingers? Is it string players with their expressive body movements?
Unfortunately, there isn’t a simple answer to this question. It can depend on expertise, training, genre, meter, movement, and limb dexterity, among many other factors.
But we do know one thing for sure:
It sure ain’t this guy.
To read the study this article was based on, you can find the link here. I’ve also compiled a short playlist of some of the music mentioned in this article if you fancy a listen.
