ABSTRACT
The purpose of this study was to develop a valid and reliable way to assess nine-through fourteen-year-old students’ ability to maintain a steady tempo of regular pulses given at different tempos in a group setting. One hundred and sixty-seven fifth- and sixth-grade students were asked to count six sounded tones silently and to continue counting at the same tempo established by the six tones during a subsequent period of silence until they heard a major chord sounded. Then they were to mark on their answer sheet the number that had been reached in their silent counting when the chord was sounded. After adjustments, a second version of the Steady Beat Exercise (SBE) was found to be internally consistent (α = 0.7532) and item analysis revealed all items indices were within an acceptable range. Criterion-related validity was assessed by correlating teacher ratings with SBE scores using the point-biserial technique.
