ABSTRACT
Participants’ musical confidence and beat synchronisation skills are explored before and after playing the custom made multiplayer game, Rhythm Rangers. The effect on timing variability after short-term practice (priming with a baseline test) is investigated and correlated with a pre- and post-experiment self-evaluation questionnaire focused on musical sophistication, behaviours, and confidence. The baseline test is repeated after participants have played the game in order to measure the train- ing effect. For both the test and game, participants clap along to the beat of either two or four different audio loops ranging from a quarter-note metronome, simple drum loop, syncopated drum loop, to a complex break beat. In order to conduct the experiment and play the game, custom made wearable controllers were built and the necessary software developed integrating multiple ESP32 TT-GO T-Audio micro-controller boards, the microcomputer Raspberry Pi 3, and Pure Data creating both the multiplayer game and an environment for psychological experimentation.