This comment came up on a facebook page that I subscribed to, and unfortunately, this statement was stated in a disparaging manner. I was disappointed in the path this conversation/discussion took, partly because I am one of those teachers who does not teach my beginner students to count, because I do want them to “feel” the beat.
When it comes to rhythm people think of beats, rather than thinking of continuous movement. Although beats are an important part of rhythm, I do teach my students that beats mean very little if you cannot move in a relaxed, artistic way, with a sense of flow and fluency.
I spend a lot of time in the lesson away from the piano. I teach my students how to move to the music and how to feel the space “between” the beats. So often we are worried about the beginning of the beats and spend all our energy in trying to make sure that the beginning of the beat is “on time”. Because of this, we often forget everything that occurs after the beginning of the beat. Continuous movement aids my students to feel the space “between” the beats, to become aware of what is happening “after” the beginning of the beat. Have you ever had a student who rushes the tempo or clips/shortens a beat? I think we all have encountered such a problem. The reason why this happens is that the student is anticipating the beginning of the next beat, rather than feeling the space between the beats. They are not being aware of what is happening “after” the beginning.
I take pride in the fact that I can state, “I don’t teach my students to count because I want them to feel the beat.” However, in order to accomplish this I must first teach my students how to move as the music moves – continuously.
When we ask a student, “How long is a quarter note?” We often get the response, “One beat.” (Now, we all know that dependent on the time signature this may or may not be true. For the sake of this example, let’s say it is true.) So when we ask, “How long is a quarter note?” we get the response, “One beat.” What would happen if we then asked, “How long is one beat?” I suspect the student may not have an answer, or perhaps say, “The same as two eighth notes?” with the voice rising at the end as if posing a question. Rather, we should be asking, “Show me how long one beat is.” Continuous motion, away from the piano, will show the length of one beat. The continuous motion will express the space between the beats. Continuous motion aids the student to “feel” the whole beat, not just the beginning of the beat.
Rhythm is made up of three main elements: Big (strong) beats, small (weak) beats, and melodic rhythm. The big beats are referred to a Macrobeats and the small beats are referred to as microbeats.
This is an activity I have done in many rhythm workshops and it works well, try it yourself. Turn on the metronome and listen to it tick. Before long you will notice that one tick seems to be stronger than the other and it takes on a strong . . . . weak . . . . strong . . . . weak . . . . feeling. Due to how our brain works it does not allow us to hear these ticks objectively, but subjectively pairs the beats. These paired beats are the macrobeats.
If we want our students to feel the beat, then we must teach them “how” to feel the beat and how to “move” to the beat. First, we need to encourage our students to move continuously while listening to music. Whether the music is recorded, or played by the teacher or classmate, it’s important that they move continuously to the music. An example may be to ask them to move like a falling leaf, or to move as if they are swimming under water. As they are moving continuously we should then encourage them to shift their body weight from side to side (they may have already done this movement in their continuous movement activity simply due to the fact of our physical symmetry and how our brain listens/processes music). By asking students to move their body weight back and forth, or side to side, they will discover, through movement, their own physical symmetry. This then lays the foundation for them relating their body’s symmetrical design to symmetry in music, to the pairing of beats, to rhythm patterns, and to phrases.
I know you are thinking, but what if the music the student is listening to is in triple metre, how will they find this symmetrical movement? As Bernstein wrote, “A waltz, whose greatest claim to fame is that it’s in three-quarter time, turns out to be just as much a slave to dupleness as anything else. A waltz is a dance, and dance is performed on two legs. It’s not 1-2-3, 1-2-3, but left-2-3, right-2-3. The metre may be triple, but in a larger rhythmic sense a waltz is every bit as duple as a march. (p. 97)
We are physically symmetrical. We have two ears, two eyes, two legs, to arms, two feet, I think you get the picture. Think of how our heart beats, or how we breathe – duple metre. Due to our built-in “dupleness”, we pair everything.
When Bernstein talks about the waltz, he talks about two different types of beats. One beat is the “left . . . right . . . left . . . right”, which produces the big/strong beats, referred to earlier as the macrobeats. He also talks about the 1-2-3-1-2-3-1-2-3-1-2-3 type of beat. These form the smaller/weaker beats, which we referred to earlier as the microbeats.
When we listen to music, and when our students listen, we do not listen in isolated durations of whole notes, half notes, quarter notes, rather we listen to rhythm patterns with specific functions. We listen syntactically rather than phonologically.
At the beginning, when teaching my students rhythm, I do not teach them whole notes, half notes, quarter notes, etc. Rather I teach them Macrobeats and microbeats in duple and triple metre. By moving continuously to music, and chanting rhythm patterns (not beat durations but patterns), my students learn to “feel” the beat. All of this occurs in every lesson BEFORE we go to the piano. Now, of course the rhythm patterns we move to, and chant, are rhythm patterns that they will incur on pieces they will learn in that lesson or in the next few lessons. Therefore, my students don’t need to count, as they feel the beat. Through the continuous motion they not only feel the rhythm, they have internalized the rhythm. By chanting the rhythm pattern (on 'BAH'), they have taken ownership of the rhythm pattern.
If we want our students to “feel” the beat, we must then take the time and teach them “how” to feel the beat. Believe it or not, this is more natural than we think. By using our physical symmetry and by being aware of how our brain processes music, we can proudly say, “I don’t teach my students to count because I teach them how to feel the beat.”
Sources:
Bernstein, Leonard. 1966. The Infinite Variety of Music. New York: Simon and Schuster.
Bluestine, Eric. 2000. The Ways Children Learn Music. Chicago: GIA Publications, Inc.
When it comes to rhythm people think of beats, rather than thinking of continuous movement. Although beats are an important part of rhythm, I do teach my students that beats mean very little if you cannot move in a relaxed, artistic way, with a sense of flow and fluency.
I spend a lot of time in the lesson away from the piano. I teach my students how to move to the music and how to feel the space “between” the beats. So often we are worried about the beginning of the beats and spend all our energy in trying to make sure that the beginning of the beat is “on time”. Because of this, we often forget everything that occurs after the beginning of the beat. Continuous movement aids my students to feel the space “between” the beats, to become aware of what is happening “after” the beginning of the beat. Have you ever had a student who rushes the tempo or clips/shortens a beat? I think we all have encountered such a problem. The reason why this happens is that the student is anticipating the beginning of the next beat, rather than feeling the space between the beats. They are not being aware of what is happening “after” the beginning.
I take pride in the fact that I can state, “I don’t teach my students to count because I want them to feel the beat.” However, in order to accomplish this I must first teach my students how to move as the music moves – continuously.
When we ask a student, “How long is a quarter note?” We often get the response, “One beat.” (Now, we all know that dependent on the time signature this may or may not be true. For the sake of this example, let’s say it is true.) So when we ask, “How long is a quarter note?” we get the response, “One beat.” What would happen if we then asked, “How long is one beat?” I suspect the student may not have an answer, or perhaps say, “The same as two eighth notes?” with the voice rising at the end as if posing a question. Rather, we should be asking, “Show me how long one beat is.” Continuous motion, away from the piano, will show the length of one beat. The continuous motion will express the space between the beats. Continuous motion aids the student to “feel” the whole beat, not just the beginning of the beat.
Rhythm is made up of three main elements: Big (strong) beats, small (weak) beats, and melodic rhythm. The big beats are referred to a Macrobeats and the small beats are referred to as microbeats.
This is an activity I have done in many rhythm workshops and it works well, try it yourself. Turn on the metronome and listen to it tick. Before long you will notice that one tick seems to be stronger than the other and it takes on a strong . . . . weak . . . . strong . . . . weak . . . . feeling. Due to how our brain works it does not allow us to hear these ticks objectively, but subjectively pairs the beats. These paired beats are the macrobeats.
If we want our students to feel the beat, then we must teach them “how” to feel the beat and how to “move” to the beat. First, we need to encourage our students to move continuously while listening to music. Whether the music is recorded, or played by the teacher or classmate, it’s important that they move continuously to the music. An example may be to ask them to move like a falling leaf, or to move as if they are swimming under water. As they are moving continuously we should then encourage them to shift their body weight from side to side (they may have already done this movement in their continuous movement activity simply due to the fact of our physical symmetry and how our brain listens/processes music). By asking students to move their body weight back and forth, or side to side, they will discover, through movement, their own physical symmetry. This then lays the foundation for them relating their body’s symmetrical design to symmetry in music, to the pairing of beats, to rhythm patterns, and to phrases.
I know you are thinking, but what if the music the student is listening to is in triple metre, how will they find this symmetrical movement? As Bernstein wrote, “A waltz, whose greatest claim to fame is that it’s in three-quarter time, turns out to be just as much a slave to dupleness as anything else. A waltz is a dance, and dance is performed on two legs. It’s not 1-2-3, 1-2-3, but left-2-3, right-2-3. The metre may be triple, but in a larger rhythmic sense a waltz is every bit as duple as a march. (p. 97)
We are physically symmetrical. We have two ears, two eyes, two legs, to arms, two feet, I think you get the picture. Think of how our heart beats, or how we breathe – duple metre. Due to our built-in “dupleness”, we pair everything.
When Bernstein talks about the waltz, he talks about two different types of beats. One beat is the “left . . . right . . . left . . . right”, which produces the big/strong beats, referred to earlier as the macrobeats. He also talks about the 1-2-3-1-2-3-1-2-3-1-2-3 type of beat. These form the smaller/weaker beats, which we referred to earlier as the microbeats.
When we listen to music, and when our students listen, we do not listen in isolated durations of whole notes, half notes, quarter notes, rather we listen to rhythm patterns with specific functions. We listen syntactically rather than phonologically.
At the beginning, when teaching my students rhythm, I do not teach them whole notes, half notes, quarter notes, etc. Rather I teach them Macrobeats and microbeats in duple and triple metre. By moving continuously to music, and chanting rhythm patterns (not beat durations but patterns), my students learn to “feel” the beat. All of this occurs in every lesson BEFORE we go to the piano. Now, of course the rhythm patterns we move to, and chant, are rhythm patterns that they will incur on pieces they will learn in that lesson or in the next few lessons. Therefore, my students don’t need to count, as they feel the beat. Through the continuous motion they not only feel the rhythm, they have internalized the rhythm. By chanting the rhythm pattern (on 'BAH'), they have taken ownership of the rhythm pattern.
If we want our students to “feel” the beat, we must then take the time and teach them “how” to feel the beat. Believe it or not, this is more natural than we think. By using our physical symmetry and by being aware of how our brain processes music, we can proudly say, “I don’t teach my students to count because I teach them how to feel the beat.”
Sources:
Bernstein, Leonard. 1966. The Infinite Variety of Music. New York: Simon and Schuster.
Bluestine, Eric. 2000. The Ways Children Learn Music. Chicago: GIA Publications, Inc.