This blog post is my actual article that appeared in the January 2015 issue of OPUS.
One of the challenges that music teachers face is that of teaching students rhythm. How many of us have pounded on the piano bench while the student was playing, to enable the student to “feel” the rhythm and maintain a steady tempo? How many of us have had our students stand up and move to the beat, in an attempt to feel a steady tempo? How many of us have asked a student to sit on an exercise ball while playing, and bounce to the beat? How many of us have an exercise trampoline in our studio where we ask students to bounce to the beat? I am sure that many of us, myself included, have said “I’ve done that,” to one or more of those scenarios. These are all techniques and tools that we use in teaching rhythm. These techniques are used in an attempt to teach the student about rhythm. Often, an even bigger struggle than getting a student to feel the beat and tempo is teaching students how to count the rhythm so they play with rhythmical accuracy. How we count the rhythm can remedy the first problem of feeling the beat or playing with an even tempo. Instead of thinking about how we “teach” rhythm to students, perhaps we need to think about how students “learn” rhythm.
In “teaching” rhythm, we as teachers are often quick to say that a quarter note gets one beat and an eighth-note gets half a beat. Or we say that a quarter note is counted as “ta” and two eighth notes are counted as “ti-ti”, or we take a mnemonic approach where we count the quarter note as “quart-er” or “walk” and eighth notes as “eighth-note” or “run-ning”. The more common approach is using numbers, 1 + 2 + and 1 e + a 2 e + a and so on. Although there are many rhythm-counting systems for “teaching” rhythm, unfortunately these counting systems lack the context in which students “learn” rhythm.
Here is an example of the importance of context. How would you pronounce the following word “ghoti”? What would you think if I said the way we pronounce “ghoti” is how we say “fish”? Yes, it is pronounced “fish”. Let’s put the pronunciation of “ghoti” into context. The “gh” is the “f” sound that we find in “enough”. The “o” is the “i” sound we find in “women”. The “ti” is the “sh” sound we find in “nation”. When given the context, we can now understand how “ghoti” could sound like the word “fish”.
Context is everything in learning. As we saw above, “gh” can have a hard “g” sound as in “ghost”, or it can have an “f” sound as in “enough”. To say that “gh” always has a hard “g” sound would be inaccurate. To say that “gh” always has an “f” sound is also inaccurate. Once sound is put into context, greater understanding and learning take place. The same is true when it comes to how children learn rhythm. To say a quarter note always gets one beat is not necessarily accurate. Although it may be accurate in a time signature of 4/4, it is not accurate in the time signature of 2/2 or 6/8. Dependent on the time signature in which the quarter note appears, its context changes. If we look at the context, we’ll see the quarter note is equal to one beat in 4/4 time signature, half a beat in a 2/2 time signature, and two-thirds of a beat in a 6/8 time signature. So is a quarter note really equal to one beat, as so many piano methods “teach” students?
When it comes to learning rhythm it is important that students learn beat functions before they learn the arithmetic values of individual notes. This can be equated to how children learn language, which uses the same parts of the brain as learning music. To say to a child that they must be able to read, spell, and write a word before they can speak it, would only get a laugh from those around us, and probably be accompanied by a sarcastic comment indicating well wishes of this approach actually being successful with the child learning the word. Yet, this is often how we teach music.
Students learn rhythm best when they learn rhythm with musical meaning, and in context. Rhythm is comprised of three basic elements: 1) macrobeats, 2) microbeats, and 3) melodic patterns (Gordon, 2012). Macrobeats are the bigger beats or strong beats and provide the foundation for the tempo, i.e. the walking, marching, or skipping beat:
Macrobeat
One of the challenges that music teachers face is that of teaching students rhythm. How many of us have pounded on the piano bench while the student was playing, to enable the student to “feel” the rhythm and maintain a steady tempo? How many of us have had our students stand up and move to the beat, in an attempt to feel a steady tempo? How many of us have asked a student to sit on an exercise ball while playing, and bounce to the beat? How many of us have an exercise trampoline in our studio where we ask students to bounce to the beat? I am sure that many of us, myself included, have said “I’ve done that,” to one or more of those scenarios. These are all techniques and tools that we use in teaching rhythm. These techniques are used in an attempt to teach the student about rhythm. Often, an even bigger struggle than getting a student to feel the beat and tempo is teaching students how to count the rhythm so they play with rhythmical accuracy. How we count the rhythm can remedy the first problem of feeling the beat or playing with an even tempo. Instead of thinking about how we “teach” rhythm to students, perhaps we need to think about how students “learn” rhythm.
In “teaching” rhythm, we as teachers are often quick to say that a quarter note gets one beat and an eighth-note gets half a beat. Or we say that a quarter note is counted as “ta” and two eighth notes are counted as “ti-ti”, or we take a mnemonic approach where we count the quarter note as “quart-er” or “walk” and eighth notes as “eighth-note” or “run-ning”. The more common approach is using numbers, 1 + 2 + and 1 e + a 2 e + a and so on. Although there are many rhythm-counting systems for “teaching” rhythm, unfortunately these counting systems lack the context in which students “learn” rhythm.
Here is an example of the importance of context. How would you pronounce the following word “ghoti”? What would you think if I said the way we pronounce “ghoti” is how we say “fish”? Yes, it is pronounced “fish”. Let’s put the pronunciation of “ghoti” into context. The “gh” is the “f” sound that we find in “enough”. The “o” is the “i” sound we find in “women”. The “ti” is the “sh” sound we find in “nation”. When given the context, we can now understand how “ghoti” could sound like the word “fish”.
Context is everything in learning. As we saw above, “gh” can have a hard “g” sound as in “ghost”, or it can have an “f” sound as in “enough”. To say that “gh” always has a hard “g” sound would be inaccurate. To say that “gh” always has an “f” sound is also inaccurate. Once sound is put into context, greater understanding and learning take place. The same is true when it comes to how children learn rhythm. To say a quarter note always gets one beat is not necessarily accurate. Although it may be accurate in a time signature of 4/4, it is not accurate in the time signature of 2/2 or 6/8. Dependent on the time signature in which the quarter note appears, its context changes. If we look at the context, we’ll see the quarter note is equal to one beat in 4/4 time signature, half a beat in a 2/2 time signature, and two-thirds of a beat in a 6/8 time signature. So is a quarter note really equal to one beat, as so many piano methods “teach” students?
When it comes to learning rhythm it is important that students learn beat functions before they learn the arithmetic values of individual notes. This can be equated to how children learn language, which uses the same parts of the brain as learning music. To say to a child that they must be able to read, spell, and write a word before they can speak it, would only get a laugh from those around us, and probably be accompanied by a sarcastic comment indicating well wishes of this approach actually being successful with the child learning the word. Yet, this is often how we teach music.
Students learn rhythm best when they learn rhythm with musical meaning, and in context. Rhythm is comprised of three basic elements: 1) macrobeats, 2) microbeats, and 3) melodic patterns (Gordon, 2012). Macrobeats are the bigger beats or strong beats and provide the foundation for the tempo, i.e. the walking, marching, or skipping beat:
Macrobeat
Microbeats are the little beats and are the equal division of the macrobeats. In other words, microbeats define metre.
Microbeats
Microbeats
Melodic patterns correspond to the rhythm of the melody or to the rhythm of the text (Gordon, 1971).
As with learning a language, where an individual letter of the alphabet has little meaning without being grouped with other letters of the alphabet to form a word, so it is with rhythm. A note by itself has no musical meaning or rhythmic context until it is grouped with other notes. In the mind of the listener, a note only has rhythmic meaning when there is a relationship between two or more notes (or rests), which then make up a rhythm pattern. Because every rhythmic pattern is indigenous to a specific metre, patterns can be organized according to metrical type. Since the two most common metres are duple metre and triple metre, that will be the focus here. The same principles apply to irregular time signatures and changing time signatures within a piece or song.
When it comes to children learning rhythm, they learn best using a counting system that emphasizes metre and beat function, rather than fractional value name. In other words, a note (or rest) is associated with a rhythm syllable by virtue of the positional (metrical) relationship of that note (or rest) to the other notes in a given rhythm pattern and not solely according to its arithmetic value (Gordon, 1971).
The most effective way for children to learn and understand something is through the comparison of similarities and differences. Children learn and understand rhythm best when a rhythmic syllable system differentiates between duple and triple metre. The rhythm syllable of the macrobeat, in all meters, is DU (pronounced “doo”). Whether it is duple, triple, unusual or irregular, the macrobeat (tempo beat) is always DU. Rhythm syllables for microbeats (metre beats) in duple meter are DU DE (pronounced “doo day”) and in triple meter are DU DA DI (pronounced “doo dah dee”):
As with learning a language, where an individual letter of the alphabet has little meaning without being grouped with other letters of the alphabet to form a word, so it is with rhythm. A note by itself has no musical meaning or rhythmic context until it is grouped with other notes. In the mind of the listener, a note only has rhythmic meaning when there is a relationship between two or more notes (or rests), which then make up a rhythm pattern. Because every rhythmic pattern is indigenous to a specific metre, patterns can be organized according to metrical type. Since the two most common metres are duple metre and triple metre, that will be the focus here. The same principles apply to irregular time signatures and changing time signatures within a piece or song.
When it comes to children learning rhythm, they learn best using a counting system that emphasizes metre and beat function, rather than fractional value name. In other words, a note (or rest) is associated with a rhythm syllable by virtue of the positional (metrical) relationship of that note (or rest) to the other notes in a given rhythm pattern and not solely according to its arithmetic value (Gordon, 1971).
The most effective way for children to learn and understand something is through the comparison of similarities and differences. Children learn and understand rhythm best when a rhythmic syllable system differentiates between duple and triple metre. The rhythm syllable of the macrobeat, in all meters, is DU (pronounced “doo”). Whether it is duple, triple, unusual or irregular, the macrobeat (tempo beat) is always DU. Rhythm syllables for microbeats (metre beats) in duple meter are DU DE (pronounced “doo day”) and in triple meter are DU DA DI (pronounced “doo dah dee”):
For unusual (irregular) metre, such as those in five and seven, the macrobeats are divided into groups of twos and threes. Microbeats are chanted DU BE (pronounced “doo bay”) and DU BA BI (pronounced “doo bah bee”), respectively.
When a microbeat in usual or unusual metre is divided, regardless on which macrobeat it appears, TA is always used (Gordon, 2012). The following are examples that include the division of the beats.
One of the challenges in learning rhythm is that “time signature” and “metre” are used synonymously. Time signatures only refer to the fractional values of a whole note found in a measure. Whereas, metre defines how macrobeats are divided and grouped. As Edwin E. Gordon stated, “Such is the differences between musicians and mathematicians” (Gordon, 2012, p. 194).
A great example of the difference between time signature and metre can be found in the time signature of 6/8. At some point, most of us have been taught that 6/8 is compound duple metre. The time signature of 6/8 is labeled as compound duple metre for the purposes of “teaching” the fractional values for notation and theory, but it does not reflect how we hear or audiate[1] rhythm. In the time signature 6/8, two macrobeats (dotted quarter notes) are heard in each measure and each macrobeat is divided into three microbeats (eighth notes). Metre is not determined by how many notes are grouped in a measure rather, how macrobeats are divided into microbeats and audiated, regardless of the time signature (Gordon, 2012). To understand this further, let us take a look at the Christmas carol “Silent Night”. The following table shows “Silent Night” notated in a variety of time signatures using rhythm syllables based on beat functions below the staff, and variances to counting with numbers based on fractional values above the staff.
A great example of the difference between time signature and metre can be found in the time signature of 6/8. At some point, most of us have been taught that 6/8 is compound duple metre. The time signature of 6/8 is labeled as compound duple metre for the purposes of “teaching” the fractional values for notation and theory, but it does not reflect how we hear or audiate[1] rhythm. In the time signature 6/8, two macrobeats (dotted quarter notes) are heard in each measure and each macrobeat is divided into three microbeats (eighth notes). Metre is not determined by how many notes are grouped in a measure rather, how macrobeats are divided into microbeats and audiated, regardless of the time signature (Gordon, 2012). To understand this further, let us take a look at the Christmas carol “Silent Night”. The following table shows “Silent Night” notated in a variety of time signatures using rhythm syllables based on beat functions below the staff, and variances to counting with numbers based on fractional values above the staff.
Enrhythmic[2] Notation of Silent Night with Rhythm Syllables
Above the staff: numerical counting based on fractional values of notes.
Below the staff: rhythm syllables based on beat functions.
Above the staff: numerical counting based on fractional values of notes.
Below the staff: rhythm syllables based on beat functions.
The above examples show how complicated it can be for a child to count using fractional values as the basis for counting rhythm. (To be honest, I have used all forms of this type of numerical counting with my own students in the past.) Whether the time signature is 3/4, 3/8, 6/4, 6/8, the metre is triple. Chant the above excerpts (aloud) using both types of counting. Which has a more musical and rhythmic feel to it?
The question that now begs to be asked is, why is this important? When students understand music, they appreciate music more. They understand what they are listening to, or performing. The following is an example of how well using rhythm syllables works. Having used this approach with my (at the time) five year old son, after only a couple of months learning rhythm based on rhythm syllables and learning metre first, we thought we would do an experiment with him. During church we were singing a hymn, one in which was unfamiliar to him, and we asked him, “What metre is this in?” He stopped his fidgeting, listened, moved to the macrobeats, audiated the microbeats, and whispered, “Duple metre!” He was correct. It is not uncommon he will hear a song on the radio, TV, stereo, or at a concert and ask, “What is this in?” referring to the “meter” of the piece. Going through the process of parital synthesis[3] we figure out the answer together. He is now at the stage where upon hearing something he will ask, “Is this in duple metre?” So far, he’s been accurate 98% of the time. In the incidences where he is not correct, we bridge back to the partial synthesis level to establish the answer.
As the above example illustrates, when rhythm syllables are based on beat functions and not fractional values of notes, children can easily and effectively associate the familiar rhythm patterns with music and sounds. After children have learned to audiate beat functions and metre, they are able to group durations in terms of rhythm patterns and, thus, phrase music expressively. Rhythm syllables based on beat functions advance a feeling of movement with weight and flow, as well as time and space, when performing rhythm patterns. The flexibility of rhythm syllables, based on beat functions lend themselves to, and are appropriate for all styles of music (Gordon, 2012).
The question that now begs to be asked is, why is this important? When students understand music, they appreciate music more. They understand what they are listening to, or performing. The following is an example of how well using rhythm syllables works. Having used this approach with my (at the time) five year old son, after only a couple of months learning rhythm based on rhythm syllables and learning metre first, we thought we would do an experiment with him. During church we were singing a hymn, one in which was unfamiliar to him, and we asked him, “What metre is this in?” He stopped his fidgeting, listened, moved to the macrobeats, audiated the microbeats, and whispered, “Duple metre!” He was correct. It is not uncommon he will hear a song on the radio, TV, stereo, or at a concert and ask, “What is this in?” referring to the “meter” of the piece. Going through the process of parital synthesis[3] we figure out the answer together. He is now at the stage where upon hearing something he will ask, “Is this in duple metre?” So far, he’s been accurate 98% of the time. In the incidences where he is not correct, we bridge back to the partial synthesis level to establish the answer.
As the above example illustrates, when rhythm syllables are based on beat functions and not fractional values of notes, children can easily and effectively associate the familiar rhythm patterns with music and sounds. After children have learned to audiate beat functions and metre, they are able to group durations in terms of rhythm patterns and, thus, phrase music expressively. Rhythm syllables based on beat functions advance a feeling of movement with weight and flow, as well as time and space, when performing rhythm patterns. The flexibility of rhythm syllables, based on beat functions lend themselves to, and are appropriate for all styles of music (Gordon, 2012).
Endnotes:
[1] Audiate or Audiation is a term coined by Edwin E. Gordon. Most of us will understand it as “inner hearing” or hearing music in our mind. However, audiation goes a step further to include hearing with comprehension. It involves hearing and comprehending in one’s mind sound that is not present, or may never have been physically present. It is not imitation or memorization, but rather hearing music in our head with comprehension. A simple example of audiating would be hearing music in our head and understanding that what we are hearing is in usual triple metre and in major tonality.
[2] Enrhythmic: Rhythm patterns that sound the same but are notated differently. Also, different time signatures are used to notate the same sounding meter. Enrhythmic is to rhythm notation and audiation what enharmonic is to tonal notation and audiation (Gordon, 2012, p. 394).
[3] Partial Synthesis: A level of discrimination learning that children go through when learning music. At this level of learning, students audiate the tonality of series of familiar tonal patterns and metre of a series of familiar rhythm patterns (Gordon, 2012, p. 405).
[1] Audiate or Audiation is a term coined by Edwin E. Gordon. Most of us will understand it as “inner hearing” or hearing music in our mind. However, audiation goes a step further to include hearing with comprehension. It involves hearing and comprehending in one’s mind sound that is not present, or may never have been physically present. It is not imitation or memorization, but rather hearing music in our head with comprehension. A simple example of audiating would be hearing music in our head and understanding that what we are hearing is in usual triple metre and in major tonality.
[2] Enrhythmic: Rhythm patterns that sound the same but are notated differently. Also, different time signatures are used to notate the same sounding meter. Enrhythmic is to rhythm notation and audiation what enharmonic is to tonal notation and audiation (Gordon, 2012, p. 394).
[3] Partial Synthesis: A level of discrimination learning that children go through when learning music. At this level of learning, students audiate the tonality of series of familiar tonal patterns and metre of a series of familiar rhythm patterns (Gordon, 2012, p. 405).
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