How Rhythm Really Works

Myth: Counting beats & naming note values teaches rhythm to young minds.

Truth: Counting beats & naming note values leaches rhythm from young bodies.

Before reading this post watch baby Cory work his way through the effort elements that lead to rhythmic readiness.  Cory is practically a primer in rhythm in and of himself.  Plus, cuteness!!!   Specifically, watch him:

• Exploring movement (beginning-00:30), then
• Briefly controlling FLOW (00:30-00:37), then 
• Controlling WEIGHT SHIFTS (torso sways & body bounces), then
• Combining FLOW + WEIGHT SHIFT to feel TEMPO (on his knees at 1:08)
• Link to Baby Cory

...only meter coordination remains before he's ready to learn a full vocabulary of rhythm patterns!!  The simple truth about rhythm learning is we all must be Cory before we can be Beyonce.

How Rhythm Really Works

Brain-Friendly, Research-Confirmed Ways We Learn to be Rhythmic

Continuing Professional Development Seminar, 22-04-2009

presented by:  Ron Malanga—Learning Network Leader for Music, GEMS

Movement Yields Rhythm

Most people assume the reverse is true.  But factually, we don't move our bodies because we are rhythmic, we are rhythmic because we move our bodies.  Read on!!

Metric Movement + Patterns = Rhythm

"All music has one factor in common: symmetry. The balance that derives from the physical biformity of the human being creates in us an aesthetic demand.” –Leonard Bernstein

Lenny’s right, of course, but it’s not only about symmetry.  What follows is how body movement engenders rhythm. 

1.    COORDINATION allows us to move in continuous, curvy, relaxed ways called...

2.    FLOW.  Moving our whole bodies with flow requires use of...

3.    SPACE. In flowing through space we feel the imbalance of our shifting…

4.    WEIGHT. Flowing through space while shifting weight teaches balance; a felt...

5.    SYMMETRY. Flowing through space while shifting body weight symmetrically is:

6.    TEMPO (aka Macrobeats). Maintaining tempo in large muscles while dividing it into 2's or 3's in small muscles (microbeats) yields the rhythmic context of…

7.    METER.  This physically felt macro/micro-beat interaction gets overlaid with…

8.    PATTERNS yielding musical RHYTHM (patterns within meter).

(BTW, Baby Cory, briefly coordinates himself to TEMPO.  These things are learnable!)

If the sequence above is challenging to comprehend, try this:  picture how blind pianists typically move. That's #3 above: flowing through space.  And it's doubtful they learned to do it by watching one another! Next, picture how rappers move.  They’re showing us the macrobeat and microbeat interactions of meter. They’re flowing through space shifting their body weight symmetrically (macrobeats) while divide that into microbeats with their hands.  Lastly, of course, they're rapping.  They are generating audible patterns over an inaudible kinesthetically felt meter.  That's rhythm.

When working with my young students, I simply tell them rhythm is a 4-layer cake.  From the bottom up:  Flow--Weight--Meter--Patterns.  Layers 1-3 are felt.  Only layer 4 is heard, but layers 1-3 are the important thing!!  (Ask Cory!  His silence is very telling.)

˂---Patterns

˂---Meter

˂---Weight

˂---Flow


Memorize this!!  It solves so many rhythmic challenges:  Flow before weight, weight before meter, meter before patterns.

Metronomic Muddles & Foot-Tapping Futility

Students who speed up and slow down have a very limited sense of flow in space.  Most teachers misdiagnose these tempo problems as BEAT problems.  It’s true that the ictus (that millisecond of a moment where the beat belongs) keeps getting shunted about by those who rush or drag, but that's merely a symptom.  The cause of the problem is lack of control over the space between the beats.   And to learn to control the space between beats, students must first learn control over space.

Try this:  have your student repeatedly draw quite large infinity signs (like the number ‘8’ lying on its side) in mid-air while breathing in a relaxed manner.  Focus her attention on having her fingertip mirror how time flows.  Time doesn't speed up, slow down, or stop.

When you see large, relaxed, curvy pathways traveling at consistent speeds:  up the ante. Have her do the identical drawing, but with her wrist instead of a finger.  As long as she keeps breathing and her movements remain large, relaxed, curvy & consistent, keep raising the kinesthetic stakes.  Have her try it with her elbow, her shoulder, the center of her back, and finally her hips.

Sooner or later—and commensurate with the depth of her tempo problems—you will see a breakdown in fluidity & control.  Persons who constantly rush & slow even the simplest of patterns will struggle to mirror time with even a fingertip.  Whereas those with a marvelous 'sense of time’ will readily transmit fluidity and control to even the largest parts of their bodies.  [I put 'sense of time' in quotes above because it's a myth:  time is not a sense, it's a skill.  It is learned through movement.  It is NOT inborn!]

Fix time through flowing movements and 'beat' problems begin to vanish.  Actually anyone who walks into your classroom or studio under their own power has already mastered ‘beats’ or they’d be scarred up from falling down all the time (Remember: to the brain a beat is simply a felt or remembered imbalance).  What kids haven't mastered is time (i.e. ‘flow through space’).

This is why--if we're brutally honest with ourselves--we already know metronomes & foot tapping don't solve speeding up & slowing down problems.  The simple reasons are these: metronomes focus on the ictus, not the flow of time, and feet just don’t weigh enough to transmit a sturdy enough message to the mind. 

Time flows.  As students get up and physically mirror the flow of time with increasingly larger body parts they will internalize the most fundamental, but often overlooked aspect of rhythmic development: what Edwin E. Gordon refers to as 'flow'.  As flow becomes controlled, the beats (imbalances/weight) will begin to land where they belong because the space between each beat becomes consistent.

Everything above is about how rhythm works in humans.  
Everything below is how to work rhythm into humans. 

Separate Tone from Rhythm When Teaching

Before we get into how to sequentially make kids more rhythmic, try two easy tasks. First, count aloud from 1 to 10 as quickly as possible.  (Easy. but do it out loud!) Okay, now recite your ABC's aloud up to J.  Both were quick and effortless, correct?

OK, now try—out loud—to continue this pattern: A1, B2, C3, D4, etc...up to J10. Not so quick or effortless.  Why? Because simultaneously dealing with two different types of information slows our thinking.  

The tonal and rhythmic aspects of music are two different types of information. Efficient teaching requires we separate them just as we separate the teaching of counting from the teaching of the alphabet.  Basically, we separate tone & rhythm when teaching because the mind demands it, and we combine them when performing because the art demands it.

Initiating Rhythm Skill
This early childhood work cannot be skipped.  It must happen, even if it is long after chronological early childhood has passed.

1.    Model flow in your full body with (& especially without) music.

2.    Offer lots of chants & raps in all meters.

3.    After a rap, have students echo patterns in its meter.  Two-beat patterns are simplest when all the action is on beat one and just a single note on beat two. Older students can do four beat patterns featuring macro-/micro-beat patterns on 1 & 2, something more complex on beat three, & a single note on beat four.

4.    Expect (but don’t correct) inaccuracies.  Just echo what she does, then return to your original.  Your echo of her pattern, followed immediately by the original provides the means for her to begin to make the comparisons that refine rhythm.

Expanding Rhythm Skills

All musicians should develop a 'rhythm vocabulary'--a sort of mental dictionary of rhythm pattern content which have been integrated with the physical feelings of metric context.

Why Develop a Rhythm Vocabulary?  Knowing patterns within meter helps you to:

• Understand more of the rhythmic content you hear
• Improve your articulation style & phrasing in what you perform
• Read & write rhythmic aspects of music (we read/write by patterns)
• Move past exploration & into creativity, improvisation, & composition.

What follows are ways to use the pattern CD from Music Moves for Piano and/or the Audiation Assistant computer program for rhythm pattern vocabulary development. 

Be seated and move your torso with flow, your heels to the macro-beats & your hands to the micro-beats. While always moving as described, listen to some patterns & try these skills with/against those patterns:

1.     Don't echo. Instead respond with only macro-beats (literally rap what your heels are doing).

2.     Don't echo. Instead respond with only micro-beats (literally rap what your hands are doing).

3.     Alternate between macro-beat & micro-beat responses (alternate heel & hand raps).

4.     Echo the pattern you heard.

5.     Combine #3 & #4.  (Do a macro-beat response, then a micro-beat response, then an echo).

6.     Respond with a one ‘stuck’ pattern regardless of what you hear (ostinato).

7.     Respond with absolutely anything new.  Nonsense encouraged! [Create]

8.     Respond with a new pattern.  Nonsense discouraged!  [Answer] 

9.     Respond with a new pattern, but match the function you heard. [Improvise]

10. Repeat 1-9, using Gordon’s beat-function syllables.

11. Supply rhythm syllables after hearing patterns without syllables. [Translate] 

12. Echo syllable patterns while looking at their notation. [Start to Read]

13. Stretch your memory (Rap pattern #1 after pattern #2.  Rap #2 after #3, etc.)

14. Think in ensemble. (Rap pattern #1 while hearing #2.  Rap #2 during #3, etc.)

15. Repeat 13 & 14, using Gordon’s beat-function syllables

Marvelous rhythm skills can be developed if you follow this sequence with some type of pattern CD or pattern generator.  If you you're already quite skilled, try jumping to #13 or #14.  They're truly challenging & really fun!!

Extending Rhythm Skills

The infinite variety of rhythm challenges us to continually extend our rhythm skills by pushing the content & context difficulties ever upwards.  In terms of content, combine the skills above with increasingly difficult patterns.  The pattern difficulty sequence for the brain is different than the pattern difficulty you and I were taught.  Follow this sequence for maximum results:

1. M/m patterns—(only macro-beats & micro-beats)

2. Division patterns—(adding sub-divided micro-beats to the above)

3. Elongation patterns--(macro-beats or micro-beats extended)

4. Division/Elongation patterns—(combining #2 and #3)

5. Rest patterns--(measured silence is more difficult than measured sound)

6. Tie patterns—(a special type of elongation ‘tying’ one pattern to another)

7. Upbeat patterns—(pickups and anacrusis patterns)

In terms of increasing context difficulty, keep adding less familiar meters to your body’s kinesthetic repertoire.  Once comfortable with the Macro-/micro-beat movement of a new meter, start to engage in pattern work with that new meters.  A useful meter sequence follows: 

1. Duple meter—two micro-beats per macro-beat

2. Triple meter—three micro-beats per macro-beat

3. Duple combined meter—adding very frequent triplet patterns to overall duple meter

4. Triple combined meter—adding very frequent duplet patterns to overall triple meter

5. Quintuple meter (fives)—felt as 3+2 or 2+3.  Macro-beats are uneven in length.

6. Septuple meter (sevens)—felt as 2+2+3, or 3+2+2.  Macro-beats are uneven.

6. Unpaired meters—Macro-beats uneven and constantly shifting (odd 9's, 11's, etc.)

7. Intact micro-beat meters—think Stravinsky 'Sacrificial Dance' type stuff.

Style and Movement

Style is 9/10^ths movement.  Certainly we all recognize that each musical style has its particular meters, tempos & rhythms.  But in a more basic way, each style has its own characteristic combinations of the feelings of flow, weight, & space mentioned at the beginning of this article.  Developing a sophisticated control over each of these elements, through movement, affords one an infinite palette of stylistic options.  The most obvious exemplar of this truism is the movement variety we see in expressively great conductors. However, stylistic artistry is within reach of all who learn to feel, control, vary & combine each of these movement elements**.

FLOW—movements on a continuum from utterly free to tightly bound. 

WEIGHT--movements on a continuum from ponderously heavy to featherweight light.

SPACE—movements on a continuum from linearly direct to jaggedly indirect.

What follows are two examples of how these movement elements combine to affect style:

Ex. 1: In the blues style, FLOW must feel free and WEIGHT must feel light and SPACE should feel slightly drunkenly indirect.  Absent these movement elements, the blues lacks style and end up sounding more like a march (where FLOW is bound & WEIGHT is quite heavy and SPACE is rigidly direct).

Ex. 2: FLOW must feel constrained, WEIGHT heavy, and SPACE quite indirect in Bartok's Music for Strings, Perc. & Celeste, Mvt. 1.  If it isn't, then in spite of all the right notes in all the right places, the music-making will lack style.

**Laban experts often speedily note that I left out one movement element:  SPEED—movements on a continuum from lightning quick to glacially slow.  This is purposeful, because to me it’s a part of style covered by tempo decisions.**

….In all of this, if you remember nothing else, Cory gave us the super-succinct version of all rhythm learning: just move, baby!! J

Personal Note: Edwin E. Gordon’s Music Learning Theory provides the basis for just about everything in this blog. I urge all parents & teachers to discover the efficacy of MLT.  www.giml.org is a great place to start.