Rythmn advice
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Rythmn advice
I have a HUGE problem. I'm an 11th grader. I'm pretty good at the flute but I have a major major weakness that holds me back from everything. Rythmns. I can't play them. I count them out loud and everything but I can never get them right. The only way I can get it right is if I hear it played by someone else. My flute teacher told me that my rythmnic pieces are 7th grade level although my other ones are High School. This makes me super nervous. I have my seating audition in two weeks and I don't know what to do. I can work on the piece but what if I get a rythmn tricky sight reading? I'll fail for sure. Can someone give me some advice on how to improve my rythmns?
I have problems with rhythms, too...
Thing that might help:
- Practice with a metronome on a regular basis. Instead of having it play the quarter note, you might have it play the eighth note at first (even on a duple meter piece) as it's easier to hear what's going on.
- When you count it, clap as well... that way you'll hear it. And use a metronome!
- Download GnuSolfledge, a free ear-training program, and do the rhythm training. It might help you internalize what the rhythms sound like.
- Basic Rhythmic Training or Rhythmic Training, both by Robert Starer might help, too. They're basically books with little short pieces composed only of rhythms. You play (clap, sing, stamp, conduct, whatever) the basic beat with one hand while you play an actual rhythm with the other. They start out really easy, but get quite difficult.
- You can also just practice sight-reading and really concentrate on the rhythms. Use a beginner's book at first.
- If you have a hard time feeling the beat, games like StepMania/Dance Dance Revolution or actually dancing MIGHT help. I've never seen someone say that it's helped them, but it would make sense if it did.
Anyway, most of these things take time. They'll start to help within those two weeks, but they won't make you great. So, for the audition itself:
- Take it slow. I don't care what tempo it says, take it slower. Seriously - most judges care a LOT more about rhythm than tempo. Unfortunately for us, they care more about it than anything else - so mess up notes if it helps you get the rhythm right. Obviously get them right if you can manage it.
- Never, EVER go back to fix a spot you messed up (in an audition). Do your best not to stop, either... just keep going along at a steady tempo. Fixing mistakes actually counts as a mistakes.
- Sub-divide. Again, give the eighth-note or even the sixteenth note the beat. This will make the rhythms less tricky - if you remember to do it throughout.
- Remember to hold long notes their full value. Some people get so uptight about the fast ones that they forget to do this.
- Calm down as much as possible. One of my problems is that I get really anxious - and anxiety freezes my brain, messes with my sense of time, tenses my muscles, etc.
I know that's a lot. I figured that if I gave you a lot of ideas, at least one might work... don’t get overwhelmed by looking at the list.
Thing that might help:
- Practice with a metronome on a regular basis. Instead of having it play the quarter note, you might have it play the eighth note at first (even on a duple meter piece) as it's easier to hear what's going on.
- When you count it, clap as well... that way you'll hear it. And use a metronome!
- Download GnuSolfledge, a free ear-training program, and do the rhythm training. It might help you internalize what the rhythms sound like.
- Basic Rhythmic Training or Rhythmic Training, both by Robert Starer might help, too. They're basically books with little short pieces composed only of rhythms. You play (clap, sing, stamp, conduct, whatever) the basic beat with one hand while you play an actual rhythm with the other. They start out really easy, but get quite difficult.
- You can also just practice sight-reading and really concentrate on the rhythms. Use a beginner's book at first.
- If you have a hard time feeling the beat, games like StepMania/Dance Dance Revolution or actually dancing MIGHT help. I've never seen someone say that it's helped them, but it would make sense if it did.
Anyway, most of these things take time. They'll start to help within those two weeks, but they won't make you great. So, for the audition itself:
- Take it slow. I don't care what tempo it says, take it slower. Seriously - most judges care a LOT more about rhythm than tempo. Unfortunately for us, they care more about it than anything else - so mess up notes if it helps you get the rhythm right. Obviously get them right if you can manage it.
- Never, EVER go back to fix a spot you messed up (in an audition). Do your best not to stop, either... just keep going along at a steady tempo. Fixing mistakes actually counts as a mistakes.
- Sub-divide. Again, give the eighth-note or even the sixteenth note the beat. This will make the rhythms less tricky - if you remember to do it throughout.
- Remember to hold long notes their full value. Some people get so uptight about the fast ones that they forget to do this.
- Calm down as much as possible. One of my problems is that I get really anxious - and anxiety freezes my brain, messes with my sense of time, tenses my muscles, etc.
I know that's a lot. I figured that if I gave you a lot of ideas, at least one might work... don’t get overwhelmed by looking at the list.
Martin Quin
What's the actual problem? Can you correctly read the rhythms? If you can, the problem may be slightly less obvious. I had a student who graduated this year and is now a music major, but we had a serious discussion early in her junior year, when she mentioned she'd like to get a music degree. She had a stupendous problem, not with reading or writing rhythms, but with recognizing and maintaining a steady pulse, the framework into which we place the rhythms. Otherwise, she was a potentially great player--beautiful tone, good intonation, pretty-good fingers, a great affinity for the piccolo, etc. I told her this problem must be fixed if she was going to even CONSIDER a career in music, and we discussed ways to fix it. We began by playing ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING--even long tones--with a metronome. She initially didn't see why she should play whole notes with a metronome, but eventually, the larger picture began to come into focus. She worked like a dog for about a year and a half, but her rhythm has really improved! Can you isolate your primary difficulty? 
it's a combination of keeping a pulse and as im keeping the pulse being able to count in my head. for example, dotted rythmns are something that get me. and if i mess up a rythmn or even a note. or if i take a breath in the wrong place i get off beat.MeLizzard wrote:What's the actual problem? Can you correctly read the rhythms? If you can, the problem may be slightly less obvious. I had a student who graduated this year and is now a music major, but we had a serious discussion early in her junior year, when she mentioned she'd like to get a music degree. She had a stupendous problem, not with reading or writing rhythms, but with recognizing and maintaining a steady pulse, the framework into which we place the rhythms. Otherwise, she was a potentially great player--beautiful tone, good intonation, pretty-good fingers, a great affinity for the piccolo, etc. I told her this problem must be fixed if she was going to even CONSIDER a career in music, and we discussed ways to fix it. We began by playing ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING--even long tones--with a metronome. She initially didn't see why she should play whole notes with a metronome, but eventually, the larger picture began to come into focus. She worked like a dog for about a year and a half, but her rhythm has really improved! Can you isolate your primary difficulty?
also, GnuSolfledge? where do i get that? I couldn't find it on google.
[quote="juneroses]
it's a combination of keeping a pulse and as im keeping the pulse being able to count in my head. for example, dotted rythmns are something that get me. and if i mess up a rythmn or even a note. or if i take a breath in the wrong place i get off beat.[/quote]
So you've probably heard this a billion times, but with dotted quarters you have to really feel the second beat or subdivide. Feeling the second beat is easier than subdiving sometimes so work on that. If you have any sheets of rythms you can write underneath where the meter is (ex. If you have a whole note, draw in four quarter notes underneath. With eight notes draw a quarter in on every other note etc..).
I don't know if that makes any sense to you. If it does it should help.
it's a combination of keeping a pulse and as im keeping the pulse being able to count in my head. for example, dotted rythmns are something that get me. and if i mess up a rythmn or even a note. or if i take a breath in the wrong place i get off beat.[/quote]
So you've probably heard this a billion times, but with dotted quarters you have to really feel the second beat or subdivide. Feeling the second beat is easier than subdiving sometimes so work on that. If you have any sheets of rythms you can write underneath where the meter is (ex. If you have a whole note, draw in four quarter notes underneath. With eight notes draw a quarter in on every other note etc..).
I don't know if that makes any sense to you. If it does it should help.
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FruityFlutie
- Posts: 36
- Joined: Tue Oct 11, 2005 7:35 pm
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I've always been very rhythmically oriented, don't know why, just like different rhythms.
Whenever I get a tricky one, I sit down, look at it, write out the counts and just think it in my head as I play. If you don't like that method, you could try this little exercise: Pick a tempo on the metronome (start out at an allegro and work your way up) and count a measure with 1 whole note, then a measure with 2 half notes, then 4 quarters, 8 eighths, 16 sixteenths. Then throw in dotted halves and dotted quarters and dotted 8ths. That'll get the basic feel for the basic beats. You can either clap your rhythms or sing them, but either way, it helps.
If, in a piece of music in band, you have problems with a particular rhythm, count it out, then write it down on the paper. Think it as you play.
Those are my two best methods for you. Hope that helps!
Whenever I get a tricky one, I sit down, look at it, write out the counts and just think it in my head as I play. If you don't like that method, you could try this little exercise: Pick a tempo on the metronome (start out at an allegro and work your way up) and count a measure with 1 whole note, then a measure with 2 half notes, then 4 quarters, 8 eighths, 16 sixteenths. Then throw in dotted halves and dotted quarters and dotted 8ths. That'll get the basic feel for the basic beats. You can either clap your rhythms or sing them, but either way, it helps.
If, in a piece of music in band, you have problems with a particular rhythm, count it out, then write it down on the paper. Think it as you play.
Those are my two best methods for you. Hope that helps!
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FruityFlutie
- Posts: 36
- Joined: Tue Oct 11, 2005 7:35 pm
- Contact: