What common pitfalls occur in the teaching of rhythmic subdivisions?

 

My colleague Craig Sale and I have swapped departments this issue by each contributing an article in the other’s subject area. Both essays deal with avoiding common teaching pitfalls. It has been stimulating for us to focus on different areas, and we hope that you will find our discussions useful and thought-provoking.

I very much enjoyed reading Craig’s thorough yet succinct exploration of the basics in the teaching of rhythm. One elemental concept that he developed rang out the loudest to me: the reminder that pulses are either added or subdivided, but that in an artistic musical performance these two processes are not interchangeable. For example, the following two excerpts may represent the same timing, but they certainly don’t represent the same rhythm (i.e., musical feeling):

Unfortunately, many educational publishers perpetuate this problem by using rhythms such as these in supplementary materials at the early levels. Craig’s insistence that quarter notes not be counted and felt as two eighths (in common meters) is critical, because it touches upon the most common misunderstanding of this principle.

I was surprised to discover at various times over the years that some of my older beginners already had a bad habit in this regard, even before I had introduced eighth notes! It turned out that they were already playing another instrument in school band, and some thought they were supposed to count eighth notes continuously if a piece had eighth notes anywhere in it. They didn’t realize that this is a common rehearsal technique used by conductors to help student ensembles (usually quite large!) achieve accurate timing of a difficult passage, and that they should dispense with the “training wheels” once that task is accomplished.

Since we piano teachers have the luxury of working with just one or a few students at a time, we can get right to the nitty-gritty of teaching pulse and helping our students experience the addition and subdivision of pulses as two different feelings. Craig’s article elaborates on this, and more.

Pulse is a feeling

by Craig Sale

Rhythm is a complicated and fascinating musical element. It is mathematical and can be understood “in the head” and yet, to be truly musical, it must also be understood “in the body.” Likewise, one could say that subdivisions can be understood as a rhythm “in the head,” but in order to be rhythmic they must be understood “in the body.”

The key to successful teaching of rhythmic subdivisions is pulse awareness. If this is not taught from the beginning of study, the teaching of subdivisions is bound to fail. This neglect of pulse during the first months of study is, I believe, the most common pitfall. All future rhythmic learning depends on how pulse and rhythm are introduced to and experienced by the beginning student. Therefore, any discussion of teaching rhythmic subdivisions must start at the introduction of pulse at the beginning of study.

Beginning pulse and counting

Pulse cannot be taught through words. Pulse is a feeling. In fact it is something our bodies feel and relate to every living day. Of course we rarely focus our awareness on our body’s pulse; but it is a feeling that our bodies know. Focusing our rhythmic understanding on pulse makes biological sense. Our job as musicians is to develop awareness of pulse. To assist our students in this task, all we need to do is “amplify” pulse through the use of whole body movement.

I begin teaching pulse at a beginning student’s interview. Many teachers use marching as the main full-body activity; some sway. I prefer using a strong arm swing. Students raise a hand high and let it fall with great energy across the front of their body and then swing back up. It should be done athletically. If there is no energy employed in whatever full-body motion you use, the true feeling of pulse will not be communicated. It is also essential in these early stages for the student to vocalize while swinging the pulse. Whether counting or saying words of a rhyme, the student will “hear” and feel the pulse in their voice when the body is enacting the pulse.

This pulse is then equated with the quarter note, i.e. each quarter note gets one swing/pulse. This pulse is the cornerstone for all other rhythms to be learned and studied in simple meters. Everything else consists of either adding or subdividing pulses.

In my curriculum, students in their first year of study work with additions of pulse—the half note, dotted half note, and whole note—in a variety of simple meters. We use the following activities in our experience of pulse:

• Swing and say the words
• Dash and say the words (marking a dash under the notes for each pulse as we say the words)
• Walk and say the words (taking a step for each pulse as we say the words)

We focus on counting while feeling the pulse with these activities:

• Point and count
• Tap and count

Introduction of Simple Meters

While first learning how to count basic note values, my students use unit counting—i.e. “1” for quarter notes, “1 – 2” for half notes, “1 – 2 – 3” for the dotted half note, and so on. Together we see that sometimes music is “measured off” into equal numbers of counts. We mark measure bars on previously unmeasured pieces by “counting four quarter-note swings” and then drawing a vertical line. We then see that a sign, i.e. the time signature, can be placed at the beginning of the piece to tell us how many quarter-note counts or pulses are in each measure. These activities not only prepare the student for the presentation of the time signature—they also prepare them for metric counting, which we begin as soon as time signatures are presented.

Once the time signature is introduced we learn to do the “count off.” (This is also called a pre-count.) We see the time signature and see how many counts are in each measure, and we then “count off with a steady pulse” at least one measure before beginning to tap or play the piece. The student continues counting metrically while playing or tapping the piece. Neglecting to train the student to do the “count off” is one of the common pitfalls in the teaching of pulse. It takes time and perseverance, but once it is established as part of the student’s regular routine, many problems are avoided. When students are able to “count off” and continue counting out loud on their own, you know that they can take their awareness of pulse into their practice at home.

Subdivision of the pulse

It is usually at the beginning of the students’ second year that they learn about eighth notes—or, in terms of pulse, how to subdivide the pulse. This new experience is only successful if 1) the student has learned how to feel and count a steady rhythmic pulse during the first year of study; and 2) the student receives ample preparation experiences with eighth notes before they are presented.

In the Autumn 2007 issue of Keyboard Companion, Joan Fasullo presented the process of preparing for eighth notes in wonderful detail. Included in this process was a constant use of the quarter-note pulse. After many experiences of saying eighth-note rhythms on the neutral syllable “nah” while swinging the pulse, students begin echoing rhythms counted out loud by the teacher. This is followed by clapbacks and then playbacks at the piano. All of these steps depend on the student counting out loud and feeling the quarter-note pulse. During these steps a quarter note is never counted as two eighths, i.e. “1-&” or “1-a.”

The downfall for most of us comes when the notation is presented and the student tries to play pieces using the new rhythm. When first reading eighth notes, a very slow tempo is often required. Unless the teacher and student clearly establish a strong quarter-note pulse in the count off (and continue counting while playing) the student will most likely not hold the quarter notes long enough.

The usual response to this problem is to ask the student to count eighth notes during the quarter notes. However, once we do this we are failing to teach subdivision of the pulse—the eighth note has become the pulse and we are continuing to teach rhythms only as “additions” of pulse with the quarter note now felt as two pulses.

Whenever this happens, stop everything! Have the student re-establish what they know—the steady quarter-note pulse—at a slow tempo. Then begin playing and counting again.

Why not count eighth note subdivisions during longer note values?

Let me share a personal testimony. Like so many others, my own early training was non-pulse oriented. It was the typical mathematical approach in which you just played eighth notes twice as fast as quarter notes. This doesn’t mean that I never felt a pulse—our bodies do this naturally. So, to this very day, I can be sight-reading and then suddenly find myself rhythmically disoriented when the overall note values change to slower or faster values. Is it that I don’t know how to count rhythms? Hardly. I know how to count the passage, but I have no idea of how to feel it, because at that moment I am unaware of the pulse I am feeling. I believe we create this same physical confusion in our students when we ask them to count two eighth notes on every quarter note. While it may help them play the piece “correctly” at the moment, it establishes a confusion that can haunt them for a lifetime.

Reinforcing rhythmic subdivisions

There are many ways to help reinforce the feeling of quarter-note pulses while using eighth notes, especially in group lessons. Divide the class into two groups—one half claps or drums the pulse while the other half claps eighth notes. Then ask them to switch note values on command. When working on repertoire it is often very effective to have the class count the beats (not the rhythm) out loud while a student plays a piece using eighth notes.

After eighth notes have been presented in the context of a quarter-note pulse, I often have students do the following activity. First we chant “Yankee Doodle” while stepping (or marching around the room if space allows!) quarter notes. Then we do it again stepping the actual rhythm of the notes. Nothing communicates rhythm better than feeling it! No words or explanations are needed when quarter notes and eighth notes are experienced in this way.

Many times we try to use words to express rhythmic feeling, and we end up only complicating matters. As Frances Clark said, “Our problem is words.” Rhythm is best taught with a minimum of words and a maximum of experiences.

How many beats are in a dotted quarter note?

Other than eighth notes, the rhythm that is most likely to derail a teacher and student from their awareness of pulse is the dotted quarter followed by an eighth note. Again, ample preparation is key to success with this rhythmic pattern.

Using the names of states with four syllables, I have students clap and say a steady quarter note rhythm:

Then I have them echo the same state using the dotted quarter rhythm:

Another week I will say the state using the quarter-note rhythm and ask them to answer with the dotted-quarter rhythm. It is also fun to do this activity using the names of students that are four syllables long.

Once this rhythm (which they have yet to see or name) is secure in these experiences, we begin more traditional clap and count backs as well as playbacks.

Pulse really comes into play when the actual notation of the rhythm is presented. I use an editing process utilizing what the student already knows about eighth notes and ties.

I never have to discuss “how many counts are on the dotted quarter note,” because we are dealing with subdivision of the pulse and not addition. To explain the dotted quarter as getting one and a half beats would be pointless. Rhythm is not math—it is a “feeling.” By the same token, to explain that a dotted quarter note gets three counts would be contrary to how the rhythm is felt, as well as confusing.

Other rhythmic considerations

Other rhythmic subdivisions, such as triplets and sixteenth notes, are equally successful for students when related to pulse. Imagine how difficult feeling triplet subdivisions would be for the student who has yet to successfully subdivide the pulse into two equal eighth notes! Triplet and sixteenth note rhythms can all be taught using preparation activities related to the quarter-note pulse such as the ones described above.

What about compound meter?

The key to success with compound meter lies again in those early experiences which teach the student how to feel a pulse. In 6/8 time there is no denying that there are six eighth notes in every measure. However, the organization of those eighth notes clearly presents a triple feeling. Regardless of how students are instructed to count in 6/8 time, there should be an emphasis on the first and fourth eighth notes, which represent the pulse.

If students have first experienced triplet subdivisions, “feeling” compound meter is quite easy. It is generally in the explanation of it that we confuse the student.

Teach the body

When subdivisions are taught within the context of pulse, a more rhythmic execution of the rhythm will occur. The most common pitfalls happen when we try to “explain” rhythms, or when they are done without the awareness of pulse. A child’s mind can easily understand the mathematical elements of rhythm, but that is not enough. We need to teach the child’s body to feel pulse and to feel rhythms that relate to that pulse. When we do this the child will understand and execute rhythms with vitality and musical flow.

 

In the next issue: How do you teach measure groupings (hypermeter) to your intermediate-level students

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