Ways to learn the Rhythm
Every time around you listen to a Singing Competition being judged, one common question that bothers you is the judges and their comment. Many times they point out flaws and deficits in the song the participants sang on stage.
To you, the song sounds perfect and flawless then why do they think it is wrong or faulty? You ask your friends or family, and they also have no idea most of the time. The problem is not in your hearing ability in case you doubt that.
Lack of awareness about the Rhythm is what makes you unable to understand the fine tunings of music.
Learning to understand Rhythm correctly
The first aspect is to analyze the music and learn the intricacies physically carefully. In simple language that means it is best first to feel the progress of the music rather than merely guessing it. This enables one to understand the fine tunings and note changes better.
It is a long process and does take time. Yes, keen hearing is essential, but it is more about the sensitivity and ability to differentiate the small changes in sound frequency. Practice makes anyone perfect, so over a while, things are bound to improve.
As a beginner, you can start by learning to tap beats with your feet as you sing notes of different duration along with it. It takes a few hours and follows a basic simple principle routine.
1. Start with the note "Da" and tap four beats with your feet
2. Once you are apt in it for the next routine reduce gap duration between notes to half
3. Once cleared, mix up both the notes and alternatively follow a four-beat and two beats to the note "Da."
4. Mixing up notes of different duration makes it easier to understand the basic Rhythm
5. When you are comfortable with the mixed beat, try learning to create a note with just one beat
6. Now combine the three types of notes you learned and play the Rhythm along. It will have a pattern of 4, 2, 1 and repeat.
7. When you tally the beats with a music sheet, you may see subdivisions too. However, those will become easier to do after a few practice sessions as you are already learning to divide the notations.
This is the basic concept of any Musical note. If you can manoeuvre well through these key basic notes, learning about more beautiful intricate subdivisions is much more comfortable. Necessary learning beatboxing skills help in building a better vocal percussiveness to control Rhythm better.
What are the types of Rhythm
The human brain produces natural Rhythmic patterns that are easily visible during the day to day activities like walking, cycling, etc. the human mind has a specific Neural basis that auto generates Rhythm.
Music corresponds to this Rhythmic pattern due to the muscle memory of everyday activities. This occurs due to the retained memory in the brain cortex. There are specific Rhythm patterns that the brain recognizes and thus helps in differentiating musical notes.
There are specifically four specific types of Rhythm on which all the musical notes are built. They 4 Rhythm groups are
1. E, ee, ee ee oooOOO!!!!!
2. m m m m M MM!!!!!!!
3. unh unh unhuh UNHUH! UNHUH!! UNHUH!!!!!!!
4. a a , a a aa, AAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!
Understanding encoded messages, and hidden notes in a Rhythm is critical as it consists of variation s in the intervals between beats. Specifically, understanding Rhythm is vital to decipher Morse Code, which is solely based on Rhythm recognition.
How is the Voice and Rhythm co-related?
Rhythm is one of the essential components of Voice. Vowel sound extensions, sliding of words together gives a specific tonality to the Voice and thus helps in accentuating the accent. A controlled flow of words with uniform beat drops in between gives a neutral tine to the Voice, which is what most public speakers are taught about. This gives a harmonious and comfortable pace to the words being uttered beside crystal clear clarity of concepts.
Are Rhythm and melody the same thing?
Rhythm and melody are two different segments of music. They are nowhere the same thing. Though they are related, they cannot be compared. It's the teamwork of both of them combined that gives the music a proper synchronization.
Melody is a combination of notes being played at different pitches. These pitches can be repetitive or singular. They are performed in a specific organized pattern.
Rhythm is the implementation of a specific beat at a particular duration for every note. Rhythm creates the baseline for the melody to float over it. It is thus continually creating a range of articulated pulse for the melody to take precedence.
Seven crucial keynote exercise to improve your Rhythm
1. Understand the Rhythm - The steady pulsation during a musical notation, if referred to as a beat. This beat is what forms the baseline of any Rhythm, as mentioned in the beginning. Getting an idea of the gaps and drops between each beat helps in building a better Rhythm
2. Learn to count the beats and match with the tempo - The number of beats per notation is essential to learn about. Parallel to it is the tempo of the music. The tempo and beat drops go hand in hand and vary for every lyric sheet.
3. Combine your hand and heart to get a clearer picture - The pulse of the wrist and the heartbeat are a great way to coordinate beats with. The pulse follows a continuous rhythmic pattern that can help you in understanding beats better.
4. Record and Play - As you start getting a better perception of your skills, you can record your musical note minus any background score and replay it to identify the faults and discrepancies and correct them while playing the next set. Continuously doing so, will enable you to get better clarity of your mistakes and weak focal points.
5. Clap and learn - Start with a song with straightforward notes like Jingle Bell. The perception of the notes and claps based on the performance of the beats is a collaborative effect of multiple brain functions
6. Try to see Rhythm - Contrary to popular belief; Rhythm is not always about feeling and hearing. Rhythm is recorded in the lyric sheet as Rhythmic dictation. Seeing them as you practice, gives a clearer picture as to what you need to work on. SImple half and quarter notes are often done incorrectly unknown to us. The rhythm dictation helps in understanding these changes better.
7. Use different instruments to understand Rhythm better - Every device has a different rhythm timing. On the first instance, this can be not very clear. As you start practising and referring to various musical instrument rhythms, you begin understanding beet drops and notes better.
Rhythm is more about hearing
, seeing and feeling combined in a practised manner. It does not require special abilities but hard work and a deep understanding of musical notations.
Author: Frank Taylor