Tempo and Counting

[swim4ever_22]

Hey everyone. The title of the topic is pretty self-explanatory. Whenever I play, I never count the music. Is this bad? Should I be counting the music everytime I play it? For me, trying to focus on counting, like "1 and 2 and 3......" makes me not able to actually enjoy and listen to the music that I play. And I also have problems with tempo. I either play too fast or too slow, and whenever I try to use a metronome, I can't get myself to mesh well with the ticking. Any advice or thoughts?

[hyrst]

Persist with counting and the metronome - especially if you have the rhythm problems you have stated.  You will find it much quicker to get past rhythm problems if you use the metronome - I would dare to say if you don't you will probably be stuck with the same problems and they will become a habit hard to break.

It can be very frustrating and confusing to play with a metronome, especially at first.  Before doing this, though, you need to be able to count your way through the section of music you are applying the metronome to.

So, choose a small section - a phrase or a bar.  Start with an easy one, not one with dotted rhtyhms or such.  Work out the counting in your head.  Play and count deliberately and slowly.  Set the metronome to a comfortably slow speed - try about 60 for a start.  Slow down your playing and settle into the metronome.  Don't think necessaraily about the music, but the beat at this point.  Go over the same passage repeatedly for several minutes.  Once settled into a slow tempo, you can gradually increase the speed a little at a time and repeat the process.

If you still can't play to the metronome, clap the patterns of each hand one at a time for a couple of minutes and then try one hand playing at a time.

If you set yourself a rhythm task like this for several days in a row, you should start to find that you become more comfortable with the metronome.  We usually find it impossibly hard when our timing is quite out - which is when we need it the most.  So, being difficult means you really need to keep trying.

About enjoying the music - although in the short term counting and the metronome seem to get in the way of the music, you are likely to find that once you settle into using the metronome and a rhythmic pulse becomes more a part of you, then the music will also seem clearer to you.  You will play with more precision and this produces better clarity and sound.  You stop concentrating on the tapping metronome and it becomes a part of what you can feel instead.  You tune in better to the music.  This means you will understand the music better.  Another benefit is that a good sense of pulse allows you to play more efficiently and thus at greater speeds accurately when the music asks for it.  So, you are lookign at a short term task for a long term investment.

[timothy42b]

very good advice from hyrst.

One thing I do with the handbell choir I direct is to have them clap rhythms with a lot of off beats.  Eighth notes, syncopated patterns, especially.  My theory is that the effort to produce the AND forces you to come up with the On Beat internally and helps you with that comfortable pulse. 

[ramseytheii]

Hey everyone. The title of the topic is pretty self-explanatory. Whenever I play, I never count the music. Is this bad? Should I be counting the music everytime I play it? For me, trying to focus on counting, like "1 and 2 and 3......" makes me not able to actually enjoy and listen to the music that I play.

Oh, you don't count?  Does that affect your performances at all?

And I also have problems with tempo. I either play too fast or too slow, and whenever I try to use a metronome, I can't get myself to mesh well with the ticking. Any advice or thoughts?

Got it!


Walter Ramsey

[keyofc]

Swim,
I would have to agree with Hyrst - it is really important to take the time to count and then use metronome.
Also - I think a lot of people think the metronome is the problem, but later realize the metronome identifies the problem and helps in the long run.
Please stick with it - the metronome is like having a friend that drives you nuts - the longer you know them - you realize they are your best friend and you feel more comfortable with them.

[driz]

My brother scolded me for that, changing the tempo constantly and all.

Like hyrst said, best try a metronome, once you get the beat and stick to that, you're good.

If you're really unused to it, what I did was I got the music and played it while I played ((in a VERY soft volume)) so that if I realized I was getting too fast too far ahead I'd slow down, or speed up if I was falling behind. After doing this a few times I sorta saw how I was messing up and eventually got used to the real tempo. It's kind of like a game this way.

[nia_kurniati]

So for you that counting is not a problem, do you count by speaking in your heart or by body movement?

[jgallag]

So for you that counting is not a problem, do you count by speaking in your heart or by body movement?

I would say that the experience of the sheer volume of music over the years (from piano lessons, band, chorus, festivals, etc.) makes counting simpler music an internal process. However, I'm also an above-average sight-reader, so that may account for part of it. If the score is clear, there is normally no need for counting. There is no speaking at all (although I must admit I have no clue what speaking in your heart could mean, perhaps subvocalization?).There is always, however, a need for a metronome.

As for body movement, of course there is "counting" in body movement, but such movement is never simply for counting. We often talk about body movements as though it is possible to detach our playing from them, that is, play the piano without moving the body. Of course, the realization of the notation on the page will always involve movement, and being able to feel the rhythm as well as read and hear the rhythm is important. Counting is a way to figure out where you are in the measure. Such is not necessary, in fact, in our sight-singing classes we learn takadimi syllables for rhythm-reading instead of one-ee-and-uh. Having a system of reading rhythms is invaluable, in my opinion, but you should be able to tell which beat of the measure you're in (unless it's ridiculous, like 7/8, though even then it's not unreasonable) without having to count at all. After all, most measures only have four beats, and rarely more than six (let's ignore modern music for the moment). I've got more fingers than that and I can keep track of all of them. I don't count from my thumbs every time I want to figure out which number goes with my ring finger.

I bet that makes no sense at all, but hey.