Rhythmic awareness

[jicetp]

Hi

Any tips to get better at rhythm ?

I know there are different levels where I can make some progress :

- rhythm reading. I know I am not familiar with every and single rhythmic combination I might encounter

- rhythm ' awareness ' : where is located every subdivision. I mean sometimes the 2nd and/or 4th 16th of the beat can be ' hard ' to feel. These kind of ' tricky ' rhythms....

- instrumental rhythm : when you know when the note is but the actual playing is ...how to say it...delayed


I kinda of know how to approach these but I 'd be interested with your input on these subjects, maybe some methods/books/YT videos whatever....

Thanks

JiCe

[kehaulani]

This is a simple answer, but do you use a metronome?
(D
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[stuartissimo]

Rythm (and timing) is the one aspect of playing I never really struggled with, so I'm not sure if I'm the right person to comment on this, but I usually apply a combination of the following:

[zaferis]

And the forgotten aspects of time and rhythm accuracy is articulation, emphasis, and note shape.
Articulations can be sluggish, as an example, causing inaccuracies.
Emphasizing notes in the wrong place can make an accurately placed pattern sound out of time or phase, and create false security.
And note shape can make things sound out, sluggish, etc.

Metronome work, YES. but also all the other aspects of playing the instrument will cause or hide poor rhythm/time.
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[kehaulani]

You can do the research, but there are books that develop sight reading. What you want is not one that just teaches random rhythm groups, but that presents them organized with the most common rhythnic patterns to ones lesser used ones. And, technically, progressively. That is, simplist to more complex combinations.

Do them with a metronome.

Learn to "read ahead". That means, you are looking to what comes ahead, while you are playing your present rhythm. You will eventually learn recognizable patterns that you don't have to think
about.

Record yourself. You may think you have played rhythms correctly, while in the heat of battle yet, you don.t. The recorder doesn't lie.

(I think Rhythms Complete is a good starting place. They are jazz rhythms -the author is "Bugs" Bower for Pete's sale - but you can play them straight. Sold by Charles Colin.)
_________________
"If you don't live it, it won't come out of your horn." Bird

Yamaha 8310Z Bobby Shew trumpet
Benge 3X Trumpet
Benge 3X Cornet
Adams F-1 Flghn

[kehaulani]

p.s. the above refers to sight reading but that's the goal of rhythm studies, IMO, don't think the one cancels out the other. Same thing.
_________________
"If you don't live it, it won't come out of your horn." Bird

Yamaha 8310Z Bobby Shew trumpet
Benge 3X Trumpet
Benge 3X Cornet
Adams F-1 Flghn

[SMrtn]

[JoseLindE4]

Use the metronome like Victor Wooten teaches:

1. Systematically cutting the click in half, decreasing the metronome information to develop the sense of internal time. So play a passage with the metronome at 160; then the same playing tempo but with the met at 80; and again at 40, 20…
2. Move the placement of the click (e.g., click on the and of 4).
3. Use a slow click and odd subdivisions of the click (say 5 beats per click), which moves the placement of the click around the bar.

https://youtu.be/9X1fhVLVF_4

[kalijah]

And, do the opposite as well. Run the metronome VERY fast at 2 or 4 times the quarter note tempo (3 or 6 times for triplet, swing and shuffle rhythms) and practice at slow and deliberate base tempos. This is great tool for locking-in your rhythmic habits for various rhythmic figures. Play MANY repetitions.

[mafields627]

You could also look into something like this: https://completerhythmtrainer.com/en/

One of the difficulties of improving rhythm is if we don't have anything to base accuracy off of. Also, do you have a counting system that you use?
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No representation is made that the quality of this post is greater than the quality of that of any other poster. Oh, and get a teacher!

[JRoyal]

Your initial post hit on the main areas, internal mental/aural development and then the coordination of technique.

A book like Edwin Gordon’s ‘learning sequences in music’ can help you fill in some of the conceptual stuff. Active listening(listening with score) and audiation practice will help with the internal. As prior mentioned, having a counting system is a starting point as well as understanding the bigger picture of theory, time and meter.

For coordination something simple like a single pitch with rhythmic permeations can be very effective. Things like Breathing gym flow check patterns, Caurso ex 22, the low note articulation warm up in the Vizutti books, Arban page 44 slurs, Bond p. 89, etc….Do them with metronome and things like Aebersold backing tracks at a variety of tempos and this overlaps with baseline articulation practice we should be doing anyway.

Ultimately you are developing time and rhythm, they aren’t quite the same thing and simply playing along with a metronome , while important, will only get you so far without the larger conceptual frame work and internalization.

[Voltrane]

[Andy Del]

I could have written a very long post, as you’ve made me think long and hard about my sense of pulse and rhythm… I tend to annoy people by be8ng a bit too accurate…

Bottom line. THINK AND COUNT. Every beat of every bar of every piece you play or listen to. Don’t even pick the horn up to play unless there is a pulse up and running - ever. Long notes included. Chuck the how to books and associated monetising. Just count everything.

Once you do this, issues will melt away.
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so many horns, so few good notes...

[mafields627]

[Voltrane]

ok 👍

Many thanks.
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