Nail Your Next Concert with Better Rhythm
If you’re a Rhythm Faker, then I bet your practice often looks like pulling up a piece you struggled with in rehearsal and running through some bits trying to get your fingers familiar with the notes.
Maybe going slow (and out of time) so you can hit the notes, or trying to play up to tempo with Fast Finger Freakout (also out of time) banging your head against the wall over and over again hoping that your fingers will find the notes with a few (hundred) more repetitions.
At least that’s what it looked like for me when I used to get so frustrated practicing with the metronome that I would actually kick my stand across the room! Thankfully, I haven’t had that problem for over a decade since I learned a rhythm/metronome exercise in my winter percussion ensemble that I will be sharing in my next post.
But first, I want to share a little about why learning to love the metronome is so necessary for your musical journey.
You see, practicing with True Rhythm Mastery, where you fully understand and can confidently execute rhythm in the context of the steady beat, takes practice from just finger wiggling (and hoping to eventually get the notes) to deliberately programming the music into your brain, which is so much more productive and satisfying!
What's the difference?
Much LESS focus on learning the notes!
Trust me, the notes aren't the problem. In fact, I am willing to bet that none of the notes in whatever music you are working on are completely new to you. You have seen and played all of them before, so it isn’t actually the notes you need to learn…
You need to learn them in context!
When you get off or fall behind in rehearsal it isn’t because you don’t know the notes, it is because you aren’t playing them in the context of the right timing, AKA rhythm.
When you put the context of timing in, by using the metronome (even at a really slow tempo), you start to learn the actual music rather than just the notes…which you already know.
So as you start learning, or finish refining, the pieces for your next concert, promise me that you will think about playing with a steady rhythm. Even if you are just getting started, I guarantee doing smaller, slower chunks with more attention to the rhythm will yield significantly more satisfying and productive practice!
Happy In Time Practicing,
Josh
P.S. If you can’t wait for the next post to learn the exercise that ended my frustration with the metronome, then you can go to https://www.