You Can Count…Until the Metronome Starts Ticking

According to Music Learning Theory, we should learn music the same way we would learn any native language, by hearing it first, then speaking, then reading and writing.

That’s why you are able to get the rhythm if you hear it first or are following along with the people around you (assuming they are actually right…).

But, if you think back to when you first learned rhythm, I bet your teacher didn’t follow that at all!

Most teachers start by explaining what a whole note, half note, quarter note, etc. looks like, how many counts they each get, and so on...

That’s reading!

Teaching that way is the equivalent of putting a book in front of an infant, explaining how to sound out the letters, and hoping they figure it out.

No wonder why you have to fake your rhythm and just follow along sometimes!

(Sorry for all of the !!!, effective music teaching gets me a little worked up!)

When you are taught rhythm this way, you end up being able to identify note values and even write in the counting, but you are missing the critical component of the underlying context for what those things mean.

Learning that context is what will allow you to look at any written rhythm and be able to hear it for yourself, without having to listen to someone else or a recording first.

So what is that underlying context, and what does this have to do with the metronome?

It has everything to do with the metronome! That is what’s missing!

It is the context of what the counting means in relation to the steady beat, that’s what I mean by True Rhythm Mastery!

In my next blog, I will be sharing a video that unpacks this idea further and will help free you from the Fake Rhythm Trap.

In the meantime, consider how you were taught rhythm, and how your rhythm, counting, and musical experience will improve once you fill in that missing context of the steady beat!

Happy Pondering,
Josh