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Dirty-South Blues Harp forum: wail on! > Understanding rhythms issues
Understanding rhythms issues
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jnorem
143 posts
Apr 03, 2014
9:13 PM
My goodness. This is clearly discussed in any decent music theory book. There's no mystery or interpretation, it's no more than a matter of learning and then knowing.
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Call me J
STME58
731 posts
Apr 03, 2014
11:43 PM
J, You are right of course, but not everyone learns well out of a book, especially if they are intimidated by the topic. I really think 1847 has it right when he says its only hard because you believe its hard.

I heard a great article on the radio a while ago applying this idea to math. One of the points was the culture in general says it is OK and perhaps even cool not to be math literate. Some people are almost proud of the fact they are poor at math. On the other hand , if you can't read, you keep quite about it. Even though there are some very successful people who can't read, they don't broadcast the fact. They probably go to great lengths to hide it. If we treated math like reading, its just something you need to learn and most everyone can get it, and it is almost shameful not to master it, most people probably would. I see a lot of similarity between math literacy and music literacy in this regard. In both cases, if you get over the fear, start slow, and don't go on to step two until you have step one mastered, you will reach levels of understanding faster than you might imagine.

I am trying to brush up on my skills as I return to playing music, and my music theory teacher from long ago told us that the best way to learn something is to teach it. Thinking about these questions and composing answers helps me reinforce what I know and find subtle insights I had not thought of before. Plus there are a lot of people on this forum who know a lot more than I do. If I am lucky I will get a correction if I have something wrong.

I taught a 4H rocketry class a few years ago and I had one of the students go from "I hate math, I don't see what it is good for" to "Hey, Steve, I showed my math teacher how to use those rocket stability equations you taught me". It would be cool if I could help someone in a similar way here, but I won't hold my breath.

Last Edited by STME58 on Apr 03, 2014 11:52 PM
laurent2015
681 posts
Apr 04, 2014
3:44 AM
Many thanks STME...Our brain is sometimes our worse enemy!
Now maybe jnorem can tell why the same piece can be written with different time signatures? What's the interest? I personnaly never read the answer out of a book.
timeistight
1546 posts
Apr 04, 2014
10:13 AM
'Don't confuse with "sense of rhythm": I think I feel it good, I very often comp the rhythms mechanically and generally follow the pace without problem.'

I guess I am confused about what you're having trouble with. You can feel the beat but you can't count it? Or what?
laurent2015
682 posts
Apr 04, 2014
3:32 PM
I feel the rhythm without problem, but I can't understand it. I mean that if you are in 6/8 or 4/4 or 5/4 for me it's the same when I listen to the music.
So yes, I cannot count correctly, even if I found the downbeat.
But now I got enough answers and advices to deal with!


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