Rhythm—It's Easy: A Method Book for Teaching Rhythm, Using 139 Original Duets with Computer Sequencing Software.
R. Gerry Long, Long's of Newport, Inc.
Description
Rhythm—It's Easy is a method book for teaching rhythm, with accompanying sequencing program. The book contains 139 original duets, organized to systematically introduce students to the major rhythmic challenges which they encounter between elementary school and college level. Each chapter also presents (a) rhythmic reading exercises, and (b) rhythmic scales to emphasize the rhythmic materials of the duets of each chapter. The accompanying software for Macintosh includes a self-contained sequencing program for playback of the duets. For IBM compatible computers the author provides MIDI files of the 139 duets, for importing into existing IBM programs such as Power Tracks Pro from PG Software, or Cake Walk from 12 Tone Systems.
The duets (all contrapuntal in nature) are for treble clef instruments, with the sequencing program transforming the computer—both Mac and IBM platform—into a duet partner. (Bass clef and alto clef versions are in preparation.) The student may call up any of the 139 duets, using MIDI or sound card play-back, with the following flexibility:
Unison play with either voice alone
Unison play with one voice while the other voice is produced by the computer
Solo play with the computer producing the other voice
Near total flexibility of tempo change. (At a slow tempo, the duets can be used to develop intonation acuity.)
Optional metronome which produces either the beat or the division of the beat (two divisions or three, depending on the beat type)
Full measure advance click for tempo preparation
Optional 2-second delay to allow student to get the instrument into position to play
Instant stop-rewind-start by touching the keyboard space bar twice
Alternate start point (measure number) for rehearsal purposes (with instant "rewind")
Optional "loop" for continuous play
Transposed play-back in keys of C, Bb, F, or Eb
When the duets of Rhythm—It's Easy are played while using the accompanying software, a number of computer aided techniques for developing musicianship become apparent. Since the initial purpose of the book is to develop rhythmic reading skills, our emphasis will be on that aspect of the method book's offerings.
However, the user should be additionally aware of the further possibility of using Rhythm -It's Easy as a tool to develop, a number of other important musical skills beyond basic rhythm:
1. Sight reading skills
2. Technical dexterity
3. Ensemble awareness
4. A sense of tempo-the mental clock
5. Intonation awareness
Application
In the following paragraphs we will describe the ways in which the materials of Rhythm—It's Easy may be used to develop the skills listed above.
To Develop Sight-reading Skills
After thoroughly practicing the measure patterns (columns of rhythmic patterns which focus on the rhythmic device being studied in a given chapter) and the rhythmic scales, the duets which follow become excellent sight reading exercises.
1. While both voices of a given duet are playing, play along in unison with one of the voices.
2. Play either voice, while only the metronome plays, relying on your reading ability.
3. Replace one of the voices while the computer/synthesizer plays the other voice.
4. Listen to both voices without playing to absorb in your mind how the two voices sound when played by the computer.
5 Replace either of the computer voices and try to imitate the quality of the performance you just heard.
To Advance Technical Skills
1. Pick out one of the duets which offers some technical challenge (only if you are rhythmically prepared for it) and begin very slowly, playing in unison with one voice only, the other voice being muted. Play just short fragments at a time, and try to imitate the accuracy which the computer displays. If you begin slowly enough, you will be able to master many passages which you thought to be beyond your ability. The secret is to master the passages first at a slower tempo, then accelerate only at the rate at which you can retain the accuracy. Most students dislike to play slowly, but it is that discipline which ultimately allows for complete accuracy of performance.
2. After you feel you have learned the first voice of the duet securely, learn the other voice the same way. After you have learned both voices, play one part with the computer playing the other part. Listen to the sound of the two instruments (you and the computer) together. Then re-activate both voices of the duet on the computer and, while not playing, just listen and compare. If you listen to the accuracy of the computer performance, your own concept of how you must learn the music will be improved. Once you have an "improved concept" in your mind, you will better be able to improve your instrumental ability. An improved "concept" leads to higher playing standards.
To Develop a Better Sense of Ensemble Awareness
1. Sing unison with one voice while the other voice is muted. The emphasis here should be on the rhythm, but be as accurate with the pitch as you can. Match the computer voice as perfectly as you can.
2. Sing unison with one voice while the both voices play. Here again, if you have trouble with the pitch of the voice you sing, do not be too concerned. The important thing here is to establish the correct rhythm of the voice you are singing, and not be distracted by the other voice. Most important is that you establish the correct rhythm in your mind, before you are overly involved with the technical aspects of your instrument, that is, bowing, overcoming a difficult fingering passage, and so forth.
3. After you are confident about the rhythm of the voice you have been practicing without your instrument, try the same duet voice with your instrument. Try it slowly at first. Remember to try to emulate the rhythm and musical quality you heard coming from the computer.
4. When you have learned to play one voice in unison with the computer as well as you can, try playing that voice as a duet with the other voice coming from the computer. While doing so, play as softly as possible, allowing yourself to focus your attention as much as possible on the voice coming from the computer/synthesizer. Always remember that the better you can visualize the other part, the better ensemble player you will become.
To Develop Tempo Consistency ("Mental Clock")
Select any duet and mute one voice. Without the metronome being activated, sing along in unison with the remaining voice, with the intention of developing a feeling for the tempo. Mute the remaining voice (using the "1" or "2" keys of the keyboard) while continuing to sing that voice. (Don't worry about the pitch--tempo is what matters here.) Reactivate that voice after a few bars to test your accuracy in retaining the correct tempo. Try to do this for increasingly longer musical passages.
To Improve Intonation Concepts
1. Using any duet, play slowly, in unison with one duet voice, while the other voice is silent.
2. Select a slow duet such as Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child (Duet 10B.3) and play at a slow speed. This is a good opportunity to test your concept of unison playing.
3. Use the duet entitled "Chromatic" (Duet 2.6). This duet was written expressly for this purpose. Each voice contains an ascending and descending chromatic scale in different octaves. As you play with each note of the chromatic scale, make whatever adjustment is necessary to "tune" the unison. The computer chromatic scale is a perfectly tuned tempered scale as on a well-tuned piano.
Since wind instruments are also built to emulate that same tempered scale, the computer (or synthesizer or module) generated pitches are very usable as a test for the accuracy of the wind instrument tuning. It is always a shock to a young wind player to learn that it is impossible to build a perfectly tuned wind instrument. This being a fact, however, one of the most important purposes of this use of Rhythm—It's Easy is to acquaint the wind player with those "built-in" pitch flaws of his instrument.
4. With this same duet (Chromatic) select just one voice and play octaves above or below the pitch--whichever is practical, considering the range of your instrument. This can also be done with other intervals such as 5ths, or major thirds, to test the consistency of those intervals.
It is important to observe that the book Rhythm—It's Easy functions well for teachers and students who do not use the computer. In other words, because the original concept of the book originated long before sythesizers, personal computers, and MIDI, the book was always meant to be a self-contained method book, designed to be used by the student with the private instrumental teacher.
Some Observations Regarding the Origin Of Rhythm--It's Easy
The method book, Rhythm--It's Easy, came about as a result of my involvement as Musical Director for Disney on Parade, an arena show which toured all over North America in the early seventies. My job was to contact a local contractor in every city, and have him engage local musicians for the show—usually a one week run. I then met with the musicians for a two-and-a- half hour rehearsal on the opening day of the show. We played nine to ten shows per week, then moved to the next city.
What I encountered was fascinating for a former college professor (band, orchestra, woodwinds and theory), because in every city (from Madison Square Garden to Montreal to Mexico City to L. A. and even Pocatello), we were able to observe the results of our music education system on display. Ninety-nine percent of those musicians—almost a thousand during those two years—were products of our music education system. I was able to observe many things, but the most important was the necessity of dealing with musicians who were called upon to learn music in one rehearsal. All in all, I was very impressed with the quality of musicianship throughout the country, especially in view of the fact that many were doing music as an avocation. But sight-reading problems—particularly rhythmic reading problems—were the main source of concern during the tour.
I worked individually with many of the musicians who had rhythmic problems, and through this I realized that there was a need for a method book based on learning rhythm systemically through ensemble experiences—through a method which put major emphasis on understanding beat division. I concluded that this could best be accomplished through a series of contrapuntal duets which gradually increased in rhythmic complexity.
I began writing the duets while I was on the tour, and by about 1978, while teaching at Ambassador College in Pasadena (Fine Arts Chairman), I had finished much of the writing. For various reasons the book ended up on a shelf in 1978, and it was not until the beginning of 1993, while working with a Macintosh and a Korg synthesizer, that the idea of finishing the book as a MIDI/sequencer program came to mind. To my surprise, the use of the computer as a play-back mechanism has provided a number of fringe benefits which I had not anticipated when I began the project. One example—the computer/MIDI/digital playback provides us with unvarying perfect tempered tuning, enabling us to use the duets, played at a very slow tempo, as intonation training exercises.
During my career I have had the good fortune of working as a college educator, symphony clarinetist, conductor, composer (I composed or arranged most of the music for my wife's dance companies for 15 years), arranger (Robbins Music Co.), church choir director, music copyist, author (The Conductor's Workshop, Wm. C. Brown), and so forth. I also had the good fortune of coming from a family of "by ear" jazz musicians. Rhythm—It's Easy is the result of all of those experiences. Hopefully this book will fill the void which I perceive to exist in the field of music education. In my own teaching and conducting experiences, I have felt that rhythm is the most neglected part of musical training, a belief which is shared by many other musicians/teachers with whom I have communicated regarding this project.