Last week I was preparing some classes for kids. For a quick rhythm warmup I thought that as a group we could clap a simple 4/4 beat at 60 BPM for one measure and have a silence for 1 measure. For such a simple exercise it turned out to be surprisingly fun.
Once we started, many kids wanted to try on their own and even try harder examples with longer gaps of silence. I also noticed that it was rather calming and almost meditative, so I thought I'd try it for myself later in the day.
Practicing on my own I started to explore further the value of this. The first thing I noticed, was as with the children it was very calming and gave me a strong focus on both what I was practicing later and as well as a greater awareness of my time feel in general.
Before I knew it an hour had past. I tried 2 measures on 2 measures off, different tempos and longer exercises, and even practicing basic rhythm exercises during the silences.
Since then I've been doing this every day as a warm up and even with the limited time I've done this I can tell it's something I'm going to use for a while. Firstly it sets the tone for your practice. It give you a sense of focus and quietness to start your work. Secondly it's clearly good for your inner sense of rhythm. I've seen the benefits of this exercise written about elsewhere.
Lastly and maybe more importantly it seems to give a sense of focus on your playing in general that is unlike other rhythmic exercises. One of the more striking things I noticed was that I was more often accurate when I didn't count, but just "felt" the beat. When I tapped my foot or other parts of my body, surprisingly I was often wrong. However, when I was able to stay quiet enough to listen to the silence in between the gaps, rather than physically trying to beat the rhythm out, I was more often correct.
I'm not yet sure what this indicates, but definitely it opens your ear and feel to something new and interesting. I will write more on this later once I've had the time to explore it further.
Once we started, many kids wanted to try on their own and even try harder examples with longer gaps of silence. I also noticed that it was rather calming and almost meditative, so I thought I'd try it for myself later in the day.
Practicing on my own I started to explore further the value of this. The first thing I noticed, was as with the children it was very calming and gave me a strong focus on both what I was practicing later and as well as a greater awareness of my time feel in general.
Before I knew it an hour had past. I tried 2 measures on 2 measures off, different tempos and longer exercises, and even practicing basic rhythm exercises during the silences.
Since then I've been doing this every day as a warm up and even with the limited time I've done this I can tell it's something I'm going to use for a while. Firstly it sets the tone for your practice. It give you a sense of focus and quietness to start your work. Secondly it's clearly good for your inner sense of rhythm. I've seen the benefits of this exercise written about elsewhere.
Lastly and maybe more importantly it seems to give a sense of focus on your playing in general that is unlike other rhythmic exercises. One of the more striking things I noticed was that I was more often accurate when I didn't count, but just "felt" the beat. When I tapped my foot or other parts of my body, surprisingly I was often wrong. However, when I was able to stay quiet enough to listen to the silence in between the gaps, rather than physically trying to beat the rhythm out, I was more often correct.
I'm not yet sure what this indicates, but definitely it opens your ear and feel to something new and interesting. I will write more on this later once I've had the time to explore it further.
