Rhythm Counting Systems with David Newman, Leah Sheldon and Greg Ristow

Rhythm counting systems: what they are, how we use them, and why might we choose one over another. We break down the plethora of approaches (including 1-e-&-a, Takadimi, Gordon, Kodály, and Orff) into groups, and share tips from our own experience teaching these from preschool to college. 

Links:

Free Printable Rhythm Resources on uTheory

Eastman/1-ti-te-ta Counting System

Traditional American/1-e-&-a Counting System

Gordon Rhythm Solfege

Takadimi Counting System

Varley, Paul. An Analysis of Rhythm Systems in the United States: Their Development and Frequency of Use By Teachers, Students and Authors. (Ed.D Dissertation, UMSL, 2005)

Show Notes:

0:30 Introductions

01:20 What are counting systems? What ones do you use?

03:05 Kinds of Counting Systems: Analytical/Metric Subdivisional vs Mnemonic

04:45 1e&a/Eastman/Traditional American approaches

06:11 Gordon Rhythmic Solfege

07:55 Takadimi

10:11 Mnemonic/Pattern-based/rhythm word approaches (Orff)

14:00 Note-syllable approaches (Kodály)

16:00 Kinesthetic Approaches (Dalcroze)

17:35 What are shared goals of counting systems?

19:40 Conceptualizing rhythm as existing within a metric grid, rather than as the addition of longer- and shorter-duration notes

21:22 How do you use these systems when you're teaching?

24:00 Role and value of using rote teaching with rhythm

25:50 Teaching the reading of rhythm using counting systems

29:23 Value of using multiple approaches: using both a subdivision & pattern-based system, and with each system varying the kind of activities and engagement

31:45 Teaching dictation using rhythm counting systems

33:00 Protonotations ("Box approach", "Beat sheets", drawings, symbols, etc...)

35:45 Call and response exercises

37:55 What are strengths/weaknesses of analytical-subdivisional approaches and mnemonic/pattern-based approaches?

43:50 Creating a sense of meter, especially in systems that don't make them explicit

49:30 A shared goal with pitch solfege systems is to learn a rhythmic system so well that in the end, we don't need it at all

51:40 Challenges of analytical/subdivisional systems

53:50 Wrap-up

Transcript

[theme music]

0:00:20.3 Leah Sheldon: Welcome to Notes from the Staff, a podcast from the creators of uTheory, where we dive into conversations about music theory, ear training and music technology with members of the uTheory staff and thought leaders from the world of music education. I'm Leah Sheldon, head of teacher engagement for uTheory.

0:00:37.3 Greg Ristow: And I'm Greg Ristow, I'm an associate professor of conducting at the Oberlin Conservatory and the founder of uTheory.

0:00:43.1 David Newman: And I'm David Newman, I teach voice and music theory at James Madison University and I write code and create content for uTheory.

0:00:50.6 GR: Our topic today is one that several of you wrote in to say you would love to hear. Shoutouts to Noel Warford, Michael Joviala and Maddy Tarantelli, in particular.

0:00:58.9 LS: We'll be talking about counting systems or rhythm systems, which are basically solfège systems for counting rhythms.

0:01:05.6 DN: There are a lot of systems, but we'll break them down into categories and give examples of why you might use one or more of these to help teach rhythm.

0:01:14.3