Feeling and expressing rhythm is an integral part of singing well. When we have a good sense of rhythm the song can flow, and then we can flow along with it:) \u00a0I know how hard this can be, though, since I’ve observed it being challenging for so many students.<\/p>\n
It’s tempting to think that “you either have it or you don’t”. \u00a0Yes, some are born with a natural sense of rhythm, but if you feel stuck rhythmically, know that you DO have it in<\/em> you<\/em>, it just needs to be unlocked.<\/p>\n My personal feeling for this is that, in the West, we’re often encouraged not to feel, or express, rhythm. \u00a0The family never danced together, we felt shy of dancing at events, we weren’t encouraged to express ourselves as children, the list goes on and on.<\/p>\n I believe that we all have an innate sense of rhythm, and everyone expresses it in their own way.<\/p>\n And, just as learning to sing takes practice, so does learning to express rhythm, and your own<\/em> rhythm.<\/p>\n Find your own rhythm<\/strong><\/p>\n There are a number of ways to help you do this \u00a0within this program:<\/p>\n 1. The Level 2 video clip “Connecting with the rhythm of a song”.<\/p>\n 2. The improvising drum tracks. You can incorporate these tracks into a singing lesson. The article listed below “Create your own singing \u00a0lessons” \u00a0explains how to do this.<\/p>\n 3. The meditation “Rhythm meditation”, which can also be incorporated into your singing lessons, also listed below.<\/p>\n Some practical tips<\/strong><\/p>\n In reality, singing the song “perfectly” will only get you so far. If you don’t gots rhythm, you’ll end up with a small, safe performance.<\/p>\n And, once again, for many singers, rhythm is a huge issue. It’s easy to get lost, hard to find the accent of the beat and it’s generally all a mystery.<\/p>\n If the performance is sounding “flat” – no emotion behind the song – it’s probably because of the “feel”. Musicians call having good rhythm “having good time” and if this is a problem for you, all is not lost. With practice, you can improve the feel of a song, and thus your time, enormously.<\/p>\n Phrasing<\/strong><\/p>\n Apart from the basics – knowing where you are in the song and knowing where to come in for example – feeling the rhythm as you sing also helps enormously with phrasing.<\/p>\n Phrasing is feeling your own internal rhythm in tandem with feeling the rhythm of a song. Good phrasing also helps you find your own voice. Which in turn makes the song powerfully authentic, and also stops the performance from feeling too uniform, thus getting boring.<\/p>\n For example, if it’s a repetitive song, singing everything with exactly the same rhythm and feel.<\/p>\n Feeling rhythm is as much of a learned response as actually singing the song, and just as important. It’s something you have to work at, so it becomes part of the emotional memory of the body. You have to learn to feel it<\/em>, not think it<\/em>. Gradually, feeling time becomes second nature.<\/p>\n So having good time is just as important as good breathing technique and singing in tune and pitch. You always know where you are in the song (at the beginning of the verse or about to sing the chorus for example), and on a deeper level you can play with the song and give your performance greater depth and subtlety.<\/p>\n If rhythm is a big problem then help is always at hand. You can learn to be in time, just as you can learn to sing in pitch with good tone.<\/p>\n Practical Tips\u00a0\u2028<\/strong><\/p>\n The first practical thing to do is tap your foot, or a part of your body, in time to the music as you’re singing.<\/p>\n Let’s take a brief look at connecting with rhythm through clapping to a song, or one of the improvising drum tracks included with the program.<\/p>\n Music is very mathematical, and is broken down into units, called bars. Each bar is then divided into beats, depending on the time signature.<\/p>\n Take a traditional “standard” song, written in 4\/4 time: 4 beats to a bar.<\/p>\n Most commonly there’s a<\/p>\n 4 bar introduction<\/p>\n 16 bar verse<\/p>\n 16 bar verse<\/p>\n 8 bar “bridge” (middle bit)<\/p>\n 16 bar outro verse<\/p>\n 4 bar outro tag<\/p>\n 1. Since the song’s in 4\/4, the most common Western time signature, first of all go through the song and simply count “1<\/strong> and 2<\/strong> and 3<\/strong> and 4<\/strong> and 1<\/strong>…” etc.<\/p>\n Just by doing this you’re programming the rhythm, and also the form of the song, into your emotion memory.<\/p>\n 2. Most commonly there’ll be accents from the instrumentation that clearly show the “one”, the first beat of a bar. The bass drum being a good example.<\/p>\n Then listen to the song again and clap on the first beat of the bar “1<\/strong> and 2 and 3 and 4 and 1<\/strong>…” etc. Musicians strangely call this “one”:)<\/p>\n There’s often an accent on the first beat of the bar, which makes it easy to recognize. Not on every bar, but if you listen to the track it should be relatively easy to pick out where the one is.<\/p>\n 3. Once you have that down, then accent the 2 and 4 “1 and 2<\/strong> and 3 and 4 <\/strong>and…” etc. This will make the feel of the track “swing”, have life.<\/p>\n 5. Then clap again putting two claps to every beat “1,1,2,2,3,3,4,4,1,1,2,2…”etc. (2 claps to every beat). You are now clapping “quavers”.<\/p>\n 6. Then twice as fast “1111,2222,3333,4444,1111,2222…”etc (4 claps to every beat). You’re now clapping semi-quavers.<\/p>\n 7. Now listen to the track again and clap rhythm’s, “syncopation”. Just clap anything, but internally listen out for the 1″ and the “2 and 4”.<\/p>\n This might feel difficult at first if rhythm is an issue, but just doing these simple exercises can really make all the difference.<\/p>\n You can also find a song with 3\/4 time and practice the sane way.<\/p>\n Also, practice clapping “1 and 2” along to a 3\/4 beat song. This is used a lot in world music, the 3 against the 2. Getting to grips with this feel can help a lot with feeling rhythm and syncopation.<\/p>\n You can also do this with more complex songs, for example the Jazz classic “Take 5”. Do the same clapping exercise, but instead of 5 beats to a bar think groups of 2 and 3 “1<\/strong>,2,3,4<\/strong>,5,1<\/strong>,2…”etc.<\/p>\n As you can see, we got quite complicated very quickly. Once again, is essentially very mathematical, and once you understand, and then learn to feel, the language, the rest is relatively simple.<\/p>\n Once again practice, practice, practice until it’s second nature. And it’s in the emotion memory, like riding a bike, it’s there for all time.<\/p>\n Once you have the basic rhythms of the song”programmed in”, now do the same thing, but sing<\/em> the rhythm to “1 and 2<\/strong> and 3 and 4<\/strong> and…”etc.<\/p>\n Expressing rhythm when singing<\/strong><\/p>\n Practicing clapping rhythms, then singing them, can be really helpful to connect you with your true rhythm. When you come back to the song, you’ll sing it and phrase it in a completely different way. You’re feeling the rhythm as well<\/em> as the notes of the tune.<\/p>\n Becaues when performing a song, this has to be a felt thing (btw, reading sheet music while performing just isn’t going to cut it. By reading you’re one step away from feeling the music – plus it looks rubbish on the stage for a singer to be reading music or lyics I think. I’ve done both and always it cuts you off from the audience, emotionally and physically).<\/p>\n Singing and Rhythm Exercises\u2028\u2028<\/strong>To take these exercises further, and connect the technical with the emotional (which is how we reach mastery), listen to the “Rhythm meditation” (link below).<\/p>\n The aim of this meditation is to ground and center you, and help you trust your own rhythm.<\/p>\n Use it in your singing lessons, described in the \u00a0article “Create your own singing lessons” (listed below).<\/p>\n Once you’ve listened to the meditation, here are some more ideas to help develop tour sense of rhythm:<\/p>\n Sing a vowel, or a collection of vowels<\/strong> (“ah” is always good to start with, being in the center of the mouth), on a note in the center of your range, whatever feels most comfortable to you.<\/p>\n Then breathe energy in through the top of the head<\/strong>, down to the center of the earth<\/strong> on the inbreath<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Then let energy flow up from the center of the earth<\/strong> on the outbreath<\/strong> as you sing the note.<\/p>\n This will ground you and ground the note.<\/p>\n Once you’ve set up this path of energy, you can then breathe in directly from the earth<\/strong> (energy must always flow firs<\/strong>t from the heavens down to set up this path of energy).<\/p>\n Feel the energy coming up from the earth and let it\u00a0flow up your spine<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Feel the rhythm through your spine and the center of your body as you sing the notes<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Now feel the note centered in your heart as<\/strong> you let the energy flow through you, like there’s a rod connecting your heart and diaphragm<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Notice that this makes you breathe into your back and move your spine. Your whole body is now connected, and feeling rhythm should feel a lot easier.<\/p>\n Once you feel connected, try not to think about it, and just trust what you’re feeling.<\/p>\n Let it happen<\/strong> rather than make it happen<\/strong>. If lost, watch “Connecting with the rhythm of the song”<\/strong> from Level 2 again, for reference.<\/p>\n Then try the first clapping on the beats \u00a0“2” and “4” of the bar again, and make the beat right in the center<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Then slightly ahead <\/strong>of the beat.<\/p>\n Then behind<\/strong> it.<\/p>\n Notice that behind and ahead feel different. If you’re ahead it will feet urgent, like you’re rushing. If you’re behind it will sound much more “in the pocket” (drummer speak), and it’ll be easy to connect with your own rhythm.<\/p>\n Now sing the note and feel the energy coming up from the earth into your voice as in the previous exercise.<\/p>\n Now do the same thing with a 3\/4 song, accent on the “1” and “3”. First center<\/strong>, then ahead<\/strong>, then behind, <\/strong>then let the energy flow through your voice.<\/p>\n Then just sing what you feel.<\/strong> If it feels good and you’re happy with what you’re doing, you’re centered and are starting to feel your own rhythm.<\/p>\n If you still feel stuck, then try recording it<\/strong>. Often you’ll hear stuff on the playback you didn’t even know you were doing when in the moment!<\/p>\n 5) Now try the 2 and 4 again<\/strong>, feeling the energy coming up through the center of the earth to the solar plexus. Breathe it in while clapping. Notice that that makes you breath into your back and move your spine. Your whole body is now connected, and it should feel a lot easier.<\/p>\n 6) Now do the same with all of the other exercises. This might take some time, and be too much for one sitting, but if you persevere, your rhythmic feel should improve dramatically. As with everything, practice, practice practice.<\/p>\n Your personal rhythm<\/strong><\/p>\n There is the rhythm of the piece, then your own personal rhythm.<\/p>\n We live our lives to our own personal rhythm. Because rhythm is something you feel instinctively, the type of beat you react to is also an expression of the rhythm you have in your life. Some folks are very fast and whizzy, and some folks are very slow and measured, and a lot of us are somewhere in between.<\/p>\n Of course you might have days when you’re both, or the other, but there is always a general rhythm that you have, that you go to naturally. A rhythm that might also change throughout life (for example, I used to be a lot faster than I am now!). Just take a moment, away from the music, and just feel your inner rhythm. If we listen, most of us can feel it.<\/p>\n Connect with the energy of the meditation rhythm exercise again.<\/p>\n Breathe in <\/span><\/strong>the combined energies of the <\/span>center of the <\/span><\/strong>heavens<\/span><\/strong>, \u00a0and<\/span> the energy of\u00a0<\/span>center of the earth into the center of the heart.<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0\u2028\u2028Connect with the energy of\u00a0<\/span>center of the heart <\/span><\/strong>on the <\/span>outbreath<\/span><\/strong>. \u2028\u2028Then breath the energies from <\/span>above<\/span><\/strong> and <\/span>below <\/span><\/strong>through the<\/span> back <\/span><\/strong>to the<\/span> center of the heart<\/span><\/strong>. \u2028\u2028<\/span>Feel the connection of all of those energies in the center of the heart on the outbreath<\/span><\/strong>. \u2028\u2028<\/span>Relax the diaphragm<\/span><\/strong> and let it move <\/span>gently out <\/span><\/strong>and <\/span>downwards<\/span><\/strong> as you <\/span>breathe in to the center of the heart<\/span><\/strong> through the<\/span> back<\/span><\/strong> on the <\/span>in breath<\/span><\/strong>, <\/span>breathing sideways into your infinite self, equally, left and right<\/span><\/strong>. \u2028\u2028<\/span>Breathe out<\/span><\/strong>, letting the diaphragm gently <\/span>relax back to its cente<\/span><\/strong>r, attention centered on the <\/span>heart<\/span><\/strong>.\u00a0\u2028\u2028Take in a\u00a0<\/span>relaxed, beautiful sideways breath, and express all of this energy with sound on the outbreath. Express your own rhythm at the same time. <\/span><\/strong>However<\/span><\/strong> you feel like moving.\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n \u2028Take in one last breath<\/span><\/strong>, and<\/span>\u00a0from the heart, let that sound travel to whatever part of your body feels right.\u00a0Let your body move at the same time, expressing the energy of the heavens and the earth flowing though you.\u2028<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n From your infinite self, make whatever noise your <\/span><\/strong>instict<\/span><\/strong> is telling you to, let your body move wherever and however it wants <\/span><\/strong>to.<\/span><\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n Improvising\u2028\u2028<\/strong>So by now you’ve practiced a few rhythms, have connected to the energies above and below and running through you, and have found your own inner rhythm.<\/p>\n Now it’s time to have fun with it and put it all together. Once again, just go for it, and see what happens.<\/p>\n Pick any of the improving drum tracks (listed below). Just see what comes out. Let yourself move about. It doesn’t have to sound great or even be singing. Express your own rhythm. Try not to judge it and just enjoy it. It doesn’t have to be good, merely authentic.<\/p>\n If you can feel blocks in your body to doing this, just notice it happening. Accept the blocks as well and the good stuff.<\/p>\n You’ll find the more you do it, the better you’ll get at it. It will also improve your singing, your expression of singing and how you feel about your voice and performance tremendously.<\/p>\n If you feel stupid doing it, keep practicing. And if you try the meditation and then sing, you’ll be in a different space, so expressing yourself will feel a lot easier.<\/p>\n Song Genres and the Chakras (based on Level 2)<\/strong><\/p>\n Your own personal rhythm also denotes how you respond to the rhythm of a song and what kind of music you’re likely to be in to:<\/p>\n Behind the beat music: \u00a0Blues, Jazz, latin, some rock music, hip hop, soul, funk and R&B. The feel is more laid back, and sensual. So you’re connecting with the 1st and 2nd chakras primarily, then using the 3rd chakra for power and the heart chakra for power of emotion and to connect to an audience.<\/p>\n Gospel: Same as above, although since the subject is devotional there is more accent on the heart, opening of the heart, and the higher chakras.<\/p>\n Rock: can be behind the beat or right on it, depending on the producer, song and players (and, sometimes, programmers). It’s predominately 2nd chakra (of course), but uses the energy of chakras 1-4 very powerfully as well. This depends on the song and its emotional meaning.<\/p>\n Soul: heart music. There’s an intensity that’s akin to blues and gospel (so much Soul originated from Gospel – Motown for example), but soul has an inherant fun that’s akin to pop music. And often a sophistication (arrangement, chords) that’s akin to Jazz. Best when it swings, in my opinion, when you hear it and can’t help but move. Soul is heart and second chakra predominantly. Then it uses the 1st and 3rd chakra for power and grounding. Soul uses chakras 1-4 fully, but the focus is definately the heart.<\/p>\n Pop music is generally more on the beat, i.e. in the center.\u00a0If you listen for it, you can usually hear it, usually with how the drums and bass work with each other, especially with<\/p>\n trance, electronica and techno, disco<\/p>\n Pop and similar music tends to be more in the center because not only does the music seem to demand it (and it wants you to dance, goddammit!), but can be a programmed loop, quantized (keeping it to a regular, exact, beat) and programmed in. So the music feels more regimented, and thus in the center. Not always the case, but definitely true of inexperienced programmers and super techno stuff.<\/p>\n Latin music: is a mixture of Portuguese and Spanish influences, and covers a variety of genres. It’s also influenced by the blues, gospel and jazz.<\/p>\n Which means that although it can have sophistacated chords and rhythms, it can also appear simple using repetitive phrases and beats.<\/p>\n Although it’s anything but simplistinc – all of the musicians are playing contrapuntal rhythms that fit in with each other while having their own clear voice. The whole effect is mesmerising. Latin music primarily uses the 4th and 2nd chakras, using the 3rd for power and the 1st for grounding.<\/p>\n Jazz: is more spirit music, using everything all at the same time to really work and be masterful. You need to be technically adept, musically savvy, and in the moment, since it demands that you’re open to improvisation and interpretation within the song at all time.<\/p>\n Since it’s difficult to play – and sing – really well (and sometimes to understand!), it also uses the 3rd eye, the 6th chakra, to look ahead and know where you’re going – especially when playing or singing a solo. Like all music genres, it also uses chakras 1 – 4 as well, the predominace depending on the emotions of the song.<\/p>\n Folk: is very pure, so demands a pure tone and equanimity of spirit. Very much heart and spirit music. Still need chakras 1-4 for the power and emotional connection, but the focus is on the heart and 6th chakra. When head voice (6th), connected to the heart (4th), sacral (2nd), root and 10th, you get an amazingly clear, bell like tone – Joni Mitchell and Joan Baez for example.<\/p>\n You might wonder why no mention of the 5th chakra here, the throat. The 5th is where we speak our truth, and express our wisdom. This chakra should be open and clear to express the emotions of the other chakras. If we focus just on the 5th, the others can’t be heard.<\/p>\n When singing, this chakra works best when we practice extentensively and learn to use this chakra technically (using the tongue and not the jaw, forming the vowels with the tongue in the proper way, keeping the head balanced etc), then just trust it to work for us when actually performing the song. It’s the place where the note is shaped and prepared, before being launched into the world. The more relaxed and balanced all of these elements work together, the more chance you have to express that note, and the story of the song, truthfully.<\/p>\n Once you have all of the technical parts of the song down, let go and let your emotion memory do the work for you. Trust the technical stuff will take care of itself because you’ve practiced well, and know how to sing the song in and out. The emotional memory of the body will do the rest.<\/p>\n Programmed Music<\/strong><\/p>\n As mentioned above, the feel of a programmed song depends on the programmer and producer, whomever that may be, and their skills. And whether they use real musicians – you can play the drums into the sequece with a live drummer and a variety of means for example. It might be the song demands a very straight feel, but generally if it swings, whatever the genre, it’ll sound better and will have you tapping your feet – even if it’s an electronica beyond electronica tune. And if something is played live it’s always going to breathe better, is my feeling.<\/p>\n I’m a jazzer at heart, though, so I would think that \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n A Few More Tips<\/strong><\/p>\n 1. Remember, it’s the whole body feeling the song, balanced – mind body and spirit – that truly expresses mastery.<\/p>\n 2. A singer is, at best, part of the whole band. Music is always a sum of the parts put together <\/em>to make music. So listen to the other musicians, especially if you’re in a band. If you’re singing karaoke, try to hear the different instruments within the song, and how the piece is “put together”. Especially how the rhythm of the song works with the chords. See if you can hear the difference between the musicians. And how they interact with one another. Hear the bass line. Hear the feel of the drums \u2013 is the drummer or the rhythm track behind the beat, in the center, or ahead? Hear if the drum and bass are playing together, and are “locked in” or “tight”, daddio -as in, \u00a0is the rhythm section tight?<\/p>\n 3. \u00a0Record yourself. What we hear in our heads is often not what an audience hears. I’ve often found that you can “get it” when you hear what you’re truly doing, or at least know the next step forward.<\/p>\n 4. Choose songs that you love, and that mean something to you personally. Let the audience come to you, rather than you focusing solely on them and what they might be thinking of you. This always results in losing focus and confidence. And last but not least, commit to the song completely. You then stay in the meaning of the song while staying centered.<\/p>\n By “commit to the song”, I mean “make the decision to focus purely on what you’re doing here and now, and not judge it”.<\/p>\n Surrender to the energies running through you and within you. Let them be your guide. Surrender to your intuition as you make the decision to breathe in, before you’ve even taken a breath.<\/p>\n 5. In other words, once you’ve tried the technical stuff, forget it and surrender to the song, the feeling and story of the song.<\/p>\n Ending A Song<\/strong><\/p>\n Lastly, you might have the time down, but ending the song is causing all sorts of problems. If you’re singing with a band and have the luxury of practice, then first of all work out what you’re going to do. Most endings are pretty obvious. Three times round the last phrase, a pause and then a chord or two for a ballad, for example.<\/p>\n This is easier with well-known modern genre songs, because everyone knows the famous version, or has the sheet music in front of them, and you play and sing it like the record.<\/p>\n If it’s an original song, then just work out then learn an ending. And practice it! With rock, you usually rehearse or have written the song, or you have the original singer once again to refer to.<\/p>\n If you’re in a live situation, are at the end of the song and don’t know what to do, look at the keyboard player or guitar player (they’re at the front of the stage, usually, so everyone can see them), and follow their direction. A downward motion with the hand usually means a chord, or else they’ll make a movement like “end of song” (a finger slashed across the neck being a popular sign).<\/p>\n If you trust your instinct, you can usually tell where the tune is headed, and hear as the chords are resolving to an end of the song. And if not, then watch that keyboard or guitar player.<\/p>\n So follow the band, and once again resist the temptation to just go for it and be hopelessly wrong, i.e. the band knows how to finish the song, so follow their lead. If you know the arrangement and feel confident, then take charge and give the signals to end the song.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Feeling and expressing rhythm is an integral part of singing well. When we have a good sense of rhythm the song can flow, and then we can flow along with it:) \u00a0I know how hard this can be, though, since I’ve observed it being challenging for so many students. It’s tempting to think that “you either have it or you don’t”. \u00a0Yes, some are born with a natural sense of rhythm, but if you feel stuck rhythmically, know that you DO have it in you, it just needs to be unlocked. My personal feeling for this is that, in the West, we’re often encouraged not to feel, or express, rhythm. \u00a0The family never danced together, we felt shy of dancing at events, we weren’t encouraged to express ourselves as children, the list goes on and on. I believe that we all have an innate sense of rhythm, and everyone expresses it in their own way. And, just as learning to sing takes practice, so does learning to express rhythm, and your own rhythm. Find your own rhythm There are a number of ways to help you do this \u00a0within this program: 1. The Level 2 video clip “Connecting with the rhythm of a song”. 2. The improvising drum tracks. You can incorporate these tracks into a singing lesson. The article listed below “Create your own singing \u00a0lessons” \u00a0explains how to do this. 3. The meditation “Rhythm meditation”, which can also be incorporated into your singing lessons, also listed below. Some practical tips In reality, singing the song “perfectly” will only get you so far. If you don’t gots rhythm, you’ll end up with a small, safe performance. And, once again, for many singers, rhythm is a huge issue. It’s easy to get lost, hard to find the accent of the beat and it’s generally all a mystery. If the performance is sounding “flat” – no emotion behind the song – it’s probably because of the “feel”. Musicians call having good rhythm “having good time” and if this is a problem for you, all is not lost. With practice, you can improve the feel of a song, and thus your time, enormously. Phrasing Apart from the basics – knowing where you are in the song and knowing where to come in for example – feeling the rhythm as you sing also helps enormously with phrasing. Phrasing is feeling your own internal rhythm in tandem with feeling the rhythm of a song. Good phrasing also helps you find your own voice. Which in turn makes the song powerfully authentic, and also stops the performance from feeling too uniform, thus getting boring. For example, if it’s a repetitive song, singing everything with exactly the same rhythm and feel. Feeling rhythm is as much of a learned response as actually singing the song, and just as important. It’s something you have to work at, so it becomes part of the emotional memory of the body. You have to learn to feel it, not think it. Gradually, feeling time becomes second nature. So having good time is just as important as good breathing technique and singing in tune and pitch. You always know where you are in the song (at the beginning of the verse or about to sing the chorus for example), and on a deeper level you can play with the song and give your performance greater depth and subtlety. If rhythm is a big problem then help is always at hand. You can learn to be in time, just as you can learn to sing in pitch with good tone. Practical Tips\u00a0\u2028 The first practical thing to do is tap your foot, or a part of your body, in time to the music as you’re singing. Let’s take a brief look at connecting with rhythm through clapping to a song, or one of the improvising drum tracks included with the program. Music is very mathematical, and is broken down into units, called bars. Each bar is then divided into beats, depending on the time signature. Take a traditional “standard” song, written in 4\/4 time: 4 beats to a bar. Most commonly there’s a 4 bar introduction 16 bar verse 16 bar verse 8 bar “bridge” (middle bit) 16 bar outro verse 4 bar outro tag 1. Since the song’s in 4\/4, the most common Western time signature, first of all go through the song and simply count “1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and 1…” etc. Just by doing this you’re programming the rhythm, and also the form of the song, into your emotion memory. 2. Most commonly there’ll be accents from the instrumentation that clearly show the “one”, the first beat of a bar. The bass drum being a good example. Then listen to the song again and clap on the first beat of the bar “1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and 1…” etc. Musicians strangely call this “one”:) There’s often an accent on the first beat of the bar, which makes it easy to recognize. Not on every bar, but if you listen to the track it should be relatively easy to pick out where the one is. 3. Once you have that down, then accent the 2 and 4 “1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and…” etc. This will make the feel of the track “swing”, have life. 5. Then clap again putting two claps to every beat “1,1,2,2,3,3,4,4,1,1,2,2…”etc. (2 claps to every beat). You are now clapping “quavers”. 6. Then twice as fast “1111,2222,3333,4444,1111,2222…”etc (4 claps to every beat). You’re now clapping semi-quavers. 7. Now listen to the track again and clap rhythm’s, “syncopation”. Just clap anything, but internally listen out for the 1″ and the “2 and 4”. This might feel difficult at first if rhythm is an issue, but just doing these simple exercises can really make all the difference. You can also find a song with 3\/4 time and practice the sane way. Also, practice clapping “1 and 2” along to a 3\/4 beat song. This is used a lot in world music, the 3 against the 2. Getting to grips with this feel can help a lot with feeling rhythm and syncopation. You can also do this with more complex songs, for example the Jazz classic “Take 5”. Do the same clapping exercise, but instead of 5 beats to a bar think groups of 2 and 3 “1,2,3,4,5,1,2…”etc. As you can see, we got quite complicated very quickly. Once again, is essentially very mathematical, and once you understand, and then learn to feel, the language, the rest is relatively simple. Once again practice, practice, practice until it’s second nature. And it’s in the emotion memory, like riding a bike, it’s there for all time. Once you have the basic rhythms of the song”programmed in”, now do the same thing, but sing the rhythm to “1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and…”etc. Expressing rhythm when singing Practicing clapping rhythms, then singing them, can be really helpful to connect you with your true rhythm. When you come back to the song, you’ll sing it and phrase it in a completely different way. You’re feeling the rhythm as well as the notes of the tune. Becaues when performing a song, this has to be a felt thing (btw, reading sheet music while performing just isn’t going to cut it. By reading you’re one step away from feeling the music – plus it looks rubbish on the stage for a singer to be reading music or lyics I think. I’ve done both and always it cuts you off from the audience, emotionally and physically). Singing and Rhythm Exercises\u2028\u2028To take these exercises further, and connect the technical with the emotional (which is how we reach mastery), listen to the “Rhythm meditation” (link below). The aim of this meditation is to ground and center you, and help you trust your own rhythm. Use it in your singing lessons, described in the \u00a0article “Create your own singing lessons” (listed below). Once you’ve listened to the meditation, here are some more ideas to help develop tour sense of rhythm: Sing a vowel, or a collection of vowels (“ah” is always good to start with, being in the center of the mouth), on a note in the center of your range, whatever feels most comfortable to you. Then breathe energy in through the top of the head, down to the center of the earth on the inbreath. Then let energy flow up from the center of the earth on the outbreath as you sing the note. This will ground you and ground the note. Once you’ve set up this path of energy, you can then breathe in directly from the earth (energy must always flow first from the heavens down to set up this path of energy). Feel the energy coming up from the earth and let it\u00a0flow up your spine. Feel the rhythm through your spine and the center of your body as you sing the notes. Now feel the note centered in your heart as you let the energy flow through you, like there’s a rod connecting your heart and diaphragm. Notice that this makes you breathe into your back and move your spine. Your whole body is now connected, and feeling rhythm should feel a lot easier. Once you feel connected, try not to think about it, and just trust what you’re feeling. Let it happen rather than make it happen. If lost, watch “Connecting with the rhythm of the song” from Level 2 again, for reference. Then try the first clapping on the beats \u00a0“2” and “4” of the bar again, and make the beat right in the center. Then slightly ahead of the beat. Then behind it. Notice that behind and ahead feel different. If you’re ahead it will feet urgent, like you’re rushing. If you’re behind it will sound much more “in the pocket” (drummer speak), and it’ll be easy to connect with your own rhythm. Now sing the note and feel the energy coming up from the earth into your voice as in the previous exercise. Now do the same thing with a 3\/4 song, accent on the “1” and “3”. First center, then ahead, then behind, then let the energy flow through your voice. Then just sing what you feel. If it feels good and you’re happy with what you’re doing, you’re centered and are starting to feel your own rhythm. If you still feel stuck, then try recording it. Often you’ll hear stuff on the playback you didn’t even know you were doing when in the moment! 5) Now try the 2 and 4 again, feeling the energy coming up through the center of the earth to the solar plexus. Breathe it in while clapping. Notice that that makes you breath into your back and move your spine. Your whole body is now connected, and it should feel a lot easier. 6) Now do the same with all of the other exercises. This might take some time, and be too much for one sitting, but if you persevere, your rhythmic feel should improve dramatically. As with everything, practice, practice practice. Your personal rhythm There is the rhythm of the piece, then your own personal rhythm. We live our lives to our own personal rhythm. Because rhythm is something you feel instinctively, the type of beat you react to is also an expression of the rhythm you have in your life. Some folks are very fast and whizzy, and some folks are very slow and measured, and a lot of us are somewhere in between. Of course you might have days when you’re both, or the other, but there is always a general rhythm that you have, that you go to naturally. A rhythm that might also change throughout life (for example, I used to be a lot faster than I am now!). Just take a moment, away from the music, and just feel your inner rhythm. If we listen, most of us can feel it. Connect with the energy of the meditation rhythm exercise again. Breathe in the combined energies of the center of the heavens, \u00a0and the energy of\u00a0center of the earth into the center of the heart.\u00a0\u2028\u2028Connect with the energy of\u00a0center of the heart on the outbreath. \u2028\u2028Then breath the energies from above and below through the back to the center of the heart. \u2028\u2028Feel the connection of all of those energies in the center of the heart on the outbreath. \u2028\u2028Relax the diaphragm and let it move gently out and downwards as you breathe in to the center of the heart through the back on the in breath, breathing sideways into your infinite self, equally, left and right. \u2028\u2028Breathe out, letting the diaphragm gently relax back to its center, attention centered on the heart.\u00a0\u2028\u2028Take in a\u00a0relaxed, beautiful sideways breath, and express all of this energy with sound on the outbreath. Express your own rhythm at the same time. However you feel like moving.\u00a0 \u2028Take in one last breath, and\u00a0from the heart, let that sound travel to whatever part of your body feels right.\u00a0Let your body move at the same time, expressing the energy of the heavens and the earth flowing though you.\u2028 From your infinite self, make whatever noise your instict is telling you to, let your body move wherever and however it wants to.. Improvising\u2028\u2028So by now you’ve practiced a few rhythms, have connected to the energies above and below and running through you, and have found your own inner rhythm. Now it’s time to have fun with it and put it all together. Once again, just go for it, and see what happens. Pick any of the improving drum tracks (listed below). Just see what comes out. Let yourself move about. It doesn’t have to sound great or even be singing. Express your own rhythm. Try not to judge it and just enjoy it. It doesn’t have to be good, merely authentic. If you can feel blocks in your body to doing this, just notice it happening. Accept the blocks as well and the good stuff. You’ll find the more you do it, the better you’ll get at it. It will also improve your singing, your expression of singing and how you feel about your voice and performance tremendously. If you feel stupid doing it, keep practicing. And if you try the meditation and then sing, you’ll be in a different space, so expressing yourself will feel a lot easier. Song Genres and the Chakras (based on Level 2) Your own personal rhythm also denotes how you respond to the rhythm of a song and what kind of music you’re likely to be in to: Behind the beat music: \u00a0Blues, Jazz, latin, some rock music, hip hop, soul, funk and R&B. The feel is more laid back, and sensual. So you’re connecting with the 1st and 2nd chakras primarily, then using the 3rd chakra for power and the heart chakra for power of emotion and to connect to an audience. Gospel: Same as above, although since the subject is devotional there is more accent on the heart, opening of the heart, and the higher chakras. Rock: can be behind the beat or right on it, depending on the producer, song and players (and, sometimes, programmers). It’s predominately 2nd chakra (of course), but uses the energy of chakras 1-4 very powerfully as well. This depends on the song and its emotional meaning. Soul: heart music. There’s an intensity that’s akin to blues and gospel (so much Soul originated from Gospel – Motown for example), but soul has an inherant fun that’s akin to pop music. And often a sophistication (arrangement, chords) that’s akin to Jazz. Best when it swings, in my opinion, when you hear it and can’t help but move. Soul is heart and second chakra predominantly. Then it uses the 1st and 3rd chakra for power and grounding. Soul uses chakras 1-4 fully, but the focus is definately the heart. Pop music is generally more on the beat, i.e. in the center.\u00a0If you listen for it, you can usually hear it, usually with how the drums and bass work with each other, especially with trance, electronica and techno, disco Pop and similar music tends to be more in the center because not only does the music seem to demand it (and it wants you to dance, goddammit!), but can be a programmed loop, quantized (keeping it to a regular, exact, beat) and programmed in. So the music feels more regimented, and thus in the center. Not always the case, but definitely true of inexperienced programmers and super techno stuff. Latin music: is a mixture of Portuguese and Spanish influences, and covers a variety of genres. It’s also influenced by the blues, gospel and jazz. Which means that although it can have sophistacated chords and rhythms, it can also appear simple using repetitive phrases and beats. Although it’s anything but simplistinc – all of the musicians are playing contrapuntal rhythms that fit in with each other while having their own clear voice. The whole effect is mesmerising. Latin music primarily uses the 4th and 2nd chakras, using the 3rd for power and the 1st for grounding. Jazz: is more spirit music, using everything all at the same time to really work and be masterful. You need to be technically adept, musically savvy, and in the moment, since it demands that you’re open to improvisation and interpretation within the song at all time. Since it’s difficult to play – and sing – really well (and sometimes to understand!), it also uses the 3rd eye, the 6th chakra, to look ahead and know where you’re going – especially when playing or singing a solo. Like all music genres, it also uses chakras 1 – 4 as well, the predominace depending on the emotions of the song. Folk: is very pure, so demands a pure tone and equanimity of spirit. Very much heart and spirit music. 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