Introduction: Why Should I Bother?
If you don’t know how to read music yet, the answer is pretty obvious. But for those who can sort of read music, it’s a bit harder to understand why it’s important to learn a specific system for reading the rhythm, and it’s you people I’m hoping to convince.
Thing is, rhythm doesn’t feel like much of a problem. Usually, the group sort of just sings together over and over, and before long everyone’s kinda gotten the hang of the rhythms.
But have you ever noticed this problem before when singing in a group?
- There’s this one guy who don’t quite get it, so you have to keep singing the same bit over and over?
- Not having enough time to breathe, because somehow you end up singing faster and faster?
- The beatboxer keeps getting out of sync, messing everyone up?
The purpose of a system for learning rhythm is so that you can get past the tedious repeated practice part as quickly as possible, and for your group to not just be somewhat in sync, but to be perfectly in sync.
Even if you’re very individually talented and are excellent at rhythms, I’d bet there’s someone in your group whom you’d wish would catch rhythm a bit faster, right?
In the next few articles, we’ll be teaching a system of reading and practicing rhythms called Pulsing. We hope that at the very least, you’ll give the system a shot, and if nothing else, you learn something that could perhaps help you teach someone else next time!
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Part 1: How to Pulse
Part 2: Rhythm Symbols
Part 3: Rhythm on a Score
Part 4: Triplets and Swing Rhythm
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Good luck and keep grooving š
~ Andrew
Approach To Acapella 