The Best Rhythm Exercise for Any Musician

Instructor

Jonny May

Lesson Type

Quick Tip

Skill Level

Intermediate

Duration

22:24

Learning Focus

Exercises
Rhythm

Music Style

Fundamentals

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Have you ever wondered which musical skill presents the greatest challenge for piano students? Most piano teachers would say the same answer…rhythm. For this reason, Jonny May has developed today’s Quick Tip on The Best Rhythm Exercise for Any Musician. In this lesson, Jonny presents a thorough analysis and exploration of rhythm and subdivisions. You’ll learn:

Intro to Rhythm Exercises for Pianists
Rhythm Exercise with 2 Subdivisions (8th Notes)
Rhythm Exercise with 3 Subdivisions (Triplets)
Rhythm Exercise with 3 Subdivisions (16th Notes)

Intro to Rhythm Exercises for Pianists

Many piano students feel the same way about practicing with a metronome as those who should be dieting feel about stepping onto a scale. Ironically, metronomes and scales have something in common…they both tell us the truth about ourselves. Be that as it may, we often prefer flattery over honesty. Nonetheless, honesty is much more helpful, even if it stings a bit.

Honestly speaking, if today’s rhythm exercises are to have any benefit on any piano students at all, then we’ll first need a candid dose of truth-telling up front. So, here we go. Chances are, your rhythm skills need work! That’s because most piano students are wired to worry about notes first. And for understandable reasons—after all, pianists play with two hands and must often play several notes simultaneously in each hand! Frankly, we sometimes need a little extra time to process all that information. However, if we are to mature as musicians, then we must also give attention to the timing in which we play all those notes. That’s what today’s lesson is all about.

First, let’s consider a few common questions about the topic of today’s lesson.

What is rhythm in music?

The word “rhythm” comes from the Latin word rhythmus, which means “to flow.” Hence, rhythm in music refers to the intentional placement of musical sounds within the flow of time.

Other musical concepts that directly relate to rhythm are pulse, tempo and meter. In music, the pulse (or beat) is a steady, observable aural unit that divides the flow of time. The term tempo describes the rate or speed at which the pulses occur, which is usually expressed in BPM (beats per minute). Finally, the term meter allows us to describe the repeating pattern of strong and weak pulses, which are notated with time signatures such 4/4, 3/4, 6/8, etc.

What are rhythmic subdivisions in music?

The simplest note value to define in music is a note that represents the pulse itself. For example, in 4/4 time, the quarter note represents the pulse. In addition, we use values such as half notes, dotted-half notes and whole notes to represent notes that are held longer than one pulse. However, sometimes several notes can occur within the space of a single pulse. Therefore, musicians must also be able mentally partition the pulse into smaller units, which we call subdivisions. Note values that we commonly use to subdivide the pulse include 8th notes, triplets and 16th notes. In music notation, subdivisions that occur within the same pulse are usually beamed together.

How do you practice rhythm?

The best way to improve rhythm when practicing repertoire is to start with small sections of music, generally 1–2 measures long. Whenever possible, a metronome should be used to aurally confirm whether or not the musical passage has been executed properly in real time. Difficult rhythms should initially be practiced at slower tempos and then increased gradually.

Here’s another consideration for improving your rhythm. When students first learn to read pitches, they often practice them independent of rhythm. For example, they may use flash cards, worksheets or games that focus on note recognition. Similarly, it’s also extremely beneficial for students to practice rhythms independent of pitch. This can be done by speaking, clapping or tapping rhythms. You may even consider using drum sticks on a practice pad. Another option for honing rhythmic skills on the piano is to practice playing rhythm permutations on a single pitch or chord. In fact, that’s the approach that we’ll use for each rhythm exercise in today’s lesson.

What are rhythm permutation exercises?

One of the best ways that students can improve their rhythmic fluency and coordination is to practice exercises that involve rhythm permutations. These types of exercises focus on exhausting all possible placements of a particular rhythm within a measure of music. For instance, in 4/4 time, there are eight possible permutations for the placement of a pair of successive 8th notes (see example below).

Example of Rhythm Permutation Exercise with 8th Notes — Rhythm permutation exercises focus on exhausting all possible placements of a particular rhythm within a measure of music.

Keep in mind, the example above only involves two 8th notes per measure. Moreover, the 8th notes are placed in immediate succession. If we were to allow the 8th notes to be separated by rests, there would be even more permutations to cover. In addition, if we were to allow three or more 8th notes per measure, then we’d have even more possibilities!

The remainder of today’s lesson explores rhythm permutation exercises that are organized into three broad categories: 8th-note subdivisions, triplet subdivisions and 16th-note subdivisions. If you’re a PWJ member, be sure to download the lesson sheet PDF and backing tracks that are included with this lesson. These resources appear at the bottom of this page after logging in with your membership.

Rhythm Exercise with 2 Subdivisions (8th Notes)

The first category of rhythm exercises that we’ll explore involve subdividing the primary pulse into two smaller parts. In music theory, when the primary pulse is divided in two, it is considered a simple meter. Keep in mind, the designation of “simple” refers to the subdivision only. Consequently, different time signatures can all be simple meters. For instance, simple duple (2/4), simple triple (3/4) and simple quadruple (4/4) are all examples of simple meter. The exercises in this section are all in 4/4 time.

The Rhythmic Template

In order to maintain a single-minded focus on rhythmic clarity and consistency, we’ll only be using the notes of a C(add2) chord, which are C–D–E–G. In the left hand, we’ll use the notes C and G below Middle C. Then, in the right hand, we’ll play two notes in Middle C position—either D and G, or C and E. For each rhythm exercise, the left hand will remain constant and unchanging. Then, we’ll explore different 8th-note permutations with the right hand. Hence, the following diagram represents our rhythmic template (Note: the solid note heads are constant and the “x” noteheads represent variable 8th-note placeholders).

In the example above, the grey numeric labels (1–8) indicate each possible subdivision where an 8th note can occur. Notice, the “downbeats” are all odd numbers, whereas the “up beats” are all even numbers.

The following example shows how our rhythmic template would appear when fully-saturated with continuous 8th notes in the right hand…

Of course, most playing situations don’t involve playing 8th notes on every subdivision in the right hand. Instead, it’s more common to encounter a few syncopated entrances per measure. Since most students find it more challenging to play on the “upbeats,” Jonny has organized the following “combination maps” that focus on systematically playing upbeat permutations.

Believe it or not, these concise little maps represent a serious exploration into rhythmic subdivisions. The video demonstrations below convert each map into music notation while performing each rhythmic permutation two times over the first backing track at 85 BPM. Let’s try playing the rhythms from the 2-Note Combination Map together. You’ll get a count-in of 4 clicks.

2-Note Combinations

How did it go? Hopefully, you nailed it! If not, why not give it another shot? If necessary, you can adjust the video playback speed by clicking on the gear icon (⛭) in the lower right-hand corner of the video frame.

Next, let’s play rhythms drawn from the 3-Note Combination Map. Once again, each permutation will be repeated one time before moving on.

3-Note Combinations

Are you starting to get the hang of it? Alright, then then let’s move on to the next 8th-note subdivision exercise below. This example uses 4-note combinations drawn from the 4-Note Combination Map.

4-Note Combinations

Great job! By playing along with these rhythm exercises, you’re not only improving your hand independence. You’re also developing your ability to recognize different 8th-note rhythms in notation form!

Keep in mind, you can also reverse the roles of the hands. In other words, you could play the rhythmic permutations in the left hand against a continuous stream of 8th notes in the right hand. Jonny demonstrates this approach in today’s featured Quick Tip tutorial at 11:38 in the timeline.

In the next section, we’ll explore rhythm exercises that use a compound subdivision.

Rhythm Exercise with 3 Subdivisions (Triplets)

Our second broad category of rhythm exercises involve subdividing each pulse into three smaller parts. In music theory, when the primary pulse is divided in three, it is considered a compound meter. Again, the designation of “compound” refers to the subdivision only. As a result, there are several time signatures associated with the term compound meter. For instance, compound duple (6/8), compound triple (9/8) and compound quadruple (12/8) are all examples of compound meter.

Understanding Triplets in Music Notation

Compound subdivisions can also be notated in 2/4, 3/4 or 4/4 time signatures through the use of triplets. In music notation, a triplet instructs the performer to squeeze three notes into the space ordinarily occupied by two notes of the equivalent value. For instance, since two 8th notes ordinarily occupy one pulse, then three 8th-note triplets also occupy one pulse.