Rhythm
Bruce Berr, Editor
This article also has supplementary multimedia on this website
Some of my fondest memories of the 2002 MTNA National Conference in Cincinnati are those of a session done by Robert Abramson. I was already familiar with some aspects of his work and had studied several of his articles over the years. But watching him and listening to him in action - feeling his pedagogical presence - proved to be an altogether different experience. If you are one of the literally thousands of folks who have participated in his workshops over the past decades across America and beyond, you already know what I mean: his impeccable level of musicianship; his ability to demonstrate pianistic, musical and teaching issues with utter clarity; his candor and sense of humor; his leadership abilities (how many other people can get a room of three hundred people up and dancing together in a matter of minutes?). We are honored to have Robert Abramson share his ideas about rhythm in these pages.
from Robert M. Abramson's article
Timing is concerned with the correct placement of beats, rhythm with varieties of flow through time and space
All movement is a sign of life. Timing is when something begins, ends, and how long it moves. Most of us spend enormous energy teaching timing to music students: "This note gets one beat, that note gets two beats and that other one lasts for four beats." It is actually much easier to teach music through movement: "Those notes walk, and those notes run, and those funny looking dotted things are skipping movements." When we say to a student, "Please keep a beat" that is a common plea as a basis for good timing. But keeping a steady beat is impossible for the student who has not turned on the tempo clock in the left-brain. Doing that is easy with movement. If the teacher and student clap a tempo together and then suddenly stop, the teacher can ask, "Do you still hear and feel the claps?" If the student answers "Yes!" the teacher can say, " prove it" and have the student clap what is in memory. Then the teacher repeats the activity twice as fast by clapping running notes, diminishing the space between the hands. The student joins in, and suddenly the teacher calls out "Freeze!" They both stop and the student tries to clap them aloud by remembering the running notes. Doing this is more difficult in slow tempos because we do not experience life in slow tempo. For it to feel secure and comfortable, we have to increase the space between the hands and use a lot of controlled energy.
All of these activities help students turn on their tempo clocks. This gives them good timing, but no rhythm - no flow. They are set up then to play as well-oiled robots without a shred of musicality. The ancient Greeks had a name for this: erhythmy. That can be translated as perfect timing without any variety or sense of flow. On the other hand, the word "rhythm" in ancient Greek meant two things: "flow" and also "river" since water is probably the most varied rhythmic flow in life. Rivers can be quietly moving or turbulent; water can drip, or it can make waves of various sizes and qualities.
Timing is therefore concerned chiefly with the correct placement of beats; it mainly describes the moment of arrival of individual events. It is used to produce precision machines. However, rhythm is concerned with varieties of flow through time and space, as well as changes of energy and balance in a gravity field. The differences between timing and rhythm are apparent in life around us every day, as is the fact that it is rhythm, not timing, that truly characterizes an event. For example, think of the walking experience: timing is the moment the foot hits the floor; rhythm is the movement through space the activity of the legs, arms and body weight between the steps.
Some examples of rhythm vs. timing
We are surrounded in life by numerous other events that teach
us the difference between rhythm and timing. For instance, in
ping-pong, timing is just the moment that the paddle hits the
ball. Rhythm is the whole movement, angle and momentum of the
body, shoulder, arm, and wrist when preparing to strike the ball
(the upbeat), as well as the movement during and after the paddle
strikes the ball (the downbeat and middle beats). In automobile
traffic, rhythm is the interplay between people and cars at an
urban four-way stop sign, as opposed to the regular and rather
boring stop-and-go timing of cars at a traffic light. In script
or calligraphy, rhythm is the whole gesture and flow of each curve
and stroke of a letter. It includes the weight, pressure and angle
of approach to each letter, as well as the space before each letter
and word. Timing is just each separate letter itself. In speech,
rhythm is the variation of tone quality of the voice, speed, diction,
volume and intensity; timing is just the spoken words. . .
Robert M. Abramson has had a long and varied career as pianist, conductor, composer, author, teacher, writer and most recently, video creator. He is internationally acclaimed as a leading developer of the methods of Emile Jacques-Dalcroze. His major contributions are in the fields of Music and Movement, and he is known for his gifts at musical improvisation. He is the Founder and Director of the Manhattan Dalcroze Institute which is newly located at its home in the Juilliard School at Lincoln Center.
He has taught at every age level in every kind of school in Europe, Asia and the United States. He is a teacher of teachers and performers at the Juilliard School in the Dance, Drama, Opera, and Instrumental Music Departments. He also teaches theory, solfègge and rhythmics, improvisation, and sight-reading at the Manhattan School of Music.
He is the author of Rhythm Games for Perception and Cognition published by CPP Belwin; Teaching Music in the 21st Century with Choksy, Gillespie, and Woods, published by Prentice-Hall; Rhythm Games I and II with text and original music composed and performed by the author, published by Warner Bros.; and Teaching Music as a Second Language, a theory, ear-training and sight-singing method published by Music and Movement Press.
His newest works are videotapes: Dalcroze Eurhythmics
with Bob Abramson, published by G.I.A. Chicago, and Dalcroze Hand
Dances for Piano Students of All Ages, published by Movement and
Music Press. Other volumes are currently in the process of being
created.
Back to the Editor . . .
Robert Abramson's article has many practical implications for piano teachers. Here are a few that came to my own mind:
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