The Math of Rhythm
We're built to experience the physical power of sound, but it takes a mathematical awareness to build sound into rhythm, rhythm into songs, and songs into a powerful experience. So here we start with call-and-response mimicry, and then move into more literal mathematical representations of what makes rhythm so attractive to us. We use simple symbols and numbers in a graph-paper grid to demonstrate rhythm, syncopation and polyrhythm, and then apply this by "writing" out and reading rhythms that we invent. We then weave these into a short composition. The goal is to create an awareness of the clarity and exactness that is required for a rhythm to be effective, and for the player to comprehend how it is built, and therefore how to use it wisely.
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