Reading Rhythm and Swing
Found in: Accompaniment, Curriculum, Reading
Ian B., California
Right now I have several students who are simultaneously going through RR and Accompaniment Variations. As such, it *seems* like a logical step to start including swing rhythm as a variation when learning to read 8th notes (doubles).
However, there is not a single discussion or teacher training addressing this that I can find. Especially when attempting to reverse engineer Alma Mater Blues and Light Blue, how have other teachers approached this? I am hesitant to cross this bridge as it adds another level of complexity for some students who are still in the earlier stages of AC Var.
Laurie Richards, Nebraska
I would suggest not going there, Ian. It would probably just be confusing at this stage, and there’s really no advantage to trying to draw a correlation when the goal is to teach the basic rhythms.
Ian B., California
Is there a better junction down the road to introduce this connection? I am finding it difficult to avoid when working on AC var stream simultaneously.
Laurie Richards, Nebraska
I have always explained it very simply and shown an example from other music where next to the tempo it says “swing beat” or shows in parentheses 2 eighth notes equivalent to the triplet rhythm. It’s basically a ‘one and done’ conversation in my experience.
Ian B., California
Thanks for simplifying this for me. I think the biggest problem I’m running into is when attempting to “reverse engineer” music from F1 & F2, and Alma Mater Blues comes up. Some students have brought it up, and I’ve also wanted to use it as an example of a tie, but I’ve avoided it altogether in an attempt to avoid getting pulled into a separate conversation (swing eighth notes).
Laurie Richards, Nebraska
Actually it’s a great opportunity to draw a connection between Acc Variations and written music – I’m just saying don’t bring RR into the conversation. When you introduce swing beat in AV, reinforce that a swing rhythm is the humpty dumpty rhythm used in Alma Mater, and that it’s typically written as regular 8th notes with the instruction to swing it – just for simplicity’s sake.
Original discussion started October 30, 2018