[doggit]

I am currently doing research into timing training for musicians. I'm looking for musicians who would be interested in downloading and testing some timing training software, and then filling in a very short online survey (16 point-and-click questions). Downloads and more information available here:

http://timecheck.asparagusaudio.co.za

Thanks, and please pass the link on to anyone who might be interested.

David Manchip

[doggit]

I would welcome any feedback from people who have tried the software. Anyone?

[xxvenom13xx]

I will try it later tonight and give you feedback tomorrow.

[doggit]

Great, thanks

[doggit]

Thank you to everyone who has tried the software and completed the survey. I've received some really useful feedback and suggestions, I might even look into turning this into something professional once the studies are done. I'm going to leave the site up and the survey open for a few days in case there are any late comers.

-doggit

[Der Trommler]

At the risk of sounding like an jerk I fail to see why this software is of any value. What exactly was your goal here?

[doggit]

The goal was to create a metronome that is more challenging, more interesting and more effective than a standard metronome. Perhaps I have failed ;-)

Seriously, I believe that musicians tend to rely on the down beat being given to them too much. It's a bit of a crutch, i.e. it's easy to play along with a click. It doesn't really improve your 'inner clock' beyond a certain point because you are constantly given these obvious reference points. Take the down beat away (or have it fade out, as does with the software), and you get the subdivisions as reference points, which forces you to 'hear' the pulse internally. You're supposed to play along with the down beat/internal pulse, playing whatever you like, and not necessarily accenting or following the reference pattern.

Hope that makes some sense.

	Pulse Drums Shop for Pulse Drums at Musician's Friend

[Der Trommler]

I guess I am not following here, but if you are playing in 4/4 time (or any other time signature for that matter), how would you know when to start or count your time after you start without having a downbeat? Or in other words because music is simply mathematics, and mathematics is counting how do you get to 2 in 4/4 time without first counting one?

[doggit]

I probably shouldn't have said 'down beat' and rather just 'beat' or 'pulse'.

Let me try to explain with a couple of simple examples using a standard click:

Lets say you want to practice you favourite 4/4 groove, so you put on the metronome at 120bpm and start playing, no problem. The metronome is clicking on every beat, 1 2 3 4.

Now try setting the metronome to 60bpm, except now you're still going to play at 120bpm. So while you are playing the same groove at the same tempo, the metronome is only clicking on beats 1 & 3, i.e. every second beat. Not too hard, but already a good exercise because the gaps between clicks are longer, forcing you to feel the spaces between more accurately.

The next step is to flip the metronome around in your head so that it is only clicking on beats 2 & 4. So it's still clicking at 60bpm, you're still playing at 120bpm, but there is no more down beat. One way to do this is to starting counting from 2 (2 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1...) until you can feel the down beat, even though it's not being supplied by the metronome.

The software takes these basic concepts a lot further using displacement and polyrhythms to provide all kinds of patterns to play with, not just 1 & 3 or 2 & 4.

[Der Trommler]

Very good explanation. Your goal is to use the metronome to teach variation of syncopation and even polyrythmic variation. Great idea.

Have you considered adding additional function by having two metro's in one? An example would be one tone or click counting 4/4 while another tone is clicking or counting a different time sig?