Most music relies on keeping a steady beat. It just feels good to us. We feel rhythms and patterns all day long from brushing our teeth to playing games like jump-rope and basketball. Many people aren’t perfect when keeping the beats perfect. Let’s explore the benefits of practicing steady beat with your body.
This morning I have been noticing the natural rhythms around me. The first sound I heard was my son padding up the stairs to come talk to me. Thud, thud, thud, thud, thud. Very even.
Next, as I write I hear a bird outside chirping as if he has a conductor helping him keep a perfect beat, and my washing machine is whirring around nice and rhythmically also. When I stop to listen even closer, I hear the quiet ticking of a clock and the popping of the fireplace. The world is a symphony.
Learning how to keep steady beat (all by yourself) is a very important part of becoming a musician. Many people struggle feeling it naturally. It seems that people are either born with the ability to feel steady rhythm, or they are not… but they can learn.
My husband never had a single music lesson. You can tell when we hit the dance floor.
If you are someone who struggles really feeling steady rhythm, it’s time to teach yourself. You can do it.
The benefits of practicing steady beat with your body are abundant from being able to find your groove on the dance floor (and look pretty great!) to dazzling an audience with relaxed, good-feeling music.
Listen, listen, listen!
How to internalize steady beat if it’s not natural to you? Here are a few good ideas to get you started:
- Take music lessons. (any instrument will do, but drummers learn it very quickly!)
- Find the most simply percussive (audio) music you can find on the internet and listen, listen, listen. A simple drum that is rhythmically booming is best. Think of Native American drums or techno-style music with a heavy drum.
- Take (audio) music with a heavy beat and practice walking to the beat. Can you do it? Step at the precise moment of the beat. Never ever getting off. Repeat 689,554,392 times.
- Take step three even further with clapping the beat, patting your legs to the beat, or nodding your head. Anything that forces you to FEEL and demonstrate the steady beat with your body will get the job done.
- Repeat daily – indefinitely.
You can do it!
