As a drum coach I’ve learned a lot about time. How to count it, understand it, feel it, and how to explain it to a student.
I used to start explaining it by telling the student, “if you can count to 4 then you can play drums.” But is it really that easy? Sure there are mechanical movements you need to learn in order to actually hit the drums and make sounds. The question for me has always been how can i easily count time and feel the music.
Song structure has also been one of those aspects of music we all struggle figuring out. Sure, most people know what a verse and a chorus are, but there are so many other parts to songs that most people don’t know the names of.
I’ve found teaching students to label parts of songs according to the alphabet easiest and most helpful. (A,B,C, etc.) But when it came to counting I needed to make sure they understood how many measures were in each part.
When learning/writing a new song either a cover tune or an original you must count!
This is how I interpret “Time”
In this example, I show Part A as a verse and how many measure that verse is. (8x). Part B will be a Post Verse and is 4 measures.
Example:
A– Verse (8x)
B– Post Verse (4x)
In this next figure I show my students how I count these parts.
Example:
A) 8x
1234, 2234, 3234, 4234, 5234, 6234, 7234, 8234
B) 4x
1234, 2234, 3234, 4234
You will notice that i change the 1st number in each sequence or measure. This is to help ensure i know which measure i’m on in any given phrase or part of the song. Next time you find yourself learning/writing a new song or cover tune try to apply some of these methods.