I clap my hands. Count 1.. 2.. 3.. 4. Move my feet in time.
"I don't get it," he says. "Where does Number Four come into it?"
"Well, there's four beats in a bar," I explain. "1.. 2.. 3.. 4."
"I don't understand. I don't know what a bar is."
"You don't need to know what a bar is. You just need to hear the beat. Can you hear the drummer? The drummer keeps the beat."
I play along with the drummer by slapping my knees.
"But what has this got to do with anything, or the fourth beat?"
"You have to hear the beat to know what time to move your feet. They move in time with the music."
He shakes his head and looks at me, resignedly.
I don't know how to teach somebody this. Do I click my fingers loudly in his ear? Buy him a drumkit? Smack his head into the table on counts 1 and 3?
Does anyone know?
"I don't get it," he says. "Where does Number Four come into it?"
"Well, there's four beats in a bar," I explain. "1.. 2.. 3.. 4."
"I don't understand. I don't know what a bar is."
"You don't need to know what a bar is. You just need to hear the beat. Can you hear the drummer? The drummer keeps the beat."
I play along with the drummer by slapping my knees.
"But what has this got to do with anything, or the fourth beat?"
"You have to hear the beat to know what time to move your feet. They move in time with the music."
He shakes his head and looks at me, resignedly.
I don't know how to teach somebody this. Do I click my fingers loudly in his ear? Buy him a drumkit? Smack his head into the table on counts 1 and 3?
Does anyone know?
posted by GBE at 8:15 am
7 Comments:
I don't know what you are listening to, but a standard rock beat has the share drum hit on the fourth beat. Maybe draw him a quick bar.
Tap him on the forehead, one time for each beat - that should send the message home.
Ask him his religion. If he's a Catholic he's off the hook. we never could get used to rythmn! :)
I'm sorry but I can't believe you didn't think of making him watch Dirty Dancing GBE.
Because Johnny and Baby are the only ones to teach him the beat.
And love.
(Oh man I just snorted)
MHE, the difficulty with the fourth beat is because of one of the dances. You count the four, but never do anything on the fourth beat. He's making an effort to listen to songs and try and count them out, and he's actually improving, which has proved me completely wrong. Here I was thinking it was something that you could do, or couldn't do, and that it wasn't something you could learn.
Don, what can I use for this tapping? A large hammer? Seriously though, that's basically my plan for the next lesson. I'll just keep time for him until he picks it up.
Mr. Guinness, well there's something I didn't know. Pretty sure he isn't Catholic though, so he can't use that as an excuse.
Lucy, we've watched it! I actually bought the DVD a couple of weeks ago. See the difference is that Baby already had some dancing ability when she met Johnny, whereas John is starting completely from scratch. Once he gets a bit better a repeat viewing may be in order. I've already downloaded half of the soundtrack in my anticipation of learning every single routine and living out my own Dirty Dancing fantasy.
You got it first guess - smack his head into the table on beats 1 and 3.
Oh, and wear spike heels during dance lessons. If he gets it wrong, step on his toes.
- M
M, now that's a fine idea. Teaching via physical abuse. I'll scare the bugger into learning! "No, you missed your count! THWACK!"
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