Skip to main content

Syncopation: Arithmetic

Goal: To use arithmetic concepts to improvise with syncopation.

Out of Tempo

All Levels

“Out of Tempo” exercises are not presented separately in Ear Training III and Ear Training IV improvisations. Should any exercise prove difficult performed in tempo, out of tempo versions of the materials in Ear Training III and Ear Training IV can be modeled on Ear Training I and Ear Training II approaches to out of tempo improvisations.

In Tempo

Teacher sets up a tempo, time signature, tonality, rhythms.

Start with one note per measure and add different rhythms as students become more comfortable with the exercise. For more confident students, use non-repeating notes and rhythm patterns.

Refer to the Syncopation ‘Smorgasbord’ for ideas.

Addition

Beginning

  1. Teacher sets up as above and prompts, “Choose two syncopated rhythms and add them together.”
  2. Students do so.

Intermediate

  1. Teacher sets up as above and prompts, “Choose three syncopated rhythms and add them together.”
  2. Students do so.

Advanced

  1. Teacher sets up as above and prompts, “Choose four syncopated rhythms and add them together.”
  2. Students do so.

Subtraction

Beginning

  1. Teacher sets up as above and prompts, “Choose four syncopated rhythms and remove one of them.”
  2. Students do so.

Intermediate

  1. Teacher sets up as above and prompts, “Choose three syncopated rhythms and remove one of them.”
  2. Students do so.

Advanced

  1. Teacher sets up as above and prompts, “Choose two syncopated rhythms and remove one of them.”
  2. Students do so.

Multiplication

Beginning

  1. Teacher sets up as above and prompts, “Choose a syncopated pattern and repeat it x times."
  2. Students do so.

Intermediate

  1. Teacher sets up as above and prompts, “Choose two syncopated patterns and repeat them x times."
  2. Students do so.

Advanced

  1. Teacher sets up as above and prompts, “Choose three or four syncopated patterns and repeat them x times."
  2. Students do so.

Division

Diminution.

Beginning

  1. Teacher sets up as above and prompts, “Choose a syncopated pattern and divide it in half. For example: take eighth quarter eighth and divide it in half = sixteenth eighth sixteenth."
  2. Students do so.

Intermediate

  1. Teacher sets up as above and prompts, “Choose two syncopated patterns and divide them in half."
  2. Students do so.

Advanced

  1. Teacher sets up as above and prompts, “Choose a syncopated pattern in compound meter and divide it in half."
  2. Students do so.