How to work with rhythm training
The module plays or shows a rhythm which you reproduce by tapping. Timing accuracy is graded, not only the order of events. The first levels stay with quarter and eighth notes in four-four; later come sixteenths, dotted values, syncopation and odd metres.
Count out loud. One-and-two-and-three-and-four-and, and for sixteenths one-e-and-a. Counting aloud is not a beginner's crutch but the tool professionals use to clear up difficult passages. Counting silently loses the reference almost every time a syncopation appears.
Feel the pulse physically. Tap the beats with your foot while your hand executes the rhythm. Separating pulse from figure is the actual skill being trained here.
Pulse, metre and note values
Rhythm presupposes a steady pulse against which everything else stands out. Metre groups that pulse: in four-four, four quarter notes form a unit, with the strongest accent on beat one and a weaker one on beat three. In three-four the grouping in threes produces the waltz character.
Note values are defined purely by proportion. A whole note lasts as long as two halves, four quarters, eight eighths or sixteen sixteenths. A dot after a note extends it by half its value, so a dotted quarter lasts as long as three eighths. These proportions hold regardless of tempo; tempo only determines how long a beat lasts in seconds.
Syncopation occurs when an accent falls on an unstressed part of the bar and is held across the following beat. The expected pulse is thrown off balance without being lost, and that tension is what gives styles from ragtime to funk their appeal.
From practice
Rhythm is best learnt through language. Attach words to figures: "ap-ple" for two eighths, "wa-ter-me-lon" for four sixteenths, "straw-ber-ry" for a triplet. Children grasp in minutes what takes weeks through fractions.
A metronome is indispensable, but it should be used properly. Rather than giving every beat, let it play only beats one and three, or even just the downbeat of every second bar. That forces you to carry the pulse yourself instead of leaning on it.
Practise difficult passages considerably slower than you intend to play them, and increase in small steps. A rhythm that is not clean at 60 does not get better at 120, only less conspicuous.
Common mistakes
The most frequent mistake is shortening long notes. Half and whole notes get cut off impatiently because nothing is happening. Count especially deliberately through long values; rests and held notes carry a large part of the musical expression.
The second mistake is speeding up in easy places and braking in hard ones. It happens almost automatically and is barely noticeable while playing. A recording of your own practice reveals it instantly.
The third mistake concerns rests. A rest is not nothing; it is a measured span of time. Treat rests merely as a chance to breathe and you lose the bar. Count rests exactly as you count notes, with a silent gesture if necessary.