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3.6: Counting Method for Dictation

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    258478
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    Counting Out Loud

    For those of us who need to focus on one beat at a time, the beat boxes are an excellent tool. However, some people might feel like this is an extra step. If you are able to retain rhythmic patterns that are a little longer, you might find that using a counting method will be a successful dictation tool.

    With a counting method, we hear the beats where sounds are occurring. Using the same dotted rhythm example from the previous page, we would have heard one sound on a beat, one sound that lasted longer than a beat, one sound that came on the second half of beat three, and then two even sounds on beat four.

    One dash in the first box, one dash that extends from the second box to halfway through the third box, a dash in the second half of the third box, and two dashes in the fourth box

    If you are using a counting method, this might sound to you like "1-2-and-4-and"

    beat boxes translated into notation on C4

    With a counting method, we can also tap or conduct, so that when we play the rhythm back in our head we recognize that we heard something on beat one and then on beat two. Then we heard the next sound come just before the fourth beat. When we translate this rhythm into notation, we access our music theory and notation knowledge to determine that the duration of the sound that started on beat two actually lasted for a beat and a half.


    This page titled 3.6: Counting Method for Dictation is shared under a CC BY-NC 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Lauren C. Sharkey.

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