Date of Award
2011
Document Type
Thesis
Publisher
Edith Cowan University
Degree Name
Bachelor of Music (Honours)
School
Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA)
Faculty
Faculty of Education and Arts
First Supervisor
Associate Profeeor Graham Wood
Second Supervisor
Chris Tarr
Abstract
This dissertation aims to provide exercises that will efficiently develop the skills necessary for accurate time keeping in music. Many contemporary industry-standard texts fail to provide specific methods to develop accurate time keeping in music. Most include instructions to use a metronome, but only as a dictator of tempo and not as a tool to improve one's own time keeping ability. This dissertation proposes to address that gap in contemporary music instructional literature. To enhance the understanding of the skills required for accurate time keeping in music, contemporary neurological literature pertaining to time keeping is investigated. A review of this literature reveals that temporal cognition and motor learning are two main factors influencing time keeping. Based on these findings, forty-eight exercises are developed that are designed to optimally input the cognitive and motor skills required to achieve the physical manifestation of accurate metronomic temporal intervals. The exercises focus primarily on heightening the awareness of the temporal partials (known in music as subdivisions) that are not being physically output by the individual, so that they may accurately quantify, perceive and physically manifest metronomically accurate notes or strokes. Through analysis of selected industry-standard music instructional literature, a format of presentation for the exercises is developed and employed. The devised format comprises of an introduction to the text, explanation of exercises, presentation of exercises in both written text and musical notation, and aural demonstrations of the exercises on an included compact disc. The exercises are then summarised and suggestions of extrapolations for exercises are discussed.
Recommended Citation
Falle, B. (2011). Proposed methods for efficiently attaining the skills required for accurate time keeping in music. Edith Cowan University. https://ro.ecu.edu.au/theses_hons/29