Rhythm Matters: learning to read complex rhythms at an early stage in music lessons

What fun! Sitting in a circle with Mum or Dad, tapping out the basic rhythm of 1,2,3,4.Lets put on a favourite CD and choose some percussion instruments to play along with. It sounds all too easy...but it is really? When music lessons begin rhythms are quite simple as we work with only a few notes of different length.As lessons progress the music becomes increasingly complex in three main ways. There are more notes to play, there are more fingers to use and new rhythm patterns are added all at once. This can be daunting for young musicians.What would be the benefits if we started to learn complex rhythm in our first year of lessons?

1. No matter what instrument we choose we have to master rhythm complexities if we are to play with correct timing. The sooner we learnt them the easier it will be to manage when the physical handling of the instrument becomes more challenging.
2. Improvising is great, but every musician must know how to keep strict time both on their own and within a group. The sooner a student can hear the correct rhythm the sooner he will be free to play in his own style.
3. Reading and writing complex rhythms stimulates the brain, and makes learning simple songs more interesting as we are dealing with intricate patterns instead of simplistic notes for a long period of time.

Music Matters introduces complex rhythms within the first few weeks of lessons. Students can clap, tap, read and write much more complicated rhythms than they can actually play on the piano, guitar, drums, ukulele, saxophone etc. This keeps interest at a high level with the added advantage of laying a firm foundation for sight reading music.