1-2,
1-2, Count, People, Count! Count the Beat in Your
Singing
"Count, people,
count!" is what my high school music director
use to tell us. And, it is just as important in
today's music as it was when I first heard those
words. The beat is everything in
singing.
Count the Beat for Better
Singing
To have the ability to sing
is one thing, but to correctly follow the timing of
a song is another thing. You can have the most
beautiful voice in the world, but if you don't
understand how the timing and rhythm of a song
goes, your voice will be wasted.
Timing in a song affects how
every line of a verse or chorus is sung. The music
is counted in bars and beats. Each beat starts on
the first note played and will represent one count.
There may be several counts
on a bar. When reading sheet music, notice if the
timing is labeled as 2/4, 3/4, 4/4, etc. This
indicates how many counts are in a bar. For
example, 2/4 means there are 2 beats in 1 bar, 3/4
means there are 3 beats in 1 bar. This will give
you an idea of how the timing of a song should
go.
Why Timing is So
Important
The reason timing is so
important is because you need to know where to come
in on the song's introduction and where to start
and stop singing throughout the song. Counting will
help tremendously on brand new songs. Once you
become familiar with a song and its timing, you'll
no longer need to count.
When singing songs in which
you need to start singing immediately, you can
count the beat in your head, verbally, or by
tapping your foot - "1,2,3,4." Keep in mind that
every song is unique.
Some will be easy to
recognize the timing and number of beats while
others might be difficult. Work with your
instrumentalist to get the right timing before
practice. You should practice counting with the
song until you are familiar with the
timing.
Recognizing
Clues
There are other ways to
master the timing of a song if you don't want to
count. If you have a good ear for music, you can
listen for clues and certain notes or beats in a
song so you’ll know when to start or stop
singing. Many musicians and singers who learn music
by ear only use this method.
Learn the Rhythm
The rhythm of a song is the
pattern or grouping of sounds in varying lengths
and accentuation. You can tap out the rhythm of a
song on a table without the tune. Whether you tap
slower or faster, the rhythm remains the same, but
the tempo changes. Rhythm can be identified by
where notes are accentuated. The notes are played
loud, short, or long or soft, and flow repeatedly.
These make up the song's rhythm.
Number of Beats in a
Song
There are 8 beats in a song.
If mixing a song, the new song should be added on
the first beat of the 8 count.
Here's an example... count
along: 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8 Start Again
2-3-4-5-6-7-8
Songs are divided into
sections, each with either 32 or 64 beats. At these
beats, a new sound is either added to a song or
removed from a song.
Combine your knowledge of
timing and rhythm when learning a new song so you
can sing the song smoothly and never miss a beat!
Self-Help Voice Training
Courses
If you don't feel you are
ready for a full singing career just yet you can
find plenty of speech
level singing tutorials
online by enrolling in distance learning music
schools with a professional
singing trainer. If
you feel uncomfortable singing in front of a group
of people, speech level voice training might be
just what you need to overcome your singing fears!
Singing Tips for Beginners
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