While teaching a student last week about time signatures and note subdivisions, the student was having a tough time understanding the bottom number of the time signature. The basic definition of the time signature is that the top number tells the musician how many beats are in each measure and the bottom number tells the musician what kind of notes receive said beats. The student had a tough time understanding the concept of the bottom number and was getting mad at himself. I had him take a deep breath and then had him listen to a 50s tune in 12/8, an Afro-Cuban 6/8 groove, a rock tune in 6/8, and Pink Floyd's "Money" in 7/4. Without telling him the time signatures of each song, I had him tap out the pulse of each song. This method gave him the basic pulse of each tune. Then I had him LISTEN to the repetitive phrasing of each song to get the framework. By using this method he was able to find the best time signature to build his drum part to!
To cement this concept for him, I used the analogy that the time signature is like the painter's canvas. It has dimensions and the painter can only paint within the dimensions of the canvas. The rhythmic subdivisions (specifically the Table of Time) are much like the painter's palette. Drummers use different combinations of rhythmic subdivisions to creatively subdivide the pulses within each measure of a song.
This analogy really helped my student understand the importance of the fundamentals of note values and their corresponding rests. The likening of the painter's canvas to time signatures and the song structure further solidified his understanding. I hope this can help others as well!
Happy Valentine's Day!
