Counting (music)

In music, counting is a system of regularly occurring sounds that serve to assist with the performance or audition of music by allowing the easy identification of the beat.

The method involving numbers may be termed count chant, "to identify it as a unique instructional process.

"[1] In lieu of simply counting the beats of a measure, other systems can be used which may be more appropriate to the particular piece of music.

[3] Rather than numbers or nonsense syllables, a random word may be assigned to a rhythm to clearly count each beat.

[4] In some approaches, "rote-before-note",[5] the fractional definitions of notes are not taught to children until after they are able to perform syllable or phrase-based versions of these rhythms.

[6] "However the counting may be syllabized, the important skill is to keep the pulse steady and the division exact.

[7] Counting system using n-ne, n-ta-ne-ta, n-na-ni, and n-ta-na-ta-ni-ta.

Toward the middle of the 19th century the American musician Lowell Mason (affectionately named the "Father of Music Education") adapted the French Time-Names system for use in the United States, and instead of using the French names of the notes, he replaced these with a system that identified the value of each note within a meter and the measure.

Alternating "t" and "k" in quick succession is easy to say, as they fall on two different parts of the tongue, making it very easy to say these syllables at a fast tempo (much like tonguing on recorder or flute).

Example The folk song lyric "This Old Man, he played one, he played knick-knack on my thumb, with a knick-knack paddy whack, give my dog a bone, this old man came rolling home" would be said, "down up down down up down down up down up down up down up-ee down up down-ee-up down-ee-up-ee down down up down up down up down."

Often, they'll encourage teachers to use whatever they prefer, and many choose to use the Kodaly syllable system.