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Conducting is one of the most important tools you can acquire to assist you in rhythmic transcription. In this article I’ll explain why this is, and how to use this skill.

While conducting can be an art unto itself, the sole purpose of the practice is to give visual reference to an aural event, or in the case of rhythm, a series of aural events. By simply waving your hand in the air you can easily keep track of exactly when a note is attacked and for how long it sustains, which can do wonders for your rhythmic accuracy in both performance and transicription.

So let’s begin by looking at a few of the basic conducting patterns. While there are certainly many more patterns then three I will list here, most other meters can be arrived at by simply combining these three basic ones. Although keep tuned for future articles that will go into more detail about these specifically.

The 2/4 pattern:

The 2/4 conducting pattern is by far the simplest, with only two real movements: down, and up. Make sure that the downward movement is angled away from your body. To get a feel for this pattern try singing a strictly quarter note rhythm while conducting to it. Often times two four can be substituted for other binary time signatures such as 4/4 or 6/8.

3/4:

Three four is the only odd time signature we’ll cover in this lesson. As with the 2/4 pattern the outward motion with your hand on beat two should be moving away from your body.

A helpful tip if you’re having some problems with these patterns is to imagine that you are flicking watter off of your hand on every beat so that the beat is emphasized, and a definitive attack is sharp and visible. You could almost think of it as a pivot point. Then after each attack feel free to let your hand float a bit before the next beat.

4/4:

The last pattern is that which is most common, the 4/4 pattern. The 4/4 pattern is a little different, in that the first movement after the downbeat is inward, thereby crossing your body. Also note that the fourth beat falls very close to the original downbeat’s position.

Practical Applications:

• Put on a recording with a rhythmic passage you might otherwise find difficult to transcribe.
• Start by trying figure out the meter. You can do this in a number of ways, my favorite of witch is counting out loud while over emphasizing the downbeat (beat one) of every measure.
• After you’ve gotten the meter straight you should begin conducting in the appropriate pattern.
• After you feel fairly comfortable conducting along to the recording try singing the rhythmic gesture while continuing to conduct.
• Now, once you are able to sing and conduct along with the recording, shut off the recording and try just singing the rhythmic passage and conducting by yourself.
• Finally, start to gradually slow the pattern until it becomes very visible to you which rhythmic attacks are falling on which beats.

more articles by Tyler Oakleaf

• Notes of Fretboard Diagram
• Like our lessons? Take a poster!
• The Big Picture
• Chord Soloing & Chordal Embelishment 1
• Good Things…
• “Making It” In Music
• Practice Progression