THIRD STEP: Specific exercise to improve beat recognition
If you have come as far as this point it means that the usual ways for improving beat perception haven't been useful in your case. So, if what you have done to date (either listening to music, paying attention to it during social dances, taking classes, etc.) haven't worked well enough, do you think it wise to keep on doing the same thing? Maybe you need to seek a new method.
The exercise we suggest is based on two aspects:
1. We must work on recognising and following the beat when not on the dance floor.
2. It is much easier to learn something when it is associated with other sources of information.
In other more words, it is easier to learn something when we pay more attention and the more connections we can establish in our brains about what we are learning. So if we want to remember the name of a city, it is much easier if, to do so, our brain not only uses the word itself but also the information about the sound of the name, images of the letters written on paper, the memory of a person we met in that city, or the taste of a new dish we ate there.
For this reason we now suggest you learn to associate the beat of music with an image; in this case a spot.
The aim is that each beat makes the image of a spot appear in your brain. This should not only simplify improved identification of the beat, but should also avoid associating the beat of the music with a particular sound. The beat must finally be an abstract idea, dissociated from any particular sound in the music.
As much of the work you will do is based on being able to mentally imagine a spot, the first thing you have to do is work on this mental image of a spot.
1. Mentally imagine a spot.
We all have the ability to generate images in our brain; "See" objects mentally, faces, movement sequences...
Some people do it in great detail; they "see" in colour and in three dimensions; they can "see" a film as if they were living the situation at that time. Other people need more effort to do this, but we all can do it and, with the appropriate practice, even improve this ability.
Look at this spot and close your eyes (or even better, cover them with your hand to prevent any light getting in and encourage your imagination) and try to keep seeing it. Practice this long enough so that it is relatively easy to "see" the spot. In fact, for our propose (which is designed to provide new stimuli to simplify the beat recognition process in our brain) it is not strictly necessary to be able to imagine the spot in detail and juggle with it inside your head. In fact, nothing will happen if you can not "see" the spot. The fact of being able to "see" it is only an aid. What we ask you to do now is to spend some time practising this exercise.
2. Make a spot appear for each beat.
The next step is to make the spot appear mentally for each beat of the music. Let's begin without music, just listening to the beat on a percussion instrument.
Watch this video. You will see that each beat is associated with a spot. Listen to the sound and watch the spot. You have to create the internal impression that the spot appears because of the beat; the sound pushes the spot out of the darkness. Watch the whole video once.
The second time you play the video close (or cover) your eyes occasionally and try to keep "seeing" the spot each time you hear the sound. We stress that it is not important whether you "see" the spot in detail. The mere fact that you try to imagine it will be useful enough, even if you do not have any mental image of the spot on each beat. Make an effort to try and see it regardless of the result. By making this effort to create the spot in your imagination, as if it is pushed out by beat of the drum, your brain is already activating, though not with enough precision, visual areas in conjunction with auditory ones, and this encourages learning.
Repeat the exercise a few more times until you have the feeling that the spot really appears driven by the pulse. When you feel that the process is sufficiently consolidated, go on to the next exercise.
3. Can you imagine the spot with your eyes open?
To further strengthen the process of activating visual areas when we hear the beat, we will do an exercise that is similar to the previous one but with a a very important variation. When you watch the video you will see that, just like in the previous case, a spot appears on each percussion hit, but occasionally the spot will not appear for a few beats. Without closing your eyes, try to continue "seeing" how the spot appears on the black background, driven by the beat. Again remember that it is not necessary to "see" the spot. Just making the effort to make it emerge as if pushed by the beat will activate the visual areas of your brain.
Repeat the exercise a few times until you have the feeling that the point really appears driven by the beat. When you feel that the process is sufficiently consolidated, move on to the next exercise.
4. Now it's time to increase the speed.
Now we want to make this process automatic and to do so we will repeat exactly the same exercise but with a faster beat.
In the first video (exercici pulsació bàsic 3) the spot appears all the time. So you will work by closing your eyes occasionally and trying to keep making the spot appear in your imagination, always driven by the beat.
In the second video (exercici pulsació bàsic 4) the spot does not always appear. When it doesn't appear try to continue seeing it in your imagination with your eyes open and looking at the black background of the video.
Work on these exercises three or four times each , with a break in between. Repeat them on another day or in a few days. Please try repeating them every few days.
5. But, as the song says, it don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing.
Yes, now it's time to work on these things with music. The first song we have chosen is one where the beat can be felt more easily. We have slightly slowed the speed of the song to simplify the learning process. If you already know this piece it might sound you a little strange at first.
Watch the video again. The point helps identify the energy of the beat. Try not to pay attention to whether the beat matches one instrument or another. Listen to the music as a whole; do not try to identify the parts.
Once you have repeated the exercise several times (and have had enough breaks) do the exercise in reverse, just like we did before. Try to make the effort to imagine that the spot appears pushed by the beat. If necessary, you can watch the video again.
Now we want you to watch the video but closing your eyes occasionally. With your eyes closed you have to make the effort to keep "seeing" the spot. Remember that it should be the beat of the music that makes it appear. Also remember that it is not important whether you "see" the spot clearly or not, the mere intention of trying to see it means you are doing the required training of your brain.
When you open your eyes check whether the moment that you imagined the spot coincides with its appearance on the screen.
As you may suppose, we are now at a crucial moment. Although we will not spend any time trying to understand the exact neural mechanisms, but what you're doing is establish the necessary connections in your brain to be able to recognize the beat more easily.
This is why it is important to repeat this exercise over a few days, to consolidate it.
Given that what we want to learn is to recognize the beat in any song, you now have to repeat exactly this same process but with a different piece of music.
We will use the same song in the next exercise but occasionally the spot will not appear. Then you have to bring out, mentally, with your eyes open, the spot driven by the beat of the music. Just to make it a little easier we have subtly added a drum hit for each beat when there is no spot.
Repeat this exercise as often as you think necessary, pausing occasionally, until you can easily recognised the beat.
Finally, here is a final exercise where the spot disappears from time to time. You have to make it appear mentally, with your eyes open, making the beat of the music push it out.
Repeat these exercises until you consolidate beat recognition.
By now your perception of the beat must have improved considerably and this is surely going to be noticed on the dance floor.
Now you should keep practising by doing some of the previous exercises again, listening to music at home while completely focused on the beat (the songs that we suggested in the second step can help you) or dancing while paying attention to the beat.
Because we must pay attention to many different things on the dance floor, it is better that you do the consolidation and automation exercises alone, at home, fully concentrated on the beat.
Remember that it is important that beat recognition becomes spontaneous, with no need for you to focus your attention to perceive it. Remember, you do not have to listen to any specific instrument to recognize the beat.
Therefore, you must practice and practice and practice again until you get it.
We would appreciate your comments about your progress. Were any of the exercises we suggested not helpful? Your comments and suggestions will help us try to improve this material.