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All I am trying to do here is demonstrate one particular way on how to interpret the music accurately. This is the starting point for any musical interpretation. After all...why did Debussy choose this particular time signature and these rhythms if it didn't matter? Also, I promise you that Paul Barton knows how to count this piece. When you can count and feel rhythm at a high level, you can do amazing things with music.

Believe it or not, this is a pretty misunderstood concept and so I felt an introduction was necessary.

Thank you! The stand for the microphone that I am speaking to is actually clamped to the desk. It's one of the mic arms made by Elgato. I linked to it with another picture on my website.

Yes. It's even possible to use certain kinds of audio interfaces, mixers, or even microphones that allow the keyboard to be plugged in and the direct sound to be passed to Zoom. I am not familiar with how to do this, but some of my students do this and it works out rather well.

That is true. However, you can still tap or clap your rhythms before hand. While not being able to count while you play is technically a disadvantage, it's also less necessary because you only have one line to worry about at a time as a flute player. One advantage to counting as a pianist is the ability to discover the relationship between the lines.

It's hard to know without seeing exactly how your music is laid out. However, I will mention what I usually do in these situations. Usually it is not necessary to come up a syllable for every single 32nd note or note of a trill and so on. I will usually figure out which of the notes on the other hand line up with the turn and count those instead. In the case of measure 20, I might be counting "1 e + a 2 e + a" which is the deepest level that I would count. In this situation, the entire turn might fit on one of those syllables. Hopefully that makes sense.

Hello Andreas! Sorry for my delayed response. It's possible that your singing could trigger the page turns, however, it might work just fine. I don't sing when I am at the organ, and so I am not sure how it would work out. However, I do hear that you can also wink one eye instead and I imagine that would work well. If there was any issue, you could always disable the auto page turning when you sing and re enable when you play a piece with multiple pages.

If you are referring to the exercise from my video...the time signature is 3/2 which means that you count this piece using 3 half notes per measure. Admittedly, it is unusual to see a time signature like this early on but you do see it in this particular resource. In this time signature, the half note gets the beat. If we are counting our pulse in terms of half notes, the whole note would get two counts and the quarter note would get half a count. The counting on the left hand would be "1...2...3 and". Let me know if you need more clarification on this. Thanks for your comment!

​@@FlexLessons thanks I totally get it now

I am glad to hear this. Too many pianists play it the first way! Haha.

Glad it was helpful!

I explain it in this video (between the 6 and 12 minute mark): ruclips.net/video/bTVRhk-1gjw/видео.htmlsi=CVH4V5d1jzgxiV7i

Thank you! I intend to make a video about it at some point.

As a pianist, I generally don't encounter nested tuplets very often, so I haven't really had to think of a way to count them. The counting system I use doesn't work on everything but it does work on anything where the beats can be broken down individually. Sorry that I don't have a more satisfying answer for you!

@FlexLessons It's okay By the way thanks you for your wonderful feedback

I appreciate your thoughts here. For what it's worth, I do believe you can use pretty much any syllables and still "count towards the beat". That has more to do with basic musical skills and instincts than the syllables one chooses to use. Thanks for sharing!

Haha...yes!

That just has to do with camera height and positioning. Generally, if the keyboard is centered in the frame, and the camera is low enough to where the keyboard fills the view horizontally, then your head shouldn't be getting in the way unless you lean forward.

@@FlexLessons Thanks. Do you make a special effort to keep your head from leaning forward? I am leaning forward often as I play. To record overhead I have had to lean uncomfortably back to avoid blockage.

@@testchannelone6616 I don't make a special effort, but I generally don't play with my head over the keys, as a habit. If you do have your head over the keys at all, there is no way to block that from getting in the shot. Also, my overhead camera setup has changed considerably. You can see my current setup in this video: ruclips.net/video/jHKXajP8n7E/видео.html

@@FlexLessons Thanks!

I try to make my syllables very short so that they are clear and articulate without wasting breath. However, it's totally reasonable to breathe as needed! Also, I generally only subdivide when I have to work something out or need clarity on a passage. Otherwise, I count a larger unit which gives me plenty of time to breathe. I hope that helps!

You are welcome! I remember what a massive difference this technique made for me when I first encountered it. I am sure you will benefit similarly!

You are most welcome!

No worries! When I said that, I was talking about how to count the minuet in G major. In this piece, the smallest note value is the 8th (there are no 16ths in this piece...remember that 16ths have a double beam or double flag). With this in mind, we want to count everything using the 8th note so as to make all the rhythms correct and proportional. Once you do this, you can "zoom out" and count the quarter instead. I hope that helps!

@@FlexLessons Thanks. You explained it to my level.

Glad it was helpful!

I am glad to hear that you are curious about it now. Do you still have questions about it?

Happy to help!

I am so glad you found this helpful!

Since you can't count out loud while you play as a flute player, you would have to rely on clapping or tapping the rhythm while you speak the pulse in preparation for playing. You could even hold the notes down with your fingers while you count. Pianists do have an advantage here, however, piano music is inherently more complicated and therefore more reliant on the ability to count. I hope that helps!

Thank you, i'll try that

I do! I still use mine on my upright piano. Apparently they are releasing a larger model for grand pianos soon, and I intend to get that as well.

@@FlexLessons Great, thanks a lot...have a great day.

The first Mikrokosmos book is a great starting point. However, many students really don't like it. I suggest using it as the "etude" category of practice and give them other pieces to work on. You might consider using a repertoire series called Masterwork Classics as well (this is the series that I use). This repertoire series includes things like AMB pieces and Little Preludes at a good time in a student's progression.

I am actually not sure. Since Zoom has been working so well, I haven't bothered testing anything else in quite a while. Did you have all the options checked in Zoom for your student? High fidelity music mode? Stereo (if applicable)? Original Sound? I do appreciate that many other dedicated music lesson platforms let you bypass all of these things.

It is challenging, but only for a while. At some point, it becomes second nature. I am glad these tutorials are helping!

Even though I don't use Mikrokosmos for sight reading, I bet it is excellent for that because it's so strange and unpredictable. I highly recommend counting it out loud to maximize the benefit!

I'm so glad!

Thank you! 😃

Thank you!

Glad you enjoyed it!

If he is using Zoom, it's because he forgot to turn on original sound, OR, it accidentally turned off and he forgot to turn it on again. My next video is a short video that talks about this very thing so stay tuned!

@@FlexLessons I really appreciate your reply. We use Skype in our class. When He plays a sequence of notes, most of the notes are not heard on my side. The notes disappear or they are heard in a very low volume especially the acute notes. When he plays bass notes, I can hear them better but not good. I think it is a problem of mic and the frequency of notes. Thank you

@AllounaNano Unfortunately, this is the reason I left Skype. As far as I am aware, Skype does not give you the option of bypassing the audio processing. I had this exact issue with certain students!

Would you mind telling me which app are you using to teach piano? Does the app you are using allow us to record our classes? Thank you for replying.

@AllounaNano I use and prefer Zoom. You can use it to record.

I actually don't mind developers supporting themselves through small subscriptions like this.

@@FlexLessons It is the very idea of renting what you should own. Serfdom should be minimized if not eliminated in a free, capitalist society. That said, I see they offer a purchase version, albeit a dumbed down version.

@lawrencediggs7957 I totally get that. Many companies are abusing this. However, continued development is required for software to continue to work with major OS releases, and without some sort of sub or fee, devs would have to work for free to keep things working, which is sort of like “serfdom in reverse”.

@@FlexLessons When they fix their mistakes problems with their work, updates, that should be free. If they add new features they should make it a chargeable upgrade purchase.

I am glad this helped you! Note that this counting method works well in Arabesque as well as a number of other pieces, I am surprised at how often I am able to use it!

You're very welcome!