1) Grab a pencil. Leave your instrument elsewhere. Sit down with your music at a desk or on a table. (YES! A desk or table. NOT THE MUSIC STAND.)

2) SCAN the piece from the beginning. When you come across a rhythm you do not scan and count correctly, BRACKET [ ] the notes/bars that make up that rhythm (it might be a part of a bar, a whole bar, or a number of bars in a row). Then continue to scan. At the end of the piece, you will have a number of bars/groups of bars that are in [ BRACKETS ].

3). Now you begin learning the [BRACKETS]. If the [ ]’s include a number of bars, then you begin learning with the LAST BAR in the [ ] !! {The reason for this? Because your brain works better as you learn knowing what is coming in front of you 💡, instead of learning something and leaving it behind you!!! 👋}

⭐️ THESE RHYTHMIC [ BRACKETS ] ARE WHAT YOU WORK ON FIRST. (video below) ⭐️

AND HERE’S THE IMPORTANT THING:

YOU DO NOT PICK UP YOUR INSTRUMENT TO DO THIS!!

Once you can perfectly count all the [ BRACKETS ], go to No. 4. ⤵️

🚨If the rhythm in the [brackets] is VERY COMPLEX🚨:

3A) Mark the main beats above the notes with a slash (if it’s in 4/4, then you put long slashes above the notes on Beats 1, 2, 3, 4). (I even recommend doing this if you miscount what seems to be a simple rhythm more than twice.)

3B) If the [ ]’s include a number of bars, then you work starting with the LAST BAR in the [ ]. If the rhythm in the bar is very difficult, work only on Beat 4, then only on Beat 3 into and through Beat 4, then only on Beat 2 into Beat 3 into and through Beat 4, etc. Again, this is because your brain works better as you learn knowing what is coming in front of you 💡, instead of learning something and leaving it behind you!!! 👋 Once you can perfectly count all the brackets, go to No. 4.

⭐️ HOW TO TACKLE VERY COMPLEX RHYTHMS. (video below) ⭐️

4) METRONOME TEST: Put the metronome 15 clicks below the marked tempo (ex. so 60 becomes 45). Count through all your [BRACKETS]. Slowly raise the metronome marking all the way up to the marked tempo. Once you can count the [ ] perfectly with the marked tempo, push PAST THE MARKED TEMPO up until 15 clicks (so eventually 60 becomes 75). (If 15 clicks below of 15 clicks above is unreasonable for the marked tempo, make your own adjustment).

YOU STILL DO NOT PICK UP YOUR INSTRUMENT TO DO THIS!!

Once you can perfectly count all the [ BRACKETS ] past the marked tempo, go to No. 5. ⤵️

5. LEARN THE RAMPS. Now you must learn the rhythms 2-3 bars before and 2-3 bars after each [ ].

YOU STILL DO NOT PICK UP YOUR INSTRUMENT TO DO THIS!!

AND HEY - CONGRATULATIONS. If you’ve read this far! You’re COMMITTED and you’re DEFINITLEY going to crush this new piece of music you are learning.

Once you can perfectly count all the (ramp + [ ] + ramp) past the marked tempo, go to No. 6. ⤵️

6. FINGERING/STICK EXCHANGES: For all the (ramp + [ ] + ramp), you now write in any helpful fingering (wind/brass/harp) or stick exchanges (percussion), or the fingering with the shifts (strings).

🎶 🥳 AND NOW YOU GET TO BEGIN PLAY! 🥳 🎶

7. PLAY all the (ramp + [ ] + ramp) ONLY. You are learning the difficult micro parts to your piece FIRST, instead of trying to learn the whole piece at the same time.

Work on each bracket for about 2-3 minutes, then move on to the next. Your first 45-minutes or so of practice should be getting only the (ramp + [ ] + ramp)) correct, at tempo. The next 45-minute session you do, start at the end of the piece with the (ramp + [ ] + ramp), and work towards the brackets at the beginning of the piece. This way you even out your learning depending on what you work on first.

** From here you move on to the lesson on INDIVIDUAL: PRECISE INTONATION. If there are ( )’s that are very difficult to learn due to shifts or intonation that will take more time there, that is addressed in the next lesson - INDIVIDUAL: PRECISE INTONATION.

CONGRATULATIONS!

🙌 Your first layer of learning - your rhythm - has a solid beginning! 🙌