A New Way To Visualize Rhythm

If you’re not a drummer or percussionist, thinking about a rhythm, especially a complex one, can easily result in your brain boiling over while trying to understand it. This TED-Ed video by John Varney provides a new way of looking at different rhythms that makes the pursuit much easier and enjoyable.

In standard notation, rhythm is indicated on a musical bar line, but there are other ways to visualize it that can be more intuitive. John describes the wheel method of tracing rhythm and takes us on a musical journey around the world while he’s at it. There’s more to the lesson here, that include a quiz and additional resources.

Once you get used to this method you’ll find that you’ll no longer get confused whenever presented with the cadence of a new genre of music, which is the point. TED-Ed presentations are especially good at presenting this type of information. I hope to see more in the future.