That sounds wonderful! What I mean in this video (as it applies to rhythm practice as I teach it) is that there's a continuous unbroken flow AND a discrete aspect going on simultaneously. It's both a wave and a particle! It's vital to make our focus to track along the groove one cell at at time, so each rhythm cell is discrete and separate (just like we do when we speak word by word), making sure that we tag the current rhythm cell that we're playing, focus on it completely, ignoring the one before and the one after, so that they don't bleed into each other. However, the unfolding, nonlinear matrix structure means that the cells are also connected through the feminine, flowing part of the musical groove. Magic really! Enjoy practising!

@@PhilBestMusic Yes, I should have said I focus a lot more on the continuous part of rhythm than before, where I (at least consciously) exclusively focused on the discrete part, the attack itself. As you say, it's really both that matter.

Very true! I do use dynamics in that example and of course rubato as well!

Thanks! Glad you found it interesting!

You're taking this into realms that are somewhat specialised. If I intentionally play like a robot, then presumably I deliberately block any grace, flow and authentic human feeling. It would be the kind of challenge I'd avoid! :-)

Absolutely!

I don't teach rhythm in separate note values, as you know, I teach rhythm cells within a clearly structured but flexible groove. You don't need to be a mathematician to be good at rhythm the way I think of it.

Max, I used to believe that about myself. Before I started Phil's course, I not only depended on the sound of the metronome for every subdivision in a measure, but on the little light as well. It was so painful. I had no choice but to make my fingers memorize the 'choreography'. I'm just starting (at Step 7 or 8) to step out with a little sheet music-reading and I'm flabbergasted that as long as I chant the mantra fairly slowly it actually acts to focus me and I play through after not many tries, just looking at the score, not at my hand. I never thought I'd even get this far. Clearly lots more fluency training will only improve this.

@@lshwadchuck5643 I am very surprise to your progress with this course and inferness you can apply Phil's model when you read a score. Thank You for your insights :)

Well it shouldn't surprise anyone that my students progress nicely when they focus on the simple principles and let go as they practise (i.e. do lots of focused, expressive practice). Nor should it be a surprise that it requires application and discipline. If you fail to understand and apply the model with clear focus, don't let go properly and play with rhythmic flow from the body or if you simply neglect to put in the practice time, you will fail. And it really shouldn't surprise you that my approach trains reading and writing - fluent musical literacy. In the 15 steps (the only piece of practice material you have), you'll see that notation of blocks and rhythm cells is clearly shown, and in the videos, I instruct you to imagine what you are improvising being written out. So fluent reading develops in tandem with the core practice of improvising. But to reiterate, it does take a serious amount of good quality practice to acquire musically fluent skills. It also requires courage to let go and stop executing passively using the old mimetic or decoding skills and to express yourself with full intention without self-consciously listening to the results. For a lot of people, it will require some 121 coaching to clear away psychological blockages that prevent them from doing this. Let me ask you a question. Have you done the many hours of practice necessary to master the first two steps? Can you improvise for 8 or 16 cycles of the common time mantra, using the two rhythm cells and rests, never losing your place in the rhythmic matrix structure and tagging every cell or rest clearly? Can you do this playing at different tempos from the body in a completely free way, so that it sounds flowing, expressive and musical? And as you do this, can you imagine what you're playing being written out as shown?