Bridget Kibbey performs internationally, bringing her signature rhythmic drive to collaborations with artists including Miguel Zenón, Samuel Torres, Avi Avital, and the Dover Quartet as well as to solo and chamber baroque transcriptions. She is the newly appointed professor of harp at the Eastman School of Music. Kibbey’s most recent recording release with Pentatone Records, Crossing the Ocean, features folk idioms with strong rhythmic grooves. Learn more at her website bridgetkibbey.com.

Imagine you’re watching a train go by from above. What if you had to make eye contact with every single window on that train? Too much! But, what if you could simply check in on the train by, let’s imagine, watching two cars go by. That’s approachable.

The same thing applies when playing music. We need to find the bigger beats within the rhythm—the groove.

It’s common for us to place the metronome on the downbeats. However, it’s more effective to place the metronome on off-beats. For example, if you’re playing in 4/4 time, place the metronome on beats 2 and 4. If you’re playing in a 3/4 beat pattern, place the metronome on the third beat. Now, try placing the metronome on the second beat! See if you can stay steady with the metronome. Varying the placement of the metronome teaches our ears to rise up 20,000 feet and feel the groove floating by.

This exercise is helpful in creating steady fingers within a complicated technical and rhythmic passage: Let’s go back to our sixteenth notes within a 4/4 bar. Place a little accent on the first sixteenth of each beat. Now, place the accent on the second sixteenth note of each beat. Try placing it on the third sixteenth of each beat. Finally, the fourth sixteenth of each beat. Now, play the passage without any accents to feel steady fingers and tempi.

I hope you enjoy applying these techniques to build confidence, ease, and a great command of any rhythmic groove!

—Bridget Kibbey performs internationally, bringing her signature rhythmic drive to collaborations with artists including Miguel Zenón, Samuel Torres, Avi Avital, and the Dover Quartet as well as to solo and chamber baroque transcriptions. She is the newly appointed professor of harp at the Eastman School of Music. Kibbey’s most recent recording release with Pentatone Records, Crossing the Ocean, features folk idioms with strong rhythmic grooves. Learn more at her website bridgetkibbey.com.

Yolanda Kondonassis is an active harp soloist, a prolific recording artist with over 25 commercial albums and two GRAMMY nominations, the author of several acclaimed publications, and a professor of harp at the University of Michigan.

My experience has taught me that in order to develop a strong inner pulse, we need to train our instincts as well as our minds. Practicing with a metronome may temporarily stabilize our pulse or help monitor our tempos and cross-rhythms—but while it is on, our inner sense of pulse is generally turned off.

My best advice is to start by playing a passage with the metronome off, then repeat that same passage immediately with the metronome on. Notice where you have to adjust your tendencies to stay with the click on the second time through. (It’s very important to start by playing the passage first without the metronome, since you need a physical and mental snapshot of what you do naturally before you play with the metronomic beat.) Repeat the passage again without the metronome and try to remember what you had to do in order to stay with the click the time before. Play it once more with the metronome back on. Alternate like this until you feel that you aren’t adjusting your tendencies to rush or slow down when you play with the metronome.

By using this type of organized, off-on sequence, you will begin to hear yourself more clearly within the structure of a pulse. Be aware that this type of work takes high concentration, since you are essentially tracking your tendencies in two ways: against the truth of a steady beat during one run, and against your memory of a steady beat during the next.

The bottom line is that we don’t want to sound like we’re playing along with a metronome in our heads. Music needs to sound human—with natural breath, ebb, and flow. But in order to step out of the box when it comes to rhythmic pacing and phrasing, we first need to know where the box is.

Harpist Anne Sullivan performs nationally as a recitalist and chamber musician and is the founder of Harp Mastery, an online instructional platform reaching harpists around the world.

First, we should remember that we already have a sense of inner pulse that is stronger than we know. Each of us comes equipped with an inner pulse—an actual heartbeat, as well as a rhythm to our breath. Our job as musicians is to use it to serve our music. 

Next, I recommend that students start to count everything. Counting, particularly counting aloud, makes you aware of your inner pulse and of the many ways you interact with rhythm each day. If you are going for a walk, count your steps. Feel the steady pace of your feet. Try counting in a pattern of four steps—1, 2, 3, 4—like four beats in a measure. Make the first step just a little firmer, in the same way that the first beat of a measure is stronger than the others.

You could also count during any physical exercise that you do. Simply counting reps during weight training is a good way to feel the rhythm of the exercise. Counting as you hold a yoga pose can help you slow your breathing and relax. 

Then you can begin to train with the metronome, away from the harp, learning to predict and match your counting to the metronome click. Count one number for each click until you feel it settle into a steady rhythm. Play a simple scale as you count, letting your fingers match each note to a metronome click. Next, play two notes to each click, letting your fingers fit two notes into the beat naturally and evenly. •