ABSTRACT
The pedagogy of listening to rhythm is better documented in the literature on music education than on poetry education, with exceptions like Hughes (1995). Basically, guidance concentrates on simple metres or time signatures (2/4, 4/4) and works towards more complex signatures like 3/4 and 5/4, which are more common in jazz. ‘Duple’ and ‘triple’ metre are the standard structures, with ‘mixed’ and ‘unusual’ metres following at more advanced levels. Among the more advanced teaching guides is that by Morello (1963), drummer with the Dave Brubeck Quartet for many years, the purpose of which is “to develop freedom and a natural level for playing the odd time signatures” (Winick 1974: 125), and another by Mowery (1953) which discusses the teaching of rhythm by using a single pitch and bases the technique on “a three-measure phrase in which the first measure sets the pulse, the second presents the new pattern, and the third uses it in context” (ibid., p. 81). This latter model provides a useful starting point for how free verse rhythms might be taught. Further references can be found in the selective but extensive bibliography on rhythm in music by Winick (1974), which has yet to be updated.
