Middle and high school students are a little harder to motivate when it comes to counting! Especially when it comes to counting aloud. Again, I have very little trouble getting my students to count who started with me as beginners and have always counted. Sometimes their counting just gets a little quieter, but with encouragement from me, they will do it! Download Counting bach Download Practicing starting
Harder always are students who transfer to me who have not counted before! To motivate those students is a big challenge and takes a lot of patience. I can't give one specific solution to the question, "how do you get a student to count who refuses to count?" so I can only say this: I don't give up. I try week after week to make my point clear that counting and really playing in rhythm is one of the most important aspects of music. This takes time! Sometimes years! But eventually, through exposure to other musicians, through playing duets and in ensembles, through receiving judges' comments which might say,"please play in the correct rhythm!", over time...most students begin to understand.
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