Precision Timing: Book & Online Audio

This book cuts through the noise by treating rhythm as a skill requiring the same deliberate practice you'd apply to technique or intonation. The 80+ exercises scale from accessible to genuinely demanding, giving you material to deploy across an entire season rather than searching for supplementary rhythm work from five different sources.

Moving through these exercises builds a quiet confidence: rhythms that once felt awkward become automatic, metric shifts lose their threat, and compound meters start to feel conversational rather than foreign. The progression respects the work required without unnecessary flourish.

Intermediate to advanced players across any instrument who want to strengthen rhythmic foundation and tackle the complexities of jazz time feel. Directors preparing ensembles for jazz repertoire or building individual student confidence in meter reading will find this essential for targeted daily work.

• Start each practice session with the metronome at a tempo where you can execute the exercise cleanly, then gradually increase speed across multiple days rather than pushing harder in a single sitting.
• Use the demo tracks to internalize how the rhythm should feel rhythmically embedded within the groove, not as a standalone pattern played over accompaniment.
• When working through compound meter exercises, sing the subdivision aloud before playing; hearing it locks the meter in your ear faster than reading alone.
• Return to earlier exercises periodically at faster tempos; what felt conquered at quarter-note equals 120 may reveal new precision challenges at 160.

Assign targeted exercises to individual students as part of weekly lesson prep, or build 10-minute warm-up blocks for small jazz combos working through tricky passages in larger arrangements. The modular structure means you can pull single exercises to address specific rhythmic stumbling blocks without committing to a full unit.

• Accurate subdivision of eighth notes in jazz time
• Reading and executing mixed meters (3/4, 5/4, 7/8) with rhythmic precision
• Metric modulation and meter transitions
• Compound meter interpretation and feel
• Synchronization with metronome across tempo ranges
• Rhythmic independence from harmonic or melodic content