The Pow! Game

   

or... how to check your sense of tempo

Here's a simple way to find out how well you can keep the beat going.

Firstly, stand (or sit) as though you were going to sing. But instead of singing, you're going to say the word "POW!!", explosively, with a short "P". The idea is to find out if you can say "POW!!" exactly on the beat. An ordinary "pow" won't do - you've got to make it percussive, so it comes out exactly when you intended it to.

This exercise may be useful if you sometimes run away with the speed of a piece.

Click the play button below, close your eyes and concentrate. After a short delay, you'll hear four beats. Your first task is to say "Pow!!" on beat 5 - so that it exactly coincides with the beat given.

That probably wasn't too difficult, although you should make sure that you really did go for it, rather than waiting for the noise.

This is however just the start. Things get more tricky. Click Next below to go on...

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