LJS 89: How to Develop Time Feel and Up Your Rhythm Game

Welcome to episode 89 of the LJS Podcast where today we have special guest drummer and composer Dorota Piotrowska on the show to talk about time feel and rhythm. These are some of the most important aspects to focus on to improve your jazz playing, and Dorota has some killer tips to share. Listen in!
Listen to episode 89







It's surprising that throughout all of the years that Learn Jazz Standards has been around, some of the least common questions I get are about rhythm and time. I tend to get a lot of questions about harmony, theory, scales and improvising, but not about rhythm and time.
However, rhythm and time are some of the most important elements to develop in your playing. You can play all the right notes and know all of the tunes, but if you don't develop a time feel and rhythmic sense, all of that isn't going to feel quite right.
That's why today on the show I have special guest drummer and composer Dorota Piotrowska. She's an expert on this stuff and a brilliant musician. She talks about her early musical beginnings in Poland, to eventually moving to New York City to pursue a career as a jazz drummer. She also shares her tips on rhythm and time.
One of the things I love about the tips she shared in today's episode is they aren't the textbook answers. She doesn't simply suggest you practice with a metronome and call it a day. Not even close!
She spends a lot of time talking about dancing, singing, and even utilizing harmony to inform your time feel. Here are some things we talk about:

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Dorota's musical beginnings and how she decided to become a drummer.

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Some of the biggest struggles musicians face with rhythm and time.

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How getting lost while playing a song is more of harmony problem than a rhythm problem.

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How singing and dancing can help you develop that internal clock.

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Focusing on the melody of a jazz standard as a rhythm and not simply notes.

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Dorota's jazz workshop in Poland.


Important Links
Dorota's website
New York Jazz Masters International Workshop







Read the Transcript
Brent: All right, what's up, everybody? My name is Brent. I am the jazz musician behind the website LearnJazzStandards.com, which is a blog and a podcast all geared towards helping you become a better jazz musician. You know, I don't do this enough, and that is thank you for being here and thank you for listening. You're the ones that keep this thing going around, and it's really an honor for me every single week to get to serve you, to help you become a better jazz musician, because that's honestly what I'm passionate about. I love this music and I love teaching it to other people. I'm just so honored to have an international audience listening to this every single week and visiting the blog every single week, so I want to thank you for listening. Thanks for being here.
Now, today's episode, I'm very excited because I have a special guest on the show, and that is drummer and composer Dorota Piotrowska. She's from Poland and she's actually one of my former roommates in college, and she is awesome. She is a powerhouse musician, and today, I'm having her on because she is really an expert when it comes to rhythm. Today's episode is all about developing time feel and upping your rhythm game.
This is something that a lot of people aren't asking me questions about. I get emails every single week, I get comments on blog posts, I get questions on the LJS podcast hotline. Everybody's asking about things like scales and harmony and all this great stuff that's...