The Importance of Timing
Great singers always have great timing. This means they have developed the ability to begin and end a note or phrase at precisely the right moment. They are able to make their singing fit in with the accompaniment for maximum musical and dramatic effect. There are two good ways to develop your timing: one is to read rhythms from written music in time with a metronome or drum machine; the other is to have someone else play or sing rhythms and then copy those rhythms by ear.
Rap singers are able to improvise incredibly complex and dramatic rhythms on the spot. This is called freestyling. Even though these singers use complex rhythms, they all had to start with the same simple note values (lengths) that you are learning here. The distinctive rap sound is created by the way those notes are put together. It is important to remember that all music regardless of style uses the same note values. The notes are just put together in different ways to create different sounds.
Listen to the following examples on the recording to hear first the guitar and then the voice produce each short phrase. Each example is then repeated with the guitar playing the phrase, followed by a space left for you to reproduce the sound with your voice. All these examples are in * time. Tap your foot in * to help you keep time and remember to keep track of the beginning of each bar.
