Correct Pronunciation of Offbeat Count

What Is Offbeat Count?

Offbeat Count is a practical method that deepens understanding of rhythm, especially groove, by counting English numbers one to two eighth notes ahead while improvising or performing some piece of music.

The problem was that Japanese people cannot recognize groove. We Japanese not only cannot feel groove; we often cannot even recognize whether groove is present at all. Groove, however, is not an invisible presence like air. It is an arrangement of objects that can be clearly observed when written out on a score.

Groove is a concept deeply connected to English pronunciation, that is, stress-timed rhythm. Its roots go back as far as the world of Shakespearean verse chanting, and it is closely related to the phonological principles of English. The problem was that people whose native language is Japanese, with its mora-timed rhythm whose characteristics are phonologically the reverse of stress timing, could not understand this world of groove at all.

Offbeat Count was born as the result of a phonological analysis of how Japanese people can come to understand groove.

The Purpose of Offbeat Count

Offbeat Count is ordinary counting with additional devices that make it easier to recognize, within the count itself, whether the rhythm contains groove.

Rhythm has the following four principles, as explained in The Four Principles of Groove.

Strong-Beat Precedence or Weak-Beat Precedence
Head Alignment or Tail Alignment
Strong-Beat Anchoring Axis or Weak-Beat Anchoring Axis
2⁻ⁿ Rhythm or 3⁻ⁿ Rhythm

Among these, Offbeat Count is the counting method that adds the two ways of reading called shifted reading and assumed reading in order to make the first two pairs easier to recognize: Strong-Beat Precedence / Weak-Beat Precedence and Head Alignment / Tail Alignment.

Shifted Reading and Assumed Reading

What Is Assumed Reading?

Both shifted reading and assumed reading are methods for recognizing anacrusis correctly.

For example, suppose we count eight beats as follows.

At this point, if we take into account Strong-Beat Precedence, one of the Four Principles of Groove, we need to read on the premise of an anacrusis led by one quarter note. Then it becomes as follows.

This can be said to be reading by assuming that the 8 has already come first, as follows.

Assumed offset 0　　　| 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 | 1
Assumed offset 1　　8 | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 |

Reading in this way, by assuming that the count has already come earlier, is called assumed reading.

What Is Shifted Reading?

Assumed reading is a very difficult way to read for people who have not yet grasped the sensation that an anacrusis precedes the beat. So a method was devised in which the numbers themselves are shifted by a fixed amount so that the sensation of a preceding anacrusis is acquired by force.

Here, again taking into account Strong-Beat Precedence, one of the Four Principles of Groove, let us express the anacrusis led by one quarter note by shifting the count. Then it becomes as follows.

Shift offset 0　　　| 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 | 1
Shift offset 1　　1 | 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 1 |

Reading in this shifted way is called shifted reading.

Usage

Many count patterns will appear from here on. Depending on the situation, practice combining both shifted reading and assumed reading, converting them into forms that make groove easier to understand, and reading them aloud.

The Six Phonological Rules Japanese Speakers Cannot Hear = Rhythm Recognition Types

Why can Japanese people not understand English? Because they cannot hear English. Then why can Japanese people not hear English? It is not because they have not studied enough. No matter how much grammatical knowledge they have, and no matter how much vocabulary they have, they still cannot hear English. The reason is that mora-timed rhythm lacks the six phonological rules characteristic of stress-timed languages.

Those six phonological rules are as follows.

Nuclear Isochrony (NI)
Maximum Onset Principle (MOP)
Prosodic Nuclear Isochrony (PNI)
Maximal Prosodic Onset Principle (MPOP)
Metric Nuclear Isochrony (MNI)
Maximal Metric Onset Principle (MMOP)

Here I call these Six Missing Phonological Rules of Mora Rhythm.

In other words, even without knowledge of English vocabulary or English grammar, if one has acquired this Six Missing Phonological Rules of Mora Rhythm, one can at least hear English even without understanding the meaning. Once English can be heard, one can begin inferring word meaning and following context to infer grammar.

So how can one acquire these six phonological rules, Six Missing Phonological Rules of Mora Rhythm? The answer is Offbeat Count.

The Three Levels of Phonological Rules

These six phonological rules can be divided into three levels.

I call this Three Levels of Phonological Rules.

Level 1 … Phoneme level　　→ phonological rules effective in syllable-timed rhythm and stress-timed rhythm　　→ corresponds to 3⁻¹ = 1/3 rhythm in musical rhythm
- Nuclear Isochrony (NI)
- Maximum Onset Principle (MOP)
Level 2 … Syllable level　　→ phonological rules effective in stress-timed rhythm　　→ corresponds to 3⁻² = 1/9 rhythm in musical rhythm
- Prosodic Nuclear Isochrony (PNI)
- Maximal Prosodic Onset Principle (MPOP)
Level 3 … Prosodic level　　phonological rules that do not occur in language and are effective only in music　　corresponds to 3⁻³ = 1/27 rhythm in musical rhythm
- Metric Nuclear Isochrony (MNI)
- Maximal Metric Onset Principle (MMOP)

These three levels, phoneme level, syllable level, and prosodic level, later become parameters that determine the dimensionality of the count.

The Numbers, Symbols, and Letters Used in Offbeat Count

The Offbeat Count method is the counting method commonly used in the United States, modified by reading it with a shift. Here, the amount of that shift is called the offset. For example, when assigning one number to each quarter note, the usual reading would be 1234, but in Offbeat Count it is read as 2341. In this case, the offset is 1/4 (= one quarter note). Specific examples of Offbeat Count will be shown later.

In other words, Offbeat Count with an offset of 0 is the same as the counting method commonly used in the United States. Whether there is an offset or not, the basic act of counting itself is exactly the same as that American counting method.

Below, I explain the basics of count.

Inventory

What is the counting method commonly used in the United States? It is a way of counting by using English numbers together with the symbol and letters &, E, and A.

Numbers
- 0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20
Symbol
- & ( and )
Letters
- E (“ee”)
- A (“ah”)

This counting method is not something practiced by one specific person. It is widely used in the United States. The following video is a useful reference. It shows Chris Coleman demonstrating count.

This counting method commonly used in the United States is simply the act of counting with numbers, simple words, and symbols, but it is also an excellent practice method for acquiring the pronunciation rules Maximum Onset Principle (MOP) and Nuclear Isochrony (NI), which are crucial in stress-timed rhythm and syllable-timed rhythm.

If one does shadowing recklessly, in most cases one does not acquire Maximum Onset Principle (MOP) or Nuclear Isochrony (NI). Even if one eventually does acquire them, it often takes more than ten years, and sometimes more than twenty.

In count practice, however, the vocabulary needed for pronunciation practice is kept to a minimum, making it possible to concentrate on the rhythmic structure of stress-timed rhythm and syllable-timed rhythm.

And by practicing Offbeat Count with an offset, it also becomes possible to focus on Maximal Prosodic Onset Principle (MPOP) and Prosodic Nuclear Isochrony (PNI), which are characteristic of stress-timed rhythm.

IPA Transcriptions of the Count Elements

The pronunciations of the words needed for Offbeat Count are as follows. The number of words to memorize is very small, but when they are combined, various pronunciation changes occur. By thoroughly learning the pronunciation changes that occur here, one can acquire Maximum Onset Principle (MOP), Nuclear Isochrony (NI), Maximal Prosodic Onset Principle (MPOP), and Prosodic Nuclear Isochrony (PNI).

Symbol	English	IPA	Notes
0	zero	/ˈzɪəɹoʊ/ or /ˈziːɹoʊ/	also /ˈziɹoʊ/ (“zee-ro”)
1	one	/wʌn/	ʌ as in “cup”
2	two	/tuː/	long /uː/ as in “boot”
3	three	/θɹiː/	initial /θ/ (voiceless “th”)
4	four	/fɔɹ/ or /foʊɹ/	/ɔɹ/ as in “for”
5	five	/faɪv/	diphthong /aɪ/
6	six	/sɪks/	short /ɪ/
7	seven	/ˈsɛvən/	first syllable stressed
8	eight	/eɪt/	diphthong /eɪ/
9	nine	/naɪn/	diphthong /aɪ/
10	ten	/tɛn/	short /ɛ/
11	eleven	/ɪˈlɛvən/	stress on second syllable
12	twelve	/twɛlv/	dark /l/
13	thirteen	/ˌθɝˈtiːn/	secondary stress on first
14	fourteen	/ˌfɔɹˈtiːn/	secondary stress on first
15	fifteen	/ˌfɪfˈtiːn/	note /fɪf/, not /faɪv/
16	sixteen	/ˌsɪkˈstiːn/	stress shift pattern same
17	seventeen	/ˌsɛvənˈtiːn/	schwa in 2nd syllable
18	eighteen	/ˌeɪˈtiːn/	may reduce to [ˈeɪtin]
19	nineteen	/ˌnaɪnˈtiːn/	sometimes [ˈnaɪntin]
20	twenty	/ˈtwɛnti/	/t/ may flap → [ˈtwɛnɾi]
&	and	/ænd/	when reduced: /ən/ or /n̩/
e	e	/iː/	when reduced: /i/
a	a	/eɪ/	when reduced: /ə/ (schwa), /əː/, or /ʌ/

On the Glottal Stop (ʔ)

The glottal stop is one of the sounds that standard Japanese does not possess, but outside Japanese it is also a sound often used as a consonant.

In standard English, the glottal stop is used fairly often, but not extremely often. In English dialects, however, it is used much more extensively.

It is used especially frequently in English as pronounced in music, such as jazz scat and rap, and it can be said to be one of the important sounds for expressing rhythm.

What Is a Count Pattern?

To express the multidimensional structure within rhythm, one can arrange the characters 0-20 and &, e, a into various sequences. This combination is called a count pattern.

Examples of count patterns
- 1,2,3,4,2,2,3,4
- 1,&,2,&,3,&,4,&,2,&,2,&,3,&,4,&
- 1,e,&,a,2,e,&,a,3,e,&,a,4,e,&,a,
- …

What Is Prosodic Notation Strictification?

Native speakers of English can naturally extract a groove-producing rhythmic interpretation from this notation method that assigns one word to one beat, even without special training. This is because English pronunciation contains the rhythm rule called stress-timed rhythm, which is the source of groove. For that reason, native speakers of English are thought in many cases to possess all the rhythm recognition types necessary for performing groove.

However, people who are not native speakers of English, especially native speakers of Japanese, cannot extract a correctly grooving rhythm from a notation method that assigns one sound to one beat. That is because behind Japanese pronunciation there exists the rhythm rule called mora-timed rhythm, which contains elements opposite to groove. For that reason, native speakers of Japanese are thought not to possess all the rhythm recognition types needed for the work of extracting groove. This is Six Missing Phonological Rules of Mora Rhythm.

To deal with this problem regardless of the rhythm recognition types a learner originally possesses, here I use a method that deliberately writes as explicit note assignments the placement of pronunciations that native speakers of English carry out unconsciously without notating them as notes.

Here this method is called Prosodic Notation Strictification (PNS).

The Seven Levels of Prosodic Notation Strictification

Prosodic Notation Strictification (PNS) has seven levels. These are derived by dividing the depth of Prosodic Notation Strictification into seven levels based on the seven rhythm recognition types.

Prosodic Notation Strictification (PNS) levels
- Level 0: Minimum Onset Principle (MiOP)
- Level 1: Nuclear Isochrony (NI)
- Level 2: Maximum Onset Principle (MOP)
- Level 3: Prosodic Nuclear Isochrony (PNI)
- Level 4: Maximal Prosodic Onset Principle (MPOP)
- Level 5: Metric Nuclear Isochrony (MNI)
- Level 6: Maximal Metric Onset Principle (MMOP)

The score is then written while taking these seven rhythm recognition types into account.

PNS Level	Element Optimized	Phonological Rule Level	Required Subdivision Level
0	Minimum Onset Principle (MiOP)	0	3⁻¹=1/3
1	Nuclear Isochrony (NI)	1	3⁻¹=1/3
2	Maximum Onset Principle (MOP)	1	3⁻¹=1/3
3	Prosodic Nuclear Isochrony (PNI)	2	3⁻²=1/9
4	Maximal Prosodic Onset Principle (MPOP)	2	3⁻²=1/9
5	Metric Nuclear Isochrony (MNI)	3	3⁻³=1/27
6	Maximal Metric Onset Principle (MMOP)	3	3⁻³=1/27

The Phonological Rule Levels Required by Each Prosodic Notation Strictification (PNS) Level

Please note that each of the seven kinds of Prosodic Notation Strictification requires a different Phonological Rule Levels. This phonological rule level determines the number of subdivisions required.

Phonological Rule Level 1: phoneme level = 3⁻¹=1/3
Phonological Rule Level 2: syllable level = 3⁻²=1/9
Phonological Rule Level 3: prosodic level = 3⁻³=1/27

About Phonological Notation Strictification Perceptual-Theoretical Inversion (PNSPTI)

If one compares eighth-note Offbeat Count with triplet Offbeat Count, eighth-note Offbeat Count is much easier to understand theoretically. But when one actually practices them, one finds that eighth-note Offbeat Count is very difficult to grasp perceptually, while triplet Offbeat Count is much easier to grasp perceptually. In the same way, ninth-note count is perceptually easier than triplet count, and twenty-seventh-note count is perceptually easier than ninth-note count.

However, from the viewpoint of theoretical understanding, when one compares eighth-note Offbeat Count with triplet Offbeat Count, triplet Offbeat Count is much harder to understand theoretically. In the same way, ninth-note count is harder theoretically than triplet count, and twenty-seventh-note count is harder theoretically than ninth-note count.

Thus, in Offbeat Count, ease of theoretical understanding and ease of perceptual understanding are inversely proportional. This is called Phonological Notation Strictification Perceptual-Theoretical Inversion (PNSPTI).

The Three Basic Count Patterns

If we define count patterns while taking into account the number of subdivisions required by these phonological rule levels, and represent them as notation, the result is as follows. These are called the basic count patterns. At present, there are three of them in total.

Please note that these scores are the notation before Prosodic Notation Strictification is applied. Since one syllable has three phonemes, if one syllable is assigned to one note, that note is subdivided into three. The scores below are written before that three-way subdivision. In other words, if the required subdivision count is three, it is written as a single quarter note.

We will look at this in the next section, Prosodic Notation Strictification.

Phonological Rule Level 1 = Phoneme Level

Subdivision Level = 3⁻¹=1/3

Phonological Rule Level 2 = Syllable Level

Subdivision Level = 3⁻²=1/9

This is a way of counting that assigns three subdivisions to one division.

Phonological Rule Level 3 = Prosodic Level

Subdivision Level = 3⁻³=1/27

This is a way of counting that assigns twenty-seven subdivisions to one division.

This is difficult to understand at a glance, but it follows the pattern below.

1 & A & & A A & A
2 & A & & A A & A
3 & A & & A A & A

This is hard to grasp at first glance, but it is simply 1 & A repeated three times while changing the first character. If we express it using numbers only, it becomes as follows.

1 2 3 2 2 3 3 2 3
2 2 3 2 2 3 3 2 3
3 2 3 2 2 3 3 2 3

At this point, if we assign 1 to 1, 2 to &, and 3 to a, and read it in the same way, it becomes:

1 & A & & A A & A
2 & A & & A A & A
3 & A & & A A & A

Rhythms that require numbers to be read in multiple layers like this are called multidimensional groove here. For details, see Multidimensional Division Spaces.

The following diagram represents one beat as one table, arranged horizontally.

1	&	a
&	&	a
a	&	a

2	&	a
&	&	a
a	&	a

3	&	a
&	&	a
a	&	a

4	&	a
&	&	a
a	&	a

5	&	a
&	&	a
a	&	a

6	&	a
&	&	a
a	&	a

7	&	a
&	&	a
a	&	a

8	&	a
&	&	a
a	&	a

9	&	a
&	&	a
a	&	a

1	&	a
&	&	a
a	&	a

Expressed using numbers only, it becomes as follows.

1	2	3
2	2	3
3	2	3

2	2	3
2	2	3
3	2	3

3	2	3
2	2	3
3	2	3

4	2	3
2	2	3
3	2	3

5	2	3
2	2	3
3	2	3

6	2	3
2	2	3
3	2	3

7	2	3
2	2	3
3	2	3

8	2	3
2	2	3
3	2	3

9	2	3
2	2	3
3	2	3

1	2	3
2	2	3
3	2	3

The tables are read in the following order.

The numbers inside each table are read in the following order.

1	2	3
4	5	6
7	8	9

2	2	3
4	5	6
7	8	9

3	2	3
4	5	6
7	8	9

4	2	3
4	5	6
7	8	9

5	2	3
4	5	6
7	8	9

6	2	3
4	5	6
7	8	9

7	2	3
4	5	6
7	8	9

8	2	3
4	5	6
7	8	9

9	2	3
4	5	6
7	8	9

9	2	3
4	5	6
7	8	9

1	2	3
4	5	6
7	8	9

Prosodic Notation Strictification in 3⁻ⁿ-Based Rhythm

From here on, I will actually apply Prosodic Notation Strictification to count patterns. For the counts constructed according to the three phonological rule levels introduced so far, I will apply the seven levels of Prosodic Notation Strictification in order.

Phonological Rule Level 1 = Phoneme Level

We will now apply Prosodic Notation Strictification to the count at phonological rule level 1. A count at phonological rule level 1 can undergo only the first three levels of Prosodic Notation Strictification. Below, we carry out the strictification through Level 2.

Level 0 Minimum Onset Principle (MiOP)

First, after decomposing the notes into phonemes, the notation method that simply assigns the phonemes in order from the beginning is this Level 0 strictification.

Two interpretations are possible for this notation method.

an abstract zero strictification in which no strictification has been applied
a strictification applied with respect to Minimum Onset Principle (MiOP)

Level 0 does not perform any of the strictification carried out from Level 1 onward. For that reason, Level 0 can be regarded as an abstract Zero Prosodic Notation Strictification (PNS). This is the first interpretation.

The second interpretation is to regard this Zero Prosodic Notation Strictification (PNS) as a strictification carried out with respect to Minimum Onset Principle (MiOP).

When Japanese speakers, whose language has mora-timed rhythm, try to sing songs whose lyrics are written in stress-timed languages such as English, German, and Russian, or in syllable-timed languages such as Spanish, French, and Greek, the rhythm interpretation of Japanese mora-timed rhythm emerges and produces characteristic errors in rhythm interpretation. Level 0 strictification can be said to be a notation of this mistaken Japanese rhythm interpretation.

That characteristic Japanese error is that Nuclear Isochrony (NI) is not observed.

In foreign languages, that is, syllable-timed and stress-timed languages, there is an implicit rule by which the vowels that appear in each syllable are placed at the beginnings of beats so that the intervals between vowels remain constant. This is called Nuclear Isochrony (NI).

Furthermore, because foreign languages have consonant clusters and consonant connections, consonants far longer than those in Japanese appear. To preserve the isochrony of vowel beats even when such long consonants appear, those consonants must already have been finished before the vowel.

For that reason, it becomes necessary to place the beat on the vowel and pronounce the consonant before the vowel as a weak beat. This could also be rephrased as the origin of weak beats.

Japanese (mora-timed rhythm), however, has isochrony in the cells themselves that contain consonant-vowel units. This is called Mora Isochrony (MI). In Mora Isochrony (MI), the cell itself contains the consonant. For that reason, unlike foreign languages, Japanese tends to pronounce consonants after the beat.

This becomes an even more conspicuous problem when the mora beat contains no consonant. In that case, as shown in the following score, the consonant advances.

This score schematically represents the state in which the Head Alignment rhythm recognition type of mora-timed rhythm is activated. Please pay attention to the Eight (8) portion. Two problems occur here. First, speakers of mora-timed languages such as Japanese cannot perceive the implicitly pronounced consonant, namely the glottal stop, that English speakers use in words beginning with vowels, so deletion occurs.

Second, when that deletion occurs, the vowel that had originally been placed at the center of the mora beat is pronounced without waiting for the deleted consonant position. As a result, the vowel position appears to move forward. This is called Nuclear Advancement (NA).

This property, in which all phonemes align at the beginning of the mora beat, is called Head-Aligned Phonemes (HAP).

Head-Aligned Phonemes (HAP) can be said to be the most fundamental reason Japanese speakers do not groove. Because the position of the vowel, which is the onset of pitch, changes, the pronunciation position of sounds no longer remains constant, and the groove condition that “sounds are performed at constant intervals” is no longer satisfied.

This is why Japanese speakers do not groove. The equal spacing of Mora Isochrony (MI) in the perception of Japanese speakers is not equal spacing when viewed from the perspective of sound onsets. That is the real reason Japanese speakers do not groove.

Difference in Faithfulness to the Score

This Level 0, Zero Prosodic Notation Strictification (PNS), often appears as the result of Japanese speakers preserving faithfulness to the written score to the greatest possible extent. The kind of faithfulness to the score that is maintained without knowing the existence of the rules that speakers of syllable-timed and stress-timed languages observe as implicit understandings even when they are not written in the score is, it is no exaggeration to say, an act of destruction toward music.

As Japanese speakers, it is impossible to overemphasize the importance of being humble about pronunciation differences, taking an interest in those differences, studying phonology carefully, and learning the score interpretations commonly used overseas.

The levels from Level 1 onward are a formalization of one example of such score interpretation. These levels exist in order to realize smooth pronunciation that can carry your aspiration to people all over the world.

Level 1 Nuclear Isochrony (NI)

The first problem faced by speakers whose native language is mora-timed rhythm is that, because they do not possess the Nuclear Isochrony (NI) rhythm recognition type, they cannot pronounce consonants before the strong beat.

To solve this problem, a dedicated practice method is needed. The following score schematically represents the state in which the Nuclear Isochrony (NI) rhythm recognition type of syllable-timed rhythm is activated.

In this way, speakers of syllable-timed languages have the habit of pronouncing consonants in weak-beat positions.

Level 2 Maximum Onset Principle (MOP)

Syllable-timed languages also possess the Maximum Onset Principle (MOP) rhythm recognition type. They not only pronounce consonants in weak-beat positions, but also have the habit of bundling as many immediately preceding final consonants as possible into the next onset consonant.

The following score schematically shows how, in syllable-timed languages, final consonants are bundled into onset consonants and pronounced.

Zoomed View

At Phonological Rule Level 1, phoneme level = 3⁻¹=1/3, Prosodic Notation Strictification is possible only through Level 2. Any further strictification must be performed on counts at phonological rule level 2 or above.

Phonological Rule Level 2 = Syllable Level

From Level 3 Prosodic Notation Strictification (PNS) onward, we carry out syllable-level Prosodic Notation Strictification in addition to the phoneme-only strictification of phonological rule level 1 that we have used so far.

A count at phonological rule level 1 can undergo Prosodic Notation Strictification only through Level 2. To strictify not only phonemes but also syllables, it is necessary to use a level-2 count in which the hierarchy of the weak-beat anchoring axis is increased by one layer. From PNS Level 3 onward, we move to a count at phonological rule level 2 and carry out strictification at Levels 3 and 4.

The basic idea of Prosodic Notation Strictification at phonological rule level 2 is as follows.

Let us look at the count pattern at phonological rule level 2.

To this two-layer count, we apply Level 3 Prosodic Nuclear Isochrony (PNI), which is the original purpose of Level 3 strictification. Concretely, by shifting the notes by one so that & comes onto the strong beat, we place it in a weak-beat-precedence arrangement.

With this, Level 3 Prosodic Nuclear Isochrony (PNI) is complete. At the same time, it is necessary to apply the Level 1 Nuclear Isochrony (NI) and Level 2 Maximum Onset Principle (MOP) parts of strictification that we have been carrying out up to this point.

From the next section onward, we apply Level 1 and Level 2 Prosodic Notation Strictification (PNS) to this two-layer count.