How to count 87 bars rest, chat with your associate, wonder what's for supper and not miss your next entry.
by Martin Brown - clarinet player with too many bars rest to count.

Playing clarinet in a symphony orchestra occasionally requires me to count through large number of bars rest before playing again. This got me thinking one evening, "What is the best way to count these bars rest?" Most people would just count in their heads "One, two, three,... fifty eight, fifty nine,..." but there is a better way.

I came up with this method many years ago and have been using it (more or less) successfully ever since.

Counting Down

First of all, why count up from one when most people can count down just as easily? Counting down has several advantages but one major drawback. I'll leave the one drawback till last.

The obvious advantage to counting down is that you're not checking your current count against the total number of bars rest all the time. When you get to "one", you're IN on the next bar! The only time you check the number of rest bars is when you start off. A question for all those musicians who count up - how often do you find yourself counting up and wondering "how many bars rest was that again?.... oops". So by counting down, there's a lot less mental activity dedicated to just counting.

Also, when you're counting down to one, you automatically know how soon it will be before you come in again. You don't have to do some quick arithmetic to work out that it's only three bars away so you'd better put down your knitting.

There is a disadvantage to this counting down method though - and it's the same one stopping us all from driving hydrogen fuelled cars: Everyone else is driving with a tank full of hydrocarbons. In this case, everyone else if counting up. So if a player beside you frantically swings round in a panic asking "Where are we?" and you answer "twelve, that's twelve to go", she's going to be even more confused.

Chisanbop

OK, so now we're all convinced that counting down is better. What is the best way of actually keeping track of all those bars? Just in your head? After seeing a documentary many years ago about the Korean method of finger counting called Chisanbop I now use it consistently with (mostly) excellent results.

Chisanbop allows very rapid arithmetic on your fingers and works in a similar way to an abacus. But it's also ideally suited to counting larger numbers on your fingers. It allows you to count to 99 just using your eight fingers and two thumbs. Using Chisanbop, you don't dedicate much thought to the actual counting - that's taken care of by your fingers. And isn't that just how we play our musical instruments anyway?

So how does it work? With Chisenbop, the thumbs play a special role. The right thumb represents five, the left thumb represents 50. Each finger of the right hand represents one and each finger on the left hand represents ten. So with just the right hand, you can count to nine (thumb plus four fingers). Each finger's value is counted by placing it on a table (or clarinet, finger board or the palm of your hand).

To count from one to five:

1. Right index finger down
2. First two right fingers down
3. First three right fingers down
4. All four right fingers down
5. Right thumb down, all fingers up

Continue with the right thumb down to count from five to ten:

5. Right thumb down, all fingers up
6. Right thumb down, right index finger down
7. Right thumb down, first two right fingers down
8. Right thumb down, first three right fingers down
9. Right thumb down, all four right fingers down
10. Left index finger down, all right fingers up

and so on till you get to 68 which is broken down to sixty: left thumb with the left index finger, and eight: right thumb with the first three right fingers. Counting down is just as easy but you lift fingers off instead of placing them down.

With a little practice this becomes quite easy and your can instantly hit your fingers for any number less than 100.

So counting down, if you have only your right index finger down, you're in on the next bar!

Sounds great! Won't I get confused?

When I decided to make the switch, first to counting down and then using Chisanbop, it really took only a few rehearsals before the occasional counting mistakes like "twenty one, twenty, nineteen, twenty, twenty one, twenty two.... oops" stopped.

But really, the advantages are huge. With time, your fingers manage the counting pretty much by themselves. You don't have to be consciously counting all the time, just consider your finger positions and you know how far you are from your next entry.

So, the next time you ask me "Where are we?" somewhere in fourty nine bars rest and I say "three", then it's nearly time to come in, not time to start cleaning your instrument.