In music that features mixed or changing meters, it’s important to develop the ability to switch smoothly and comfortably between different beat patterns.

Sometimes different sections of a piece of music are in different meters. Sometimes consecutive bars are in different meters.

Revise the exercise in Video 1.6.4 to practise going smoothly from one meter to another. Next, practise conducting one bar of 3/4 followed by one bar of 2/4. Repeat four times and you will then have prepared perfectly for conducting the folksong, “Little Swallow”.

For further practise, conduct Stravinsky’s Ave Maria which moves regularly between 3/4 and 2/4.