Takadimi

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Takadimi is a rhythm-teaching system created in 1996 by Richard Hoffman, William Pelto, and John W. White. It uses syllables to represent rhythms, but the syllables are tied to meter and Western rhythm rather than to fixed note values. There are two syllable sets: one for simple meter and one for compound meter. In both, syllables are placed at specific points within a beat: ta starts the beat, di marks the middle. Simple meter sequences are ta, ka, di, mi; compound meter sequences are ta, ki, da, with deeper subdivisions like ta va ki di da ma for more complex groupings. The system can add ti at the end of subdivisions for irregular groupings, so a quintuplet might be ta ka di mi ti and a septuplet ta va ki di da ma ti. Takadimi emphasizes reading rhythm like language: students first recognize and repeat rhythms, then learn to read and write notation. It is taught from elementary through college and supports teaching both rhythm reading and notation (National Content Standard 5). Takadimi is similar in goal to Kodály, but unlike Kodály it does not assign syllables to fixed notational values; instead, the syllables reflect their place within the beat. The designers say they combined the best parts of existing systems to meet their goals, drawing on ideas from Pestalozzian theory and Edwin Gordon's rhythm sequences. It has been influenced by other rhythm methods and aims to address some of their limitations.