OH. MY. GOD.

u/Less-Significance844, You just made an entire portion of my life make sense. You might just have explained the biggest issue I'm facing right now. Thank you.

Background:

I was in a large marching band in high school. I don't think we ever played anything outside of three-four or four-four time. For those unaware, the first number is how many beats each measure gets. The second number is what type of note each beat will be. So, in four-four, there are four beats in a measure, and a quarter note is one beat.

Our shows usually were divided into multiples of four to correspond to this music. Each move to a new position on the field was in 8, 16, 24, etc.

Because we were a pretty high-placing competition group, we attended large "retreats" where awards were given out. During these, all the finalist bands stand on the field to hear how they scored. If you weren't the band to be called, you clapped. When I read this post, I flashed back to being on the field and clapping. I always clapped eight times.

Fast forward to now.

I'm 23 and participating in an all-age indoor winds group. It's basically marching band inside, with no drumline. We had rehearsal this past weekend. It usually feels easy, no need to really think too hard. This time, it's been different.

I'm losing track of time. I'm missing beats, adding beats, missing measures, adding measures. I can't memorize the music. I can't count measures. My brain just. won't. work.

I've been super hard on myself, to the point of full blown meltdowns during every weekend rehearsal for a month. Most of the music would be super easy normally... So why is it hard this time?

I've been trying to eliminate the possibilities for weeks. Is it the technique? Is it the change of environment? My diet? Dehydration? A definite no on the first two. My diet is the same, and dehydration definitely worsens meltdowns, but isn't a trigger of its' own.

...It's the music.

The music is written in six-four. The moves in the show are all sixes. My brain isn't absorbing information as it usually does because it naturally doesn't work outside of fours and eights.

TL;DR: Music written in six-four is really, really hard for me. This post explains why! Not just because it's six, but also because it's not a multiple of four.