I just started doing this and at first it was easy, because my teacher laid it out in lesson in the context of a tune I had been working on. But when I carried it over to other tunes, and especially when I have tried to HEAR it in other tunes, I've gotten mixed up.
The easiest way to explain what throws me is this: I definitely HEAR tunes in terms of separate phrases, but when I play them I get tripped up because those phrases don't always fit into my rhythm. I'm not really counting beats, per se, but the beats are most definitely there, and I have trouble making them jibe.
It's confusing me and has jacked up my flow.
So now I'm muddled up, tripping up over my own rhythm: I figure I'm off with either my sense of the phrasing or my sense of rhythm, but I can't figure out which it is.
It's mostly an issue when I count, and dropping the thumb really trips me up. My gut tells me it's my sense of phrasing that's off. In other words, the way my ear breaks the tune into chunks is maybe off sync...because I'm wanting to hear 4 notes in a measure, even though I know that's not right.
This is also an issue with my LISTENING to music! When I just feel it, I'm tapping right along with the beat, in time, but when I try to hear the separate phrases...I tend to fall out of rhythm.
Does anyone else have this problem?
Can you all suggest some ways to get out of this muddle?