Please enlighten me

[Happy girl]

I don't know where to start to practice the timing on these two bars & what the '8' means in the brackets.
Thank you for your help.

 

[donn]

Does it help to look at those as "3", not "8"? I think that's the only solution. In that case, as you may already know, that span of time is to be divided into three, and the notes shortened to fit: a "triplet."

This kind of exercise can't be good for your eyes.

 

[TomBR]

Surely got to be triplets? Three crotchets in the time of four quavers. 3:2 ratio

 

[JeffJetton]

Google "three against four" for all sorts of articles and videos on how to practice this sort of thing.

I learned it using the "pass the golden butter" mnemonic myself. You could probably google that phrase too. :ch

 

[Geronimo]

Google three against four for all sorts of articles and videos on how to practice this sort of thing.

I learned it using the pass the golden butter mnemonic myself. You could probably google that phrase too. :ch

I am afraid that the mnemonic got sanitized for you. golden starts with a long syllable and does not match the resulting meter well. The original g*damn better matches musical realities.