5.5 seconds, and why we count it out loud

People are surprised that we do not use a pacer app in class, given that the studio is, in a sense, built on a number. Every Downshift is counted at 5.5 seconds in and 5.5 seconds out. Surely a machine keeps better time than Neve does?

It does. That is precisely the problem.

in5.5s

out5.5s

5.5 seconds in, 5.5 seconds out. One cycle is 11 seconds, about 5.5 breaths a minute.

A count is a relationship, not a clock

In fourteen years of conducting choirs I never once used a metronome in performance. A metronome keeps perfect time and listens to nobody. A conductor keeps slightly imperfect time and listens to everyone — if the sopranos are running out of air, the phrase stretches by a hair and nobody falls off the end of it.

A counted breath works the same way. When Neve sees a row of shoulders rising early in the third minute, her count slows by a fraction. The room follows. An app would carry on at 5.5 exactly, and a third of the class would quietly start gasping to keep up.

Why out loud, and then not

We count aloud for roughly the first ten minutes, then move to a soft bell once per cycle, then to nothing. The spoken count teaches the rhythm; the bell holds it; the silence is where you find out whether it is yours yet. Most people discover it drifts a little faster without a guide. That is useful information, not a failure.

Where 5.5 comes from

Near six breaths a minute, heart rate and breathing tend to fall into step — it speeds up on the way in and slows on the way out, in a smooth, large swing. The precise best rate varies from person to person, but it clusters close enough to 5.5 that one shared count works well for a room of sixteen. We picked the number for the room, not for any individual, and we are upfront about that.

If you want to find your own, come to The Ladder on a Saturday and ask me afterwards. Bring twenty minutes; I will not be brief.