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With reference to the preceding section, musical backgrounds can be a means of experiencing how musical rhythms affect our personal rhythms. Many instructors are opposed to the use of music as a background to t'ai chi practice; a few feel that it can be very beneficial, notably the renowned T.T. Liang. I like to play drumbeats or intense folk music (Armenian, Greek, Irish) when sparring with weapons, as those rhythms really "get the juices flowing" in terms of realistic applications. Slow, gentle rhythms help to slow your pace of performing form. New Age, some Oriental (e.g., Japanese flute) and nature/environmental sound recordings are effective. Avoid rock music! If you have difficulty slowing down your form to the time required by your style and the length of form being done, use a timer. I recommend the electronic version, as they are generally more accurate and beep loudly so you don't miss the signal. To begin, do the form and check the elapsed time when you are done. Don't get too depressed if you did long form in twelve minutes! The next time you practice set the timer to ring at the thirteen-minute mark. If you finish before the alarm goes, try again on subsequent days. At some point you will "beat the clock." Then increase the time to fourteen minutes and go for that. In this way you can gradually build to doing the form slowly enough to always end at approximately the time the alarm sounds. Once you can do that with consistency, you won't need the timer.