Reference · module 2
Rhythm
Everything this module explains, on one page.
Note values
Tell how long a note lasts from how it looks.
- Music moves over a steady pulse called the beat — what your foot taps along to. Rhythm is how long each note lasts, measured in beats.
- A quarter note lasts one beat: a filled head with a stem. A half note is hollow with a stem and lasts two. A whole note is hollow without a stem and lasts four.
- An eighth note has a flag on its stem and lasts half a beat, so two eighths fill one beat. Each value is half of the one before: whole, half, quarter, eighth.
The mistake you are about to make
half note = half a beat
half note = two beats
The name says half, so it sounds like half a beat. It is half of a whole note, and a whole note lasts four beats.
Bars and time signatures
Read a time signature and feel where each bar begins.
- Beats are grouped into bars, separated by vertical bar lines. Grouping makes music easier to read and to follow, the way words are grouped into the lines of a poem.
- The time signature at the start tells how many beats each bar has. 4/4 means four quarter-note beats per bar; 3/4 means three, the count of a waltz.
- The first beat of every bar is the strongest. In 3/4 you feel ONE-two-three, ONE-two-three; in 4/4 it is ONE-two-three-four, with a lighter push on three.
The mistake you are about to make
3/4 = three quarters of a bar
3/4 = three quarter-note beats per bar
It looks like a fraction, so it seems to mean three quarters of something. The top number counts beats in a bar; the bottom says which note gets one beat.
Rests and dots
Count silence and dotted notes as part of the rhythm.
- Silence is written too. Each note value has a matching rest that lasts just as long: a quarter rest is one beat of silence, a half rest two, a whole rest four.
- A dot after a note makes it half as long again. A dotted half note lasts 2 + 1, which is 3 beats, and a dotted quarter lasts 1 + 0.5, which is 1.5 beats.
- Rests count toward the bar exactly like notes. A bar of 4/4 can be a half note and a half rest: two beats of sound, then two of silence.
The mistake you are about to make
a dot adds one beat
a dot adds half the note's value
On a half note the dot does add one beat, so it seems to always add one. It adds half of whatever note it follows: on a quarter, half a beat.