Ok, so Part 1 covered how to work with pitch but that’s only half of the music theory that you need to know. In this section we’ll deal with the other half of the equation, which is how you work with time which, in music, is called rhythm.
Rhythm is what drives the music forward and gives it its beat. To learn rhythm,you have to learn about note values. This type of music notation isn’t that hard, really. All you need to learn is a little basic math and how to count up to four.
Before we start, however, let’s lay down some ground rules
While a lot of songs are written with four beats to a measure one, two, three,four that isn’t a universal. Some very popular songs only have three beats to a measure. (Think “My Favorite Things,” from The Sound of Music.) And other tunes, especially in the jazz and classical genres, have more than four beats per measure.
To make it easier to learn the basics, in this chapter we’re only going to address four-beat measures—what we call 4/4 time.
All the other types of beats—three,five, seven, whatever—will be covered in a later section.
And that’s why I said you only have to know how to count to four!
Taking the Measure
Rhythm is about counting.
Let’s use a specific example “Mary Had a Little Lamb.” The notes of the song fall into groups of four; just replace the words “Ma-ry had a” with “one two three four” and you see how it works.
In this song, and other songs based around groups of four, each group of four beats is called a measure, a container that holds a specific number of beats. In standard 4/4 time, a measure holds the equivalent of four quarter notes. The beginning and end of a measure are signified by bar lines, like this:
(A group of measures on a staff; each measure is separated by left and right bar lines.Pix)
The first beat in a measure is counted as one. The second beat is counted as two. The third beat is counted as three, and the last beat is counted as four.There is no five; if you count out five you’ve counted too far! Whenever you hit four, the next beat is always one.
Every time four beats go by—one, two, three, four—another measure is completed.If you put enough measures together—one, two, three, four; one, two,three, four—you have a song.
Take Notes—of Notes
Every time you sing or play a tone, you’re also singing or playing a note value.There are different types of note values, with each note value signifying a specific length of time as measured by parts of a measure.
To better explain, we have to get into a little math.You see, each note value lasts a specific duration, and each duration reflects a ratio to duration. As you can see from the following figure,each shorter note is precisely half the duration of the previous note. So if you can divide and multiply by two, this should be fairly easy for you.
(The most common rhythmic notes—each smaller note is exactly half the previous note.Pix)
Whole Notes
The most basic note is called the whole note, which is called a whole note because, in 4/4 time because, it lasts a whole measure.Because 4/4 time has four beats in a measure, this means a whole note lasts four beats. A whole note looks like a big empty oval, nice and whole.
(Whole notes, at different places on the staff.PIX)
When you put a whole note in a measure of 4/4 time, that’s the only note that goes in that measure; no other notes will fit. When you play a whole note, you play your instrument once at the very beginning of the measure (on beat one),and then you hold that tone through the entire measure. In other words, one whole note should last a whole measure.
Half Notes
Because the whole note is the largest note, let’s go down one size and look at the next smallest note. Remember that I said each shorter note is exactly half the previous note? Let’s apply a little math and divide a whole note by two to see what we get.
The next smallest note is called a half note. (It’s half of a whole note—pretty simple, eh?) Because a whole note lasts a whole measure (in 4/4, anyway), a half note lasts a half measure. This means a half note lasts two beats, which is half of the four-beat duration of a whole note. Put another way, you can put two half notes in a measure, because two half notes equal one whole note.
A half note looks like a whole note with a line next to it. The line is called a stem; it can point up or down, depending on the pitch of the note. If the stem points down, it sits to the left of the note head. If the stem points up, it sits to the right of the note head.
(Two half notes—one with the stem pointing up; the other with the stem pointing down.Pix)
(Side Note)- If the note head (the part of the note that isn’t the stem) is on or above the third (middle) line of the staff, then the stem should point down from the note head. If the note head is below the third line of the staff, then the stem should point up from the note head.The only exception to this guideline is when you have a run of connected notes notes where all the stems are connected, like a run of eighth or sixteenth notes. It’s okay to run two or more of these connected notes together with their stems in the same direction, even if they move past that third line of the staff, to make the music easier to read.
When you play a half note, make sure the tone lasts a full two beats. If you let up after the first beat, you’re playing only half a half note which is what I’ll discuss next.
Quarter Notes
Keeping it going. If a half note is half a whole note, what is half a half note? Well, do your math, and when you divide 1⁄2 by 2, you get 1⁄4. This means half a half note is a quarter note.Because a half note lasts two beats, a quarter note which is half that duration—lasts one beat. Put another way, you can fit four quarter notes in a measure; one to a beat.When you tap your foot to the beat of most popular songs, your foot is tapping quarter notes. One, two, three, four each of those counts is a quarter note.A quarter note looks like a half note with the note head filled in, as shown here:
(Two different quarter notes, pointing in both directions.Pix)
Definition- A note head is the big, oval part of a note.The stem is always attached to the note head.
Eighth Notes
I'll be taking a pause here for now. But hopefully i can get this fully fleshed out by the end of the day. I'm also working on my first video lesson over on http://www.youtube.com/dajenisus.So stay tuned and more of this lesson to come.