Rhythm

Rhythm and Meter

Everyday time is measured in units of seconds, minutes and hours. Rhythm is a way to measure time in music. Musical time is measured in units called beats. Beats give a song its pulse

Measures

• Musicians group beats into measures.

• They use bar lines to separate one measure from the next

Time Signature

• Musicians count time in beats per minute, or BPM for short. They communicate how many beats are in a measure using the time signature, the set of numbers found at the very beginning of a piece of music (or within the song if the time signature changes). The numbers are written like a fraction: 4/4, 2/4, 3/4, etc.

Time Signature

• The top number tells you how many beats are in one measure of music, and the bottom number tells you what kind of note gets the beat.

Types of time signatures

• A song in 4/4 time has four beats per measure (4/4 time is also called "common time," which is sometimes abbreviated "C").

• A song in 3/4 time has three quarter note beats per measur.

• song in 2/4 time has two quarter note beats per measure.

Note Values

Musicians use notes to represent music. The notes communicate what kind of sound to play and for how long. In this section, you'll learn about the length of a note. In the Melody unit, you'll learn about a note's sound or pitch.

Whole Notes

• One whole note is equal to 4 beats of music. The whole note is written with an open oval or notehead.

• The whole note is the yardstick that we use to measure the length of the other notes.

Half Note

• A half note, as its name suggests, is one half the length of a whole note.

• A half note is two beats long.

• The half note has an open oval or notehead like the whole note, and it also has a vertical line called the stem which can point up or down. 

Quarter Note

• A quarter note is one fourth the length of a whole note, and lasts for one beat. 

• The quarter note has a filled-in or closed notehead and a stem

Eighth Note

• One eighth note is one eighth the length of a whole note. so it takes 8 eighth notes to cover the same amount of time as one whole note.

• one whole note equals four beats. Take one of those beats, cut it in half, and you have an eighth note. 

• So one eighth note is 1/2 of the beat

Sixteenth note

•  The next smallest unit is a sixteenth note.

• This note is 1/16 the length of a whole note, so it take sixteen of these to cover the same amount of time as one whole note

• So one sixteenth note is 1/4 of a beat long.

Multiple Choice

How many beats does this note get?

• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4

Multiple Choice

What is the name of this note?

• Whole note
• Quarter note
• Half note
• Eighth note

Multiple Choice

How many beats does this note get? 

• One
• Two
• Three
• Four

Multiple Choice

What is the name of this note?

• Half note

• Two Eighth notes

• Eighth note

• Quarter Note

Multiple Choice

How many beats does this note receive?

• 1/2
• 1
• 2
• 3

Multiple Choice

How many beats does this note receive?

• 1/2
• 1
• 2
• 4

Multiple Choice

How many beats are in this measure?

• 3

• 4

• 5

• 9

Multiple Choice

How many beats will be in each measure of this song?

• 3
• 2
• 4
• 12

Multiple Choice

Every measure should be separated by a _____.

• bar line
• staff
• double bar line
• time signature

Multiple Choice

How many beats does a whole note get?

• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4

Multiple Choice

Which music has the time signature circled?

Multiple Choice

How many beats do two eighth notes get?

• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4

Multiple Choice

How many measures are there?

• 3

• 4

• None

• 2

Multiple Choice

How many beats does a 1/2 half note get?

• 2

• 4

• 1

Multiple Choice

Rhythm is

• the steady pulse of music

• long and short sounds

• beat