Let’s talk about Rhythm

In the previous lesson you learned about the vertical dimension of music notation. You already know that it represents pitch and you know how to read it. The other very important aspect in music notation is the rhythm which is the horizontal dimension. Rhythm tells you when and for how long to play the notes. In this lesson you will learn how to understand and read rhythm. Rhythm is a very complex concept and we’re only going to cover its basics in this lesson. This will get you started and will give a solid foundation upon which to further develop.

Note Values

Note values determine the duration of each note.

This table shows five note values. 

	Whole note  – a circle (a white note head)	4 beats
	Half note – a white note head with a stem	2 beats
	Quarter note  – a black note head with a stem	1 beat
	Eighth note – a black note head with a stem and a flag	1/2 beat
	Sixteenth note – a black note head with a stem and a double flag.	1/4 beat

The concept of note values can be explained quite easily, it’s basically math. 

• A whole note is worth 4 beats. If it’s divided by two, it becomes two half notes.
• A half note is worth 2 beats. That means that 2 half notes equal 1 whole note. 
• A quarter note is worth 1 beat and 2 quarter notes equal 1 half note, meaning that 4 quarter notes equal 1 whole note. 
• An eight note is worth 1/2 of a beat. 2 eighth notes equal 1 quarter note, meaning that 4 eighth notes equal a half note, meaning that 8 eight notes equal 1 whole note. 
• Following the same pattern – A sixteenth note is worth 1/4 of a beat. Meaning that 2 sixteenth notes equal 1 eight note, 4 sixteenth notes equal 1 quarter note, 8 sixteenth notes equal 1 half note and 16 sixteenth notes equal 1 whole note.

The note stems can go up or down and their flags can be connected by a heavy straight line called a beam. Here’s an example of that:

Rests Values

The exact concept that we used for the note values applies to rests values as well. The only difference is that during rests we do not play anything, we just wait for as long as they last. 

	Whole note rest	4 beats
	Half note rest	2 beats
	Quarter note rest	1 beat
	Eighth note rest	1/2 beat
	Sixteenth note rest	1/4 beat

Time Signature

Let’s begin with the time signature. Let’s use 4/4 for this example. The top number means how many beats there are in each measure or bar (both mean the same thing). The lower number indicates what note value equals 1 beat. The number 4 represents a quarter note. So, In this case we have 4/4, meaning that there should be 4 quarter note beats in each measure. So if we have four quarter notes in a measure, that would mean that the measure is full. Same applies for 1 whole note, or two half notes, since they last four beats. When the bar is over we add a bar line and we start the next bar. 

Dots, Ties and Slurs

A dot added to a note increases the value of that note by half of its original value. For example, if a dot is added to a half note that makes a total of 3 beats. 

Let me explain: The half note is worth 2 beats, half of that is 1 beat and the total is 3. 

Another example is a quarter note. It is worth 1 beat so a dotted quarter note would be worth 1 and ½  beats.

A tie is a curved line which connects two notes to create a new duration. This only occurs between notes of the same pitch. It can also happen over a bar line. Ties must not be confused with Slurs which look pretty similar. 

A slur is also a curved line that connects two or more notes but this time the pitches of the notes can be different. It is an articulation mark which indicates that the notes should be played as smoothly as possible, with no space in between.