Music Theory De-mystified BlogMusicianship

B1. Syncopation Basics: Playing Off The Beat

This post is one of a growing series of free basic music theory lessons on my blog, musictheoryde-mystified.com. You can see the complete list here. Please feel welcome to make a comment or ask a question.

A time signature has an inherent hierarchy of strong and weak points within the bar. Syncopation is the emphasis of weak parts of the time signature. This introduces a dynamic interaction between the time signature’s implied rhythm and the rhythm of the part; a sense of going “against the grain”.

The Back Beat

The simplest form of syncopation is to emphasise the weak beats instead of the strong beats. The classic example of this can be found in many popular music genres since the advent of rock & roll; the snare drum playing the “back beat”, emphasising beats 2 and 4 in a 4-beat bar.

A similar effect can be achieved on any instrument by accenting the weak beats. Below is an example of a quaver rhythm, first with accents on the strong beats, then on the weak beats.

Tap, clap or play along to the following rhythms:

Playing Off The Beat

The back beat is only syncopation in the broadest sense. The term syncopation typically refers to emphasising weak parts within the beat a rather than just the weak beats.

The most common example of syncopation within the beat is to emphasise the 2nd quaver of each beat, the “off-beats” or “and”s, instead of the beat itself.

The following example of a bar of quavers uses accents, first to emphasise each beat, then to emphasise each off-beat quaver. Listen to the rhythms then tap, clap or play along:

Listen again and this time, only tap on the accented notes.

Syncopation adds excitement to a rhythm. Even in rhythms which are largely on the beat, the odd syncopated moment adds life to a part.

In the drum rhythm below, there is a brief syncopation is in the second half of bars 2 and 4.

Ways To Syncopate

Syncopation can be achieved in 2 ways:

by emphasising a note or notes on a weak part of the bar as above, with an accent.

by de-emphasising a strong part of the bar, in particular by not playing a note there at all. This can be because there’s a rest or because the previous note is still sounding.

Note that when clapping or tapping, there is no audible difference between these two bars.

Zooming In

Syncopation doesn’t just refer to emphasising the off-beat quavers. A more aggressive version would be to syncopate by a semiquaver.

A couple of the rhythms we learnt in 20. How To Read Rhythms 1 had semiquaver syncopation within the beat, by not playing a note on the “and”, the 2nd quaver. We can see now why these felt harder to learn than the others… Here’s an example of a bar with these two rhythms. Tap or play along:

Once you’ve experienced it, syncopation feels quite “natural”. In many popular genres, singers seldom sing exactly on the beat, even if that’s how the melody is written. Instead, they instinctively apply a degree of syncopation so the melody doesn’t sound too rigid. Rhythmic players rely on syncopation to add dynamics and drive.

Learning To Syncopate

Like many rhythms, syncopation is best learnt initially using a metronome. The secret to being able to syncopate is to feel the beat – to know where the beat (or strong beat) is, and then to know what relationship your note has to the beat.

Some musicians find it easy to tap the beat with their foot while playing. If this works for you, then by all means tap instead of using a metronome. However, many find it awkward to tap on the beat while playing off the beat, especially when first learning a new rhythm.

Foot Tapping Tip: In simple time, use the action of lifting your toes between taps to represent the half-beats; the “and”s.

If the rhythm seems tricky, remember to slow down the tempo and zoom in, as discussed in 20. How To Read Rhythms 1.

Ultimately, once you know a rhythm well enough to be able to feel it, you will no longer need the metronome. Metronomes can become quite annoying over time(!) so it’s worth weaning yourself off it as soon as you can feel the rhythm properly.

Mixed rhythms

Many parts, rhythmic as well as melodic, have a degree of variation in their rhythm, often achieved by brief syncopations in between overall on-beat rhythms.

Try These…

Play the movies below and tap the rhythms with your hand on a bench top, or if you prefer, clap. Listen carefully to the metronome click so you remain aware of the beat…

Once you’ve learnt each rhythm, play it to a metronome at 60 bpm without the movie. Gradually increase the tempo to 100 bpm or more. You can play along to the following movies of the rhythms at 100 bpm to see how you went.

Being able to tap the beats with your foot while playing is a useful skill. Practice tapping the beats with your foot, together with the metronome, while playing or tapping/clapping the above rhythms with your hands. As you settle in, stop the metronome and try it by yourself.

Notation Tip

Rhythms are usually notated so that it’s clear to see where the beats are. For shorter notes, this is indicated by beaming. For longer notes, the note is split into shorter notes and joined by a tie (see 21. Note Values 2: Ties).

When crotchets fall halfway between beats, on the “and”s, they can be written as crotchets: it’s such a common occurrence that most musicians, once they see a crotchet after a single quaver or quaver rest, are familiar with this shortcut.

However, crotchets which are a semiquaver off the beat must be split and tied to show where the beats are, otherwise the music is too hard to follow.

In the correct example above we can see that the next note starts just after each beat. The position of each beat is clearly shown by the beaming.

If you found this post helpful, please feel welcome to like, share or leave a comment. If you have any questions, leave them as a comment and I’ll respond as soon as I can. To stay up to date wth new posts, please subscribe.

This post is one of a 2-part series of free basic music theory lessons on my blog, musictheoryde-mystified.com. You can see the complete list here. Please feel welcome to make a comment or ask a question.

NEXT LESSON: B2. Intervals 2: Augmented And Diminished Intervals

PART 2 CONTENTS: Basic Music Theory Course Contents

20. How To Read Rhythms 1

Simple Rhythms In Simple Time

If you can’t wait to get to the exercises, click here. Otherwise, first some background.

Simple Time

Simple time refers to time signatures where the upper number = the number of beats in a bar and the lower number represents the note value for 1 beat. For example:

3/2 = 3 beats per bar, where each beat is a 1/2 note (minim)
5/4 = 5 beats per bar, where each beat is a 1/4 note (crotchet)
4/8 = 4 beats per bar, where each beat is a 1/8 note (quaver)
3/16 = 3 beats per bar, where each beat is a 1/16 note (semiquaver)

Why can so many note values represent 1 beat?

This is a subject for a future post but in essence, it allows the composer to influence the look of the written page. Just as we have different ways of explaining something, a composer can present musical information in a number of ways.

X/4

By far the most frequently used time signatures in simple time are X/4, where 1 beat is represented by a crotchet (quarter note), such as 2/4, 3/4, 4/4 etc.

In simple time it’s easy to divide a beat into halves and quarters using standard note values. If a crotchet = 1 beat, then a quaver = 1/2 beat and a semiquaver = 1/4 beat.

For a refresher on these time signatures, visit 6. Time Signatures 1 – Simple Time.

Beaming

When there are several notes with tails in succession (quavers, semiquavers etc.) their tails are beamed (joined) together.

Notes are beamed in groups of one beat (quavers can also be beamed in groups of 2 beats), with the first note in the group being on the beat. This makes it easy to see where the beats are in a bunch of short notes.

(Sib Graphic of 2 bars of 4/4 mixed rhythms)

Resolution

Music is a human experience. Our ability to count steadily roughly matches the range of human heart rates, about 40 to 200 bpm.

At a tempo slower than about 40 bpm we can’t feel the continuity between beats and it becomes hard to keep the beats at an even tempo.

For really slow tempi we can effectively double the resolution by doubling the counting speed; by counting the “and”s, the second half of each beat. The more frequent counts allow us to keep track of the timing.

On the other hand, at a tempo faster than about 200 bpm it’s hard to feel each beat. We just can’t keep up… We’re tempted to just count the strong beats so we can count more slowly.

In both cases, when the tempo is outside a comfortable counting speed, we can adjust the resolution by changing what we count as 1 beat.

The Zoom Factor

When practising a tricky piece of music, the first step is to slow the tempo right down so we have a chance to learn the notes.

However, some pieces don’t just have a fast tempo; the beats are divided into really short notes, 1/4 of a beat or even shorter. Even at a slow tempo, the actual notes can still be really fast…

The solution is to count the “and”s; to count a half beat as if it’s a beat. By counting twice as often, we can slow the tempo down to half without it feeling too slow to count. For more on this, please visit 3. Beats, Tempo and Timing.

I liken this to zooming in.

When zoomed in, fast rhythms are much easier to learn. Instead of having to divide a beat into quarters, you only need to divide into halves.

For example:

How To Learn A Fast Or Tricky Rhythm

Zoom in and count every half-beat as a beat at a slow tempo.
Gradually speed it up until it’s fast enough to zoom out.
Without changing the playing speed, count half as often, so you’re counting the actual beats.
Gradually build up to the final tempo of the piece.

The Percussion Clef

The exercises that follow use a percussive sound (a snare drum). Drums and percussion have their own clef, where the lines and spaces represent different percussion instruments rather than note pitches. (Cymbals and some other percussion instruments also use differently shaped noteheads).

Common 1-Beat Rhythms In X/4

In X/4, a beat can be made up of a combination of quavers and semiquavers. In principle, we can go even further, into demisemiquavers (1/8 of a beat) or more, but that’s quite advanced.

There aren’t many ways to divide a beat into halves and quarters. These rhythms make a small enough list to learn as presets. In the example below I have written each beat as a bar of 1/4.

Even at 60 bpm, some of these rhythms sound quite tricky at first glance. They are much easier to learn if we zoom in.

Clap, Tap, Sing or Play

You can practise rhythms anywhere, by tapping on a tabletop, clapping or singing a simple syllable like “da”, “do”, “la” etc.
You can also play your instrument. Note that on keyboards and some melodic instruments it’s easier to play fast by alternating between 2 or 3 note pitches than to repeat a single note rapidly. Adapt the exercises accordingly…

Try These…

The following exercises have a metronome click to keep track of the beats. In the first group the rhythms are zoomed in so we count each quaver as a beat and each semiquaver as half a beat.

Each bar is played 4 times. The text “play 4 times” above the repeat signs has been left out to save space.

Note: For more on repeats and other navigation signs, please visit my beginner’s tip, How To Navigate Music 1: Animated Tour.

Make sure that you count at a steady tempo when practising. Tap or play each rhythm a number of times before trying at a faster tempo.
Emphasise the first note of every beat a little, especially if practising without a metronome. This helps you to feel the beats.

The first three rhythms are pretty straightforward at a moderately slow tempo when zoomed in…

NOTE: If you’re having trouble getting started…

Zoom in twice and count each semiquaver as a beat. A quaver is 2 beats long, a dotted quaver = 3 beats and a crotchet = 4 beats: no dividing required.
Gradually increase the tempo, then zoom out to quaver beats and continue with the following steps.

Practise each of these rhythms until you can feel them effortlessly. Start at a slow tempo and gradually work up to at least 120 bpm.

Once they’re at 120 bpm, count half as often without changing how fast you play the notes. Now we’re counting crotchet beats at 60 bpm!

This should sound the same as the previous step…

From here, we can gradually increase the tempo depending on the piece. I recommend practising until at least 100 bpm. Try to absorb the character of each rhythm as you practise.

As you become more familiar with each rhythm, leave out the “and”s.

Now let’s look at the other rhythms, one at a time. Follow the same steps as for the first three rhythms.

Bar 4

Bar 4 is probably easier after playing bar 2 first. Again, we’ll start by counting quavers as beats, at a moderate tempo. Feel the quavers, then add in the 2nd semiquaver.

Gradually increase the tempo until it’s at 120 bpm.

Now count crotchets at 60 bpm (it should sound the same as before).

Gradually increase the tempo (examples below at 80 bpm and 100 bpm).

Bar 5

Bar 5 is probably easier after playing bar 3 first. Feel all the semiquavers, then leave out the last one.

Note: It’s easy to get bars 4 and 5 mixed up. The difference is more obvious if you emphasise the first note of the bar.

Gradually increase the tempo until it’s at 120 bpm.

Now count crotchets at 60 bpm (it should sound the same as before).

Gradually increase the tempo (examples below at 80 bpm and 100 bpm).

Bar 6

Bar 6 is one of the harder rhythms because there is no note on the 2nd beat. Listen for the 2nd beat before playing the last note.

Gradually increase the tempo until it’s at 120 bpm.

Now count crotchets at 60 bpm (it should sound the same as before).

Gradually increase the tempo (examples below at 80 bpm and 100 bpm).

Bar 7

To play bar 7, hold the first note until after you’ve heard the 2nd beat. Listen for the 2nd beat before playing the last note.

Gradually increase the tempo until it’s at 120 bpm.

Now count crotchets at 60 bpm (it should sound the same as before).

Gradually increase the tempo (examples below at 80 bpm and 100 bpm).

Bar 8

To play bar 8, play the first 2 notes quickly then hold the 2nd note all the way to the end of the bar.

Gradually increase the tempo until it’s at 120 bpm.

Now count crotchets at 60 bpm (it should sound the same as before).

Gradually increase the tempo (examples below at 80 bpm and 100 bpm).

Rhythmic Presets

Practise tapping or playing each one-beat rhythm until you can recognise it at a glance. When you see a bar with a seemingly complex rhythm you can break it down beat by beat into familiar presets.

Can you recognise the one-beat rhythms in the following short melody? Tap or clap along if you can…

Notating Rhythms

Once you can recognise the character of each rhythm, you will become familiar with how it looks on a stave.

Bear in mind that tails and beams depend on the direction of the note stems. In a pitched part, some groups may appear upside down as in the above melody.

Try These…

The following audio files are each made up of a 1-beat rhythm played 8 times.

Tap or count the beats so you can feel the tempo as you listen to each audio file.
Once you feel the tempo, listen to the rhythm and clap, tap, sing or play the rhythm.
Identify which rhythm you’re hearing/playing.
Notate each rhythm as a series of correctly beamed note values (since the pitch doesn’t matter, you can use blank paper instead of manuscript if you like).

Answers at the end of this post.

Reading Rhythms

Long notes are relatively easy to read – we can just count a number of beats while holding the note. Short notes are a bit harder because we have to divide a beat into smaller values such as 1/2 or 1/4 of a beat.

This is where rhythmic presets come in. Rather than having to learn a longer rhythm from scratch, look for one-beat presets within the music so you can recall the rhythms you’ve already learnt.

Rhythm Practice

A great way to practise rhythms is to combine it with your scales practice.

Choose a one-beat rhythm and repeat it on each scale note.
Over time, build up the tempo.
Each day, play a different scale with a different rhythm.

Another good exercise is to write out a bar of 2/4, 3/4 or 4/4 made up of a combination of 1-beat rhythms, then learn to tap or play the whole bar as a larger rhythm. For example:

NEXT LESSON: 21. Note Values 2: Ties

PART 1 CONTENTS: Basic Music Theory Course Contents

Answers To Try These…

19. Listen & Sing: Learn Minor Intervals By Singing

The minor intervals are minor 2nd, minor 3rd, minor 6th and minor 7th. There are a few ways we can learn to sing these intervals.

Phrygian mode

The minor intervals are based on the phrygian mode. The phrygian mode is not easy to sing!

Most people aren’t used to starting a scale with a minor 2nd (1 semitone). However, if you listen to early music or traditional folk genres, you may be able to sing it.

Give it a try if you like. Don’t worry if you find it hard because there are easier options below.

If you can sing this scale, you can teach yourself the minor intervals by counting scale notes in the phrygian mode, just as we did for major intervals in the previous lesson. If not, read on…

Natural Minor

The next option is to sing the natural minor scale. That works for all except the minor 2nd, 1 semitone. See below for how to learn to sing a minor 2nd.

Most people find this much easier to sing than the phrygian mode. Again, the best way to find out is to try it.

Try It…

If you can comfortably sing the natural minor scale without following the video, you can use it to find the minor 3rd, minor 6th and minor 7th. Learn to sing the minor 2nd separately (see later in this post).

Example: minor 7th by singing the minor scale

Major Scale

The final method, outlined below, is to start to sing a major scale. To sing a minor 2nd, 3rd, 6th or 7th, drop down by 1 semitone from the major to find the equivalent minor interval, much like the interval ruler in 16. Interval names 1: major, minor and perfect intervals.

This method is great when you want to name an interval that you hear, because at first you won’t know whether it’s major or minor.

Rather than having to try both major and minor scales, just sing the major scale. If the major scale overshoots the upper note of the interval it’s probably a minor interval. (There is one exception to this but we’ll leave that until Part 2 of this course).

This requires one trick; the ability to sing 1 semitone below a note. This may seem hard, but I’m sure you can already do it without even realising it…

How To Sing 1 Semitone Up Or Down

Try This…

Sing the first 4 (or the last 4) notes of a major scale.
Now go back and forth between the last two notes you sang – that’s 1 semitone.
Feel how close together these last two notes are, almost squeezed together… Remember that feeling when you want to sing two notes 1 semitone apart.

Does it remind you of something? Start slowly and speed it up… The theme of the all-time classic movie, Jaws…

Now you’ve sung 1 semitone up and down a few times, reverse it. Sing down before going up (start on the higher note if you like). Below we have 1 semitone as a minor 2nd on C, first upwards, then downwards. Focus on keeping the two notes squeezed tightly together.

After a little while, you‘ll be able to sing a semitone up or down down by itself.

How To Sing Minor Intervals By Singing The Major Scale

For a minor 2nd, learn to sing 1 semitone up as outlined above.
For other intervals, sing the major scale indicated by the degree of the interval name (3rd, 6th or 7th).
Sing down 1 semitone.
Repeat this a few times.
Now just sing the first and last note as an interval.
Repeat a few times. Build up to being able to sing it by yourself, without the video.
Once you’ve sung a few intervals, try to sing the in-between scale notes more quickly and quietly, until they’re just a thought.

Try These…

Minor 2nd by singing the major scale

Sing the first bar again while you listen to the 2nd bar.

This is just a semitone up rather than down, as we learnt earlier.

Minor 3rd by singing the major scale

NOTE: For this and the following intervals, repeat the 3rd bar while listening to the 4th bar.

Minor 6th by singing the major scale

Minor 7th by singing the major scale

How To Name An Interval That You Hear

Identify the lower and higher note of the interval and sing them.
While listening to the interval, start to sing the major scale of the lower note, counting degrees (note numbers).
If it’s a major or perfect interval, you’ll find the upper note and have the answer.
If it’s a minor interval, at some point you’ll be too high. As soon as you notice this, sing 1 semitone below your last note. If you’re still too high, you went too far up the major scale and you should start again.
You may need to repeat this a few times until you feel sure that your upper note matches the upper note of the interval.

Try These…

Name the following intervals:

Answers at the end of this post.

NOTE: There is one interval we haven’t covered in the last two lessons, an interval of 6 semitones, often called a tritone (we’ll learn its proper interval name in Part 2 of this course). It’s a bit harder to sing than the other intervals and isn’t all that common so we’ll leave that one out for now.

Coming Soon! The Interval-Singing Project

The interval-singing project is survey of well-known songs in many genres, each of which starts with a specific interval. For each genre I hope to collect song titles to cover each interval.

Instead of having to learn intervals from scratch, students will be able to draw on their own knowledge, needing only to remember which song represents which interval.

Anyone who subscribes to my blog will have access to the database at no cost.

NEXT LESSON: 20. How To Read Rhythms 1

PART 1 CONTENTS: Basic Music Theory Course Contents

———

Answers To Try These…

minor 3rd
minor 6th
minor 2nd
minor 7th

18. Listen & Sing: Learn Major And Perfect Intervals By Singing

Learning To Sing Intervals

Interval names are based on scale notes.

If we can sing, hum or imagine the sound of a scale, we can teach ourselves the character and name of various intervals by ear. We can count how many scale notes there are from the lower note of the interval to the higher note.

The easiest scale to sing, at least in Western culture, is the major scale. If you can’t sing a major scale straight away, please have a look at 17. Listen And Sing: How To Sing The Major Scale before reading on.

Major scale intervals

In 16. Intervals 1: Major, Minor And Perfect Intervals we saw that intervals are always counted from the lower note to the higher note, regardless of the order in which they’re played. The lower note of the interval becomes the root note of a major scale. We count scale notes to find the higher note and name the interval.

Counting up from the root note, the major scale contains the major 2nd, major 3rd, perfect 4th, perfect 5th, major 6th, major 7th, and, of course, the octave.

Treat the root note of the scale as the lower note of an interval.
Now sing from the root note to the 2nd note. This is a major 2nd.
To sing a major 3rd, sing the first 3 scale notes in a row but sing the 2nd note quieter or shorter than the first and third notes (see below). After a few times, leave the second note out altogether.
Repeat this exercise from the root note to each of the other notes in the scale.

Tip: the most useful intervals to become really good at are the major 3rd, perfect 5th and the octave. They are the notes of a major triad, a sound which will feel familiar to the ear and provide a shortcut for larger intervals (more on triads in Part 2 of my course).

Try These…

Below are the intervals of C major. Most voices can find a comfortable way to sing a C in the lower part of their range. The note number/scale degree is indicated below the notes.

In the first line, sing along to the first bar, then sing the same notes again in the second bar while you hear the interval played together. Feel your voice hit the lower and higher notes of the interval at the start and end of the bar.
In the second line the in-between scale notes are left out. Again, keep singing the first bar while you hear the interval played together in the second bar.
Practice each interval long enough until you don’t need to listen to the example while you sing.

Major 2nd

Major 3rd

Perfect 4th

Perfect 5th

Major 6th

Major 7th

Octave (perfect 8th)

Once you build a little confidence, choose a slightly lower or higher note for your intervals.

The more you do exercises like these, the easier it will be to recognise the interval between two notes, whether you hear them as a melodic interval (consecutive notes) or as a harmonic interval (both notes sounding together).

How To Sing An Interval Above A Note

This is just like how we learnt the intervals starting on C

Choose a major or perfect interval by name, such as a perfect 4th.
Play a note towards the bottom of your range.
Sing that note, then sing a note that’s the chosen interval above it
If you need to, you can quietly sing the in-between scale notes like in the first exercise.

How To Name An Interval You’re Hearing

You can use the same method to name an interval that you hear.

First, identify both notes of the interval by singing them. They are a little harder to pick when played together.
Sing the lower note, then sing the notes of the major scale until you hear your note match the higher note, counting notes as you sing (the starting note counts as the first note).
2 notes is a 2nd, 3 notes is a 3rd, etc. The 2nd, 3rd, 6th and 7th are major intervals, the 4th and 5th are perfect. (Technically the octave is also perfect, we just don’t need to say so. An octave is just called an octave.)

Try These…

Below are audio files of a few harmonic intervals. Remember to sing both notes of each interval before singing (or thinking) scale notes. To make it a little easier, the two notes are quickly played as a melodic interval before hearing the two notes together.

Name each interval using the steps outlined above:

Answers at the bottom of this post.

NEXT LESSON: 19. Listen & Sing: Learn Minor Intervals By Singing

PART 1 CONTENTS: Basic Music Theory Course Contents

___

Answers to Try These…

major 2nd
major 3rd
major 6th
perfect 4th
major 7th
perfect 5th
octave

17. Listen & Sing: How To Sing The Major Scale

…If you can already sing a major scale you can skip this lesson…

If you’re panicking at the thought of doing this lesson, relax… When I say “sing”, I don’t mean “sound like a real singer”! Don’t worry about tone, voice quality, breathing etc. You don’t even have to hold a note for very long. All we’re trying to do is pitch a few moderate-length notes in a comfortable part of the voice range.

The ability to sing a scale is one of the fundamental skills of musicianship. It helps develop our sense of tonality, which in turn helps us to understand and remember melodies and riffs. We also use scales to recognise, count and name intervals.

The easiest scale to sing, at least in Western culture, is the major scale. You may even know the major scale already, in solfege, as a simple melody: do, re, mi etc.

If you’re not used to singing, start on a fairly low note, so you can sing upwards from there. The exercise below starts on C, which most people can sing as a low-ish note.

A note about voices and octaves

The range of female voices and children’s voices can be represented on the treble clef. Middle C or C4 is a comfortably low note. The octave from C4 to C5 is typically a comfortable range to sing in, even for untrained voices.

In general terms, a male voice typically sounds an octave lower than a female voice. The male voice’s actual pitch range fits on the tenor (guitar) clef.

Many songbooks don’t distinguish between male and female voices. Melodies are written in the treble clef by default. When a male voice reads middle C and sings a comfortably low note, we hear C3, not C4.

This is such a natural phenomenon that we interpret this difference more as tone than as pitch. We expect male voices to sound lower than female voices.

We all “reach up” to sing a high note and “reach down” to sing a low note. These ranges within the voice range are called registers. High notes are in a high register, low notes in a low register. As humans, we can hear the effort of reaching for high or low notes as a change in register.

When female and male voices sing together, we listen more for which register they sing in (reaching up or reaching down) rather than which actual octave.

The examples and exercises in this post are in the treble clef, at the actual pitch of a typical female or children’s voice. Male voices should have no trouble singing along an octave lower as long as middle C is thought of as a low-ish note.

What Words Shall I Sing?

For beginners, start with a consonant such as “L”, “T” or “D” followed by an open mouth vowel sound such as “aah”, “oh”or “ooh”. These are the easiest sounds to control and produce a clear and stable pitch.

Examples: La la la la, Da da da da, Ta ta ta ta , Doo doo doo doo etc.

If you’re confident that you can hold a note on different syllables, you could sing the note numbers as you go, “one, two, three, four “ etc.

How To Sing A Major Scale

The following video is the scale of C major at a slow tempo, one note per bar.

In each bar, you hear the scale note first.
During the rest that follows, answer by singing the same note (indicated on the stave by a slash).
Each bar is repeated so you can check that you’re singing the right note.

Here’s the same exercise without the repeats.

Now repeat the exercise at a faster tempo.

Feel how far you need to move from one note to the next; close for 1 semitone, a little more for 2 semitones. Remember the pattern of 2- and 1-semitone intervals that make up the major scale.

As you get used to the notes, you can sing along with the video as well as singing the answers.

Here’s the whole scale without rests.

Listen to the scale of C major, then sing along with it. Repeat several times.
When it feels comfortable, listen again, then sing the scale by yourself.
You can monitor your progress by singing along to the video again.

Once you can sing it by yourself, try speeding up the tempo or singing in quavers rather than crotchets.

Here it is at a faster tempo…

Other modes

As a follow-up, you can teach yourself to sing the scale of any other modes that are used in genres that interest you, be it the natural minor, melodic and harmonic minor (coming in Part 2 of this course), other traditional modes, the blues scale etc. Look at the pattern of intervals that make up the mode as you play and sing along.

NEXT LESSON: 18. Listen & Sing: Learn Major And Perfect Intervals By Singing

PART 1 CONTENTS: Basic Music Theory Course Contents

7. Rest Values, How To Count Rests

What Is A Rest?

A rest is a silent note. Imagine that you have to make room for an important, loud note played on another instrument.

Every note value has an equivalent symbol for a rest. Rests are named after the note values they replace. A rest that lasts for a crotchet (quarter note) is called a crotchet rest (or quarter note rest).

Here are the note values from 5. Note Values 1 with their matching rest values. As previously suggested, don’t worry about really short notes and rests to start with.

Just like note values, the length of a rest can be extended by half by placing a dot after it.

Counting Rests

You have to play a rest, just like you play a note.

For example, in 4/4 try counting crotchets and only playing the first and 3rd. It feels like counting minims, except that you cut the note short at a specific moment. Here, that’s the start of beat 2 or 4. You’ll hear a metronome ticking every beat.

You should think of the cutoff point as a deliberate act, as if someone else is playing an important note that needs to be heard. You cut the note off by “playing” the rest, as if you have to squash the note to stop it. Some players tap the beats with a foot while playing; this may help…

The importance of rests is more obvious when they’re on the strong beats rather than the weak beats.

Two Types Of Rests

Broadly speaking, rests fall into either of two categories depending on how they feel when we play them.

Off-beat rests are rests that feel like they just stop the note from being a longer note. They don’t change the overall character of the rhythm. For longer notes, these include rests on weak beats, as in our first example.
On-beat rests feel like they’ve displaced the next note, forcing the note off the beat (or strong beat). Compared to the time signature’s natural rhythm, they make the notes feel “against the grain”. NOTE: This isn’t a value judgement. In fact, on-beat rests often make the music feel more exciting.

NOTE: The following examples and exercises have a double bar with 2 dots at the end. This is the repeat sign and indicates that the piece should be played a second time. For more on repeat signs and other navigation symbols, please visit How To Navigate Music 1: Animated Tour.

Shorter rests have a more obvious effect on the rhythm, so here’s two examples using quavers. They’re also a great warm-up for getting used to counting and playing rests. Try playing and counting along.

The last example, playing off the beat (between the beats) after an on-beat rest, is known as syncopation. We’ll look at syncopation in part 2 of this course.

NOTE: If you find these too hard, visit 3. Beats, Tempo And Timing for some help on how to count and play.

Try These…

Here are a few exercises for reading rests. Try them on your instrument before you listen to them. If you find that hard, play along to them first, then play them by yourself.

NOTE: Many percussion instruments have no control over how long a note sounds. For such instruments, the difference between writing bar 2 of the first example as crotchets followed by crotchet rests or as minims is moot. It would make sense for such parts to we written as longer notes without rests. However, for on-beat rests, the presence of a rest helps players to capture the feeling of playing between the beats rather than on them.

This post is one of a growing series of free basic music theory lessons on my blog, musictheoryde-mystified.com. You can see the complete list here.

If you enjoyed reading my post, please give it a like and feel welcome to share it. Any questions, please leave a comment and I’ll answer it as soon as I can. If you’d like to be kept up to date on new posts, please subscribe.

NEXT LESSON: 8. What Is A Scale?

PART 1 CONTENTS: Basic Music Theory Course Contents

4. Bars, How To Count In Bars And Beats

Structure

When we listen to music, we can generally “follow the music”: we have a sense of where we are within the piece. This is because, other than ambient music, much of what we recognise as music has a structure. Let’s zoom in on a piece from the outside…

Most pieces are made up of sections. In a popular work a typical section might be a verse, chorus or bridge. A classical work might have large-scale sections called movements as well as smaller sections within a movement such as exposition, development and recapitulation.

Within each section, the music is made up of phrases. In the language of music, phrases are the equivalent of phrases in speech. Question marks, full stops and commas all have their musical equivalent.

In music, each phrase is typically made up of a number of bars. Bars provide a way of dividing a phrase up into manageable chunks that we can see and hear.

In Western music culture we seem to be attracted to the number 4. Phrases in many genres are often 4 bars long. In a typical 4-bar phrase, we can feel the phrase get started in the first bar and arrive at a note or chord in the 4th bar. Please note that this is a very general statement for illustration purposes: music is certainly not restricted to phrases of 4 bars, or even of a whole number of bars. Overall, though, many melodies are made up of 4-bar phrases.

Bars

Each bar is made up of a number of beats. Usually all the bars in a section have the same number of beats (but again this isn’t always the case). The boundary between one bar and the next is marked by a vertical line through the stave called a barline. Barlines are convenient markers to help navigate through the notes. Without barlines it would be easy to get lost when trying to read music.

The following example has bars which are 4 beats long:

Bars aren’t just visual: they form part of the structure of the music. Not only can we count the number of bars in a phrase, but we can count the number of beats in a bar. The beats are a reference for where we are in a bar, just as bars are a reference for where we are in a phrase.

A bar can be any number of beats in length but if a bar is too long we feel the need to mentally divide it into smaller chunks. Bars are easiest to feel when they have a small number of beats. Most typically, bars are made up of 2, 3 or 4 beats.

The first beat of a bar has an implied emphasis. This can be articulated in the music by making the note on the first beat of each bar stronger/louder. Even when the music is intended to be played smoothly and evenly, musicians tend to “play” that emphasis in their mind as they count.

Counting in bars and beats

Being able to count or tap to the music in beats and bars is an essential skill for the aspiring musician. In the previous post, 3. Beats, Tempo and Timing, we looked at some basic counting exercises. There we counted to 2, so there were 2 beats in each bar.

Try This…

As a quick exercise, listen to a piece of music you enjoy and tap where you feel the beats might go. Once you settle into the tempo, try counting “1,2”, then “1,2,3” then “1,2,3,4” and see which of these seems to fit the structure of the phrases. As you count, emphasise “1” a little.

If the piece has a rhythmic accompaniment, beat 1 might be emphasised by one or more of the accompanying instruments. For instance, in a typical rock song, the bass drum plays the first beat of the bar. Even without such accompaniment, the right number of beats per bar will “make sense” and fit the phrases, whereas the wrong number will, at times, feel out of step.

As 4 is two lots of 2, the difference between counting to 2 and to 4 isn’t always obvious, but counting to 3 feels quite different than 2 or 4.

Example

Below is the audio only for two simple melodies. One has 2 beats per bar, the other has 3. Listen to both and count “1,2” or “1,2,3”. See if you can tell which is which… (the answer is at the end of this post).

NOTE: Both melodies are at a medium-fast tempo but the tempo is slightly different for each. For each melody, listen first and tap along to the tempo. Only start counting when you feel that you’ve settled in to the tempo.

This post is one of a growing series of free basic music theory lessons on my blog, musictheoryde-mystified.com. You can see the complete list here.

Please feel welcome to like, comment or to share this post. If you have any questions, pleased leave them as a comment and I will respond as soon as I can. If you enjoy my posts and would like to be kept up to date, please subscribe.

Parts of this post, including the movie above, are taken from Music Theory De-mystified, my upcoming music theory e-book, due to be released late 2023.

NEXT LESSON: 5. How Long Is A Note? Note Values 1

PART 1 CONTENTS: Basic Music Theory Course Contents

—

Answer: The first melody has 3 beats per bar, the second melody has 2 beats per bar.

3. Beats, Tempo and Timing

Beats and note length

Music is made up of notes and rests of varying length. The musical unit of note length is the beat.

Beats

The duration of a note or rest isn’t written in absolute time: we don’t say a note is 3 seconds or half a second long. Instead, we say it is 3 beats long or half a beat long. We use symbols to indicate the length of a note as a number of beats or a fraction of a beat. For more on the symbols for note length, please see 5. How Long Is A Note? Note Values 1

Tempo

How long a beat lasts depends on the tempo. Think of a clock that doesn’t just tick every second, but that has a dial that lets you set the tick to any speed you like (this actually exists, both as a mechanical ticker and as an app: it’s called a metronome). The speed of the ticking is the tempo. Tempo is measured in beats per minute or bpm.

Each tick represents the start of one beat, so a note that is one beat long and starts on a tick will last until the next tick.

Timing

Notes can start on a beat or between beats. The relationship between the actual notes of a part and the tempo is called timing. Being able to accurately play the note lengths in relation to the tempo is called playing in time.

Timing is also the basis of how musicians can play together in a co-ordinated way. Large ensembles often use a conductor for this purpose. The conductor acts as a human metronome, using gestures to indicate the beats and thus control the tempo.

The tempo of a song is often constant, especially in many modern genres, but it is also possible for the tempo to change within a piece.

Counting the beat

The standard metronome has a range of 40-208 bpm, which roughly parallels the range of human heart rates. This represents our range of experience of what feels like a beat. For example, try counting “1, 2, 3, 4” or “1, 2, 3” along to metronome ticks of various tempi.

Slower than about 40 bpm we can’t “join the dots”; we don’t feel the link from one beat to the next clearly enough to be able to count steadily and we’re tempted to insert the word “and” between counts: of course, this effectively doubles our counting speed, even though we’re using a different word.

Faster than about 200 bpm it becomes hard to feel each count as a proper beat: more like a half-beat: and we want to count every 2nd beat instead.

Some music isn’t played in any set tempo, but a kind of flexi-time. This is formally called rubato but the English word freely can be used instead if you prefer. Rubato is prominent in operatic arias and other “story-telling” genres such as ballads.

Musicianship: the bridge between theory and practice

Often music is thought of as two subjects, theory and practical: the reading and understanding of musical language and learning to play an instrument. There is an important third element called musicianship. Think of musicianship as practical theory, general musical skills independent of the instrument you play.

One aspect of musicianship is timing. Aspiring musicians need to master some basic skills such as being able to play to an external beat, be it from a metronome or other players. Some people have a natural ability to feel the beat, while others need some exercises to develop this ability.

Basic timing practice

The following examples use two note symbols. The first is called a crotchet or quarter note: here it represents a length of 1 beat. The second is called a quaver or eighth note and represents half a beat. More on note length in a later post.

I have already mentioned the first step, the ability to count or play a note steadily to a beat at various tempi. Try counting “1, 2” first, then playing. You can play any note: often it’s easier to play two different notes, depending on your instrument.

If you had trouble counting to the beat as above, practice at a medium tempo such as 90bpm first as it’s neither too slow to feel nor too fast to play.

TIP: Listen to the metronome first before starting to count or play. Let yourself feel the tempo for as long as you like: it’ll be much easier to play in time.

A variation of the above exercise is to tap your foot at a set tempo and play together with your taps.

The next step is to be able to divide a beat into halves. It may help to use the word “and”, at least mentally, to mark the half beats. This makes it feel like you’re counting twice as often, which is certainly easier for slower tempi. The trick is to make sure the halves occur exactly halfway between the beats: at first, they may be uneven. Try playing along to the example below.

Gradually increase the tempo until you can play quite fast.

Once you can play steadily every half beat at a faster tempo such as 120bpm as above, try leaving out the “and”s in your count.

It may take a little while to be able to keep up the steady rhythm of even halves. The more you practice, the more stamina you develop and the longer you can keep the halves even. After a while you’ll wonder how it could ever have been difficult…

Other simple rhythms are also worth learning, such as alternating a whole beat and two half beats or playing only the off-beat halves (the “ands”). This latter is the basis of syncopation (more on this in another post). It’s also worth learning to divide a beat into uneven pairs, long then short, called swing or swung eighths. Effectively, the long note is 2/3 of a beat and the short note, 1/3 of a beat. Another good exercise is to divide the beat into thirds, 3 equal parts.

The above exercises form the basis of many common rhythms.

More timing practice

Playing in time is one of the critical skills required when playing in an ensemble, whether a duo, band, choir or orchestra. Complete musicianship teaching methods are available, covering timing, rhythm, pitching intervals and more.

In my upcoming music theory book, Music Theory De-mystified, I have included two chapters on musicianship. The timing exercises above are taken from one of these chapters. The other chapter is about learning to recognise intervals (the pitch relationship between two notes) by being able to sing or play them.

This post is one of a growing series of free basic music theory lessons on my blog, musictheoryde-mystified.com. You can see the complete list here.

Substantial parts of this post, including the movies above, are taken from Music Theory De-mystified, my upcoming music theory e-book, due to be released late 2023.

NEXT LESSON: 4. Bars, How To Count In Bars And Beats

PART 1 CONTENTS: Basic Music Theory Course Contents