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20. How To Read Rhythms 1

Simple Rhythms In Simple Time

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.

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:

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.

NEXT LESSON: 21. Note Values 2: Ties

PART 1 CONTENTS: Basic Music Theory Course Contents

Answers To Try These…

6. Time Signatures 1 – Simple Time

In 3. Beats, Tempo and Timing we saw that music is counted in beats – a bit like counting seconds, except that different pieces are counted faster or slower. How fast we count is indicated by the tempo.

We also saw that beats are grouped into bars, which act as a larger unit within the piece’s structure. These groups can be any length but are typically a few beats long.

The number of beats in a bar is written at the start of the first stave, in the form of a fraction without the dividing line. This is called the time signature.

A Time Signature Tells Us How to Count

In simple time, the time signature tells us two things. The numerator (the top number) indicates how many beats per bar and the denominator (bottom number) represents the fraction name of the note value used to represent 1 beat.

3 3 beats per bar
4 quarter note (crotchet) = 1 beat

TIP: Read this as “3 x 1/4 note beats per bar”

In the above example of 3/4, there are 3 beats per bar, where the quarter note (crotchet) = 1 beat. We count to 3 for each bar.

Of course the bars can be filled with notes of various lengths. The time signature indicates where the beats are and tells us how to count.

NOTE: A few time signatures, known as compound time, are interpreted differently. We will visit these in Part 2 of this course.

Common Time

The most popular time signature in modern times is 4/4, which is 4 crotchet beats per bar. It is so popular that it has a unique name, common time, and a shortcut symbol, the letter C.

4/4 and C are equally valid symbols – the choice is up to the composer.

X/4

The most frequently used time signatures use the crotchet to represent 1 beat, as in the above examples.

The fraction name for a crotchet is 1/4. For convenience, we can say that all these time signatures are in x/4, where x is the number of beats in the bar.

A time signature can have any number of beats but smaller numbers are more common. For longer time signatures we tend to mentally break them up into smaller groups. For instance, a bar of 7 beats could be thought of as 3+4 (or 4+3, depending on how the music flows, or even 3+2+2 etc.). Sometimes this is indicated in the music with an accent > symbol over the strong beats.

In general, though, bars tend to be fairly short, typically 2 to 4 beats per bar.

Simple Time

Simple time is an overall term encompassing all time signatures that can be read as a simple fraction, where the upper number represents the number of beats in a bar.

Of these, time signatures in x/4 are by far the most common, but the crotchet or 1/4 note isn’t the only note value that can represent 1 beat. Other note values can also be used, such as a quaver (1/8 note) or minim (1/2 note).

Although not covered in this basic course, these other time signatures work the same way as x/4: 4/8 = 4x 1/8 note (quaver) beats per bar and 3/2 = 3x 1/2 note (minim) beats per bar.

Halves and Quarters

In simple time, beats are easily divided into halves and quarters, the default rhythmic framework for many genres and styles. Even the note values themselves are designed to divide into halves and quarters – each symbol is half (or double) the length of the next.

Note values from minim (half note) to semiquaver (sixteenth note)

The notes of an actual melody are usually a mixture of longer and shorter notes. Some of these are on a beat, others might start between beats. The time signature gives us a counting reference so we can interpret the notes correctly. Is a particular note on the beat or not, and on which beat within the bar?

Note: Most pieces have a single time signature throughout. However, some are made up of different sections with contrasting character. Each section can have its own time signature, like miniature pieces within the overall work. (Actually, it’s possible to change the time signature any time, or even change back and forth!)

The Rhythm of a Time Signature

A time signature has a built-in hierarchy of strong and weak points. The most obvious example of this is beat 1. When we count to music, it’s quite natural to emphasise the start of each bar, to help us keep track of where we are as we count. This also makes it easier to “feel” the beats within each bar rather than have to count numbers in your head.

Even when not counting aloud, musicians typically emphasise the first beat of each bar a little in their head as they play, so that it feels like the the start of a group.

Unless the bar is only 2 beats long, there’s room for a secondary emphasis part-way through the bar.

Being bipedal, humans have an affinity for two’s and halves. That’s why simple time is so popular. The most comfortable way to count is in two’s: strong, weak, strong, weak. At a pinch we can count in three’s but unless it’s quite fast, we prefer to feel it as 2+1: strong, weak, strong(ish).

To count in 4 we split it into 2+2, strong, weak, strong, weak. To feel like one group of 4, we make the first emphasis stronger than the second.

Time signatures have strong and weak beats, alternating where possible.

For example, in 4/4, beat 1 is the strongest of all, beat 3 a little less so but still strong, and beats 2 and 4 are weak.

A Beat Is Like a Miniature Bar of 4/4

Dividing up a beat is the same in miniature. The beat itself is the strongest, the 2nd quaver, halfway through, is the next strongest, and the other semiquavers, numbers 2 and 4, are the weakest.

Below, you can see and hear the hierarchy of the most common time signatures using bass guitar and drum kit sounds (the bass plays the strong beats and the snare plays the beats).

The more notes are on top of each other, the stronger the implied emphasis.

This is an exclusive preview of one of my custom illustrations from my upcoming music theory reference, Music Theory De-mystified, which I hope to complete by end 2023.

So What?

The implied rhythm of the time signature acts as a reference accompaniment which allows us to feel where the bars and beats are. Without this we wouldn’t be able to interpret the rhythm of the music correctly.

Have you heard the term “syncopation?” It’s where the rhythm is played with emphasis in unexpected places, typically between the beats rather than on them, or on the weak beats rather than the strong ones. It feels like it’s “against the grain”; like it’s competing with something – often in an exciting way!

We’ll visit this in more detail in a post down the track but the point is that syncopation feels “against the grain” or between the beats BEACAUSE OF the time signature. The implied accents of the beats and strong beats determined by the time signature is the competition.

That’s where the “in-between “ sensation of syncopation comes from; even if there is no instrument emphasising the beats we can still feel the implied rhythm of the time signature. We can feel the music skip between the beats when syncopated or work together with the beats when playing on the beat.

In the following example, the first bar is syncopated and the second bar is on the beat. Without being aware of the time signature, the first bar is hard to interpret until you hear the second bar following the beats. Once we’ve heard the 2nd bar, the rhythm of the first bar is easier to understand.

Now let’s listen with a metronome playing the bars and beats of the time signature.

Hearing the metronome, it’s much easier to work out the rhythm of the first bar.

In summary, think of the time signature as a default accompaniment to a melody. Melodies may or may not have a strong rhythmic quality in themselves but they will almost always be built around the framework of the time signature’s rhythmic hierarchy.

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.

NEXT LESSON: 7. Rest Values, How To Count Rests

PART 1 CONTENTS: Basic Music Theory Course Contents