This week learn about rhythm.
Link to try tapping :
www.noteflight.com/scores/vie...
Follow us on social media:
Twitter: / occamanswers
Facebook: / occams-answers-1609580...
Reddit: / occamsanswers
------------------------------------------
Let’s move on from the pitch of a note to its duration. But first, a quick anatomy lesson. The head of a note is the part that rests on a specific line or space of the staff to tell you what pitch the note represents. If you’re playing an unpitched percussion instrument, the head of the note may be replaced by an X. This is called a ghost note, and it functions exactly the same way a pitched note would. A note may also have a stem, which points up or down depending on where the head of the note falls on the staff. Finally, a note may have one or more flags, which always fly to the right. If several notes with flags are written together, they are beamed together to make the music easier to read.
The most basic type of note is the whole note, and all other notes are defined relative to it. A half note is played for half of the duration of a whole note, a quarter note is played for a quarter of the duration, eighth note, sixteenth note, etc. Every type of note has a corresponding rest that indicates an equal duration of silence. Notes of the same pitch may be tied together to form a note that lasts for the duration of both notes. So a half note tied to an eighth note should be played for ⅝ the duration of a whole note. A note or rest may be dotted to indicate that it should last for one and a half times the duration it normally would. For example, a dotted half note is essentially a half note tied to a quarter note, and therefore lasts for ¾ the length of a whole note. Don’t worry, this becomes more muscle memory and less math as you practice your instrument.
The last aspect of the staff is the time signature. The staff is divided into sections called bars or measures by bar lines, and the time signature gives information about how much music fits into each measure. The time signature is usually located just after the key signature, unless the time signature changes throughout the piece, in which case the new time signature will appear at the beginning of a measure. The top number signifies how many beats are contained in each measure. Beats are evenly spaced pulses in the music, like a ticking clock under the rhythm. The bottom number signifies which type of note lasts for one beat. So if the time signature is 4/4, then there are 4 beats in a measure, and the quarter note gets one beat. This is the most common time signature, often simply referred to as common time and abbreviated with a broken circle. Other common time signatures include 2/2 or cut time, abbreviated with a cut broken circle, 2/4 often used for marches, 3/4 often used for waltzes, 6/8 often used in folk music and dances, and 12/8 often used in blues music.
If you want to practice your rhythm skills, try tapping out each measure of this piece. We’ve included links to the answer in the description. Next time we’ll tackle everything else written on your sheet of music. See you then!