Note values
- 2. Notes and Rhythmic Value ● If you've been playing along you know that music notation is time and pitch Pitch Time
- 3. Time Signature ● You also know that time signatures indicate how many beats we count in a measure and what note value gets the beat.
- 4. Naming Convention – Quarter Note ● We name notes based on how much time they take up ● Since common time is 4/4 we can think of it like a pie ● Divide it into 4 pieces and you get “quarters” ● It then takes 4 “Quarter Notes” to fill the pie
- 5. Naming Convention – Half Note ● If we have something that takes 2 notes to fill the pie, it takes up half the pie ● We call this the “Half Note”
- 6. Naming Convention – Whole Note ● Continuing with our structure, something that last all four beats in common time takes up the whole pie ● We call this then the “Whole Note”
- 7. Naming Convention – Eighth Note ● The same is true for the opposite direction ● If we continue to divide the pie from quarter notes, we get eighths ● It takes 8 “Eighth Notes” fill a measure
- 8. Naming Convention – Sixteenth Note ● We can keep dividing and adding “flags” to the note head but each time, we double the previous division ● It takes 16 “Sixteenth Notes” notes to fill a pie
- 9. Beats ● Another way to consider notes is how many beats they get ● Here is a diagram of the note heads and their equivalent beats ● The Sixteenth Note would be ¼ of the beat ● A 32nd Note would be 1/8 of a beat
- 11. Doing the Math ● When it comes down to it, reading rhythm is simply learning how to divide time into the corresponding note values
- 12. Doing the Math ● In common time 4/4 you know that there should be 4 quarter notes in each measure ● We use this to know how far to count 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4
- 13. Doing the Math ● For longer notes we simply connect the numbers (or drop them) ● We will use a – to show the connection 1 2 - 3 4 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 1 2 3 4
- 14. Doing the Math ● We know that quarters get full numeric values, 1, 2, 3, 4. ● Eighth notes are ½ a beat so we add “and” after the beat number (i.e. 4 &) 1 2 - 3 4 & 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 1 2 & 3 4 &
- 15. Doing the Math ● Sixteenth Notes are ¼ a beat so we need 4 syllables to be able to speak them ● We have & already so we add “e” and “a” 1 2 - 3 4 & 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 1 2 e & a 3 a 4 &
- 16. Doing the Math ● No matter what, the beats always land in the same place ● Being able to speak these rhythms takes practice ● Try to read the line below in tempo (start slowly) 1 2 - 3 4 & 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 1 2 e & a 3 a 4 &