Fraction of the Beat

Music and Math At the beginning of every piece of music you’ll see something that looks like a fraction This is called a time signature. It isn’t actually a fraction but it helps organize the music into them. The top number in the time signatures lets us know how many beats per measure there are in the music. The bottom number tells us which kind of note gets one beat.

How the top number works So here is a good visual of how the time signature works in music. As you see there is a time signature of meaning that there are 4 beats per measure based on the top number. A measure is how we organize the music, there are separated by bar lines. 1 2 3 4 Bar line Measure

How the bottom number works The bottom number represents what note gets one beat. The notes are named based off of their value in the most popular time signature, which is . Note name What it looks like Whole Half Quarter Eighth Sixteenth

The whole picture So basically, each note is named for the fraction that equals its value of the measure in . Below is an example. Note name Note value Whole 4 beats (the whole measure) Half 2 beats (half of the measure) Quarter 1 beat (a quarter of the measure) Eighth Half a beat (an eighth of the measure) Sixteenth Fourth of a beats (a sixteenth of the measure)

How a measure with each note would look

The takadimi method In the next slide you will be able to click on a note and hear how it sounds according to the takadimi method. This is the method I use here at Rocky Fork to teach choir and general music students how to read rhythms. Each part of the beat is given a specific syllable and said a certain way. Once you learn how to say each note then you can easily read any rhythm using those words. To play it on the instruments, you simply play every time you would say one of the syllables.

Click the note to see how its said and played How to play What to say Whole note Half note Quarter note Eighth note Sixteenth note

Now your ready There are several stations set up around the room with instruments and flashcards that have notes and their corresponding fraction on it. Combine the cards into four beat rhythms and see what you can come up with. Work with others to player your rhythms at the same time. Have fun