1. Notes and Rests The beginnings of rhythm
Duration
Notes and Rests
The beginnings of rhythm

2. Previously
We discussed how to identify the relative “lowness” or “highness” of a pitch by observing its location on a staff.
Now, duration.
Remember: “Modern music notation is a product of centuries of transformation…and it is neither efficient nor intuitive!” – Toby Rush (tobyrush.com)

3. Pitches vs. Rhythms Pitches are frequencies, or vibrations of air.
Rhythms are amounts of time.
These notes are all different pitches These notes are different rhythms
But the same kind of rhythm But the same pitch

4. Rhythm
The duration of a pitch is determined by the way each note appears in written music.
Elements to consider:
Note head – is it empty or colored in?
Is there a stem?
Is there a flag or a beam? How many flags or beams?
More…

5. Note value = duration = note length
Let’s start here: Long Short Practice: draw and label each of these on a staff.

6. More precisely…
Draw this  Whole notes last twice as long as half notes. Half notes last twice as long as quarter notes Etc. Question: How many sixteenth notes would appear if this diagram had one more level?

7. Practice: Musical Math
Reduce the following examples by drawing the fewest notes possible
Example together:
5 eighth notes
On your own:
7 eighth notes
3 half notes and 4 sixteenth notes
2 eighth notes, 1 quarter note, 1 half note
Check with person next to you

8. Flags  Beams
Single notes: flags. Groups of notes: beams.

9. Flag/stem direction when inverted.
Flags always point to the right, regardless of stem direction. Below 3rd line of the staff: On 3rd line of the staff or higher:

10. The beat The beat is what I tap my foot to.
Beat: underlying steady pulse in a piece of music.
In any song, sounds are held for long or short amounts of time. The beat does not change. Note values change.
For example: “Rose, Rose,”

11. FOR NOW… Quarter note = 1 beat If a quarter note = 1 beat
_____ = 2 beats
Eighth note = _____ beat(s)
Whole note = _____ beat(s)
One day this will change. Be prepared.

12. Getting more complex
Measure: a unit of many beats within a piece of music.
Measures help us stay organized.
In Western music, we like to organize our beats in groups of 2, 3, & 4
Playlist: 2 – Samson; 3 – If I Ain’t Got You, 4 - Wheels

13. How to understand groupings of beats
Time signatures or meters are typically found at the start of pieces of music.
Order: Clef, key signature, time signature
They look like fractions, but they’re not fractions.
Top number: how many beats per measure
Bottom number: what kind of note gets one beat

14. Consider 4/4
4 beats per measure The quarter note gets one beat. You can identify when each beat occurs and when each new note sounds by observing measures and their contents Measures are marked by bar lines. Question: what is a double bar line, and where do you find it? Where would bar lines be if our time signature read 2/4?

15. Counting and clapping Rhythms
Notice after each bar line, the count restarts. That’s because it is a new measure.
Practice: On manuscript paper, draw a treble clef and a time signature of 4/4. I will count a steady beat and clap various rhythms using quarter notes, half notes, and whole notes only. On first-space F, draw what you hear. You will get three examples.

16. Practice – rhythmic dictation
Treble clef, 4/4, I will perform 2 measures at a time.
Set up your page!
Draw what you hear:

17. Halves of beats
Moments between beats are performed by subdividing the beat.
In this instance, only 4 beats per measure, but eight notes?
Two eighth notes share one beat.
Count and clap
Practice: Treble clef, 4/4, 3 measures of music. Eighth notes, quarter notes, half notes. 3 listens.

18. Quarters of beats Sixteenth notes only last for ¼ beat.
So, four sixteenth notes share one beat.
Count and clap
e a e a

19. What if I want to replace two sixteenth notes with eighth notes?

20. Interesting combinations of rhythms:
Numbers = the beat
E, &, A = subdivisions, or smaller pieces, of the beat
a e e a (4) a

21. Practice
Which of the following measures is rhythmically incomplete?

22. Practice
Blue books
Rhythmic dictation

23. Practice
On your own, on a separate piece of manuscript paper to be submitted, compose a rhythmic example that has all of the following:
Is 4 measures long
Is in 4/4 meter and in treble clef.
All notes are written accurately on 3rd line B (stem direction!)
Whole thru sixteenth notes and rests
Is performable by you, while maintaining a steady beat.
Ends with a double bar line.
When you have finished composing your rhythmic example, trade with the person next to you. Perform your partner’s example for him/her by clapping and counting.