Lesson 3: Rhythm - Beats/Counts

Every piece of music needs rhythm. Whether or not that rhythm is obvious depends on a variety of factors, such as style, familiarity, and interpretation.

In music, beats are just counts: "1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4, 1...." They can consist of hand claps, foot taps, metronome chimes, etc., but all of them must have regular, methodical intervals.

 

Different notes have different count values, ranging from common quarter notes (that have 1 count in Common Time) to rare 32nd notes (that have 1/8 count in Common Time). So, a quarter note should be held for 1 beat and a 32nd note for one eighth of 1 beat when playing music.

The number of beats per measure and which note gets one beat is determined by the Time Signature. In lesson 1, we briefly covered Time Signature, but we will go over it in detail in this lesson, which is entirely focused on rhythm.


Review of Previous Material

  1. All music needs rhythm, or counts, as in: "1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3..."
  2. Beats are counts that have regular, methodical intervals.
  3. Different notes have different beats.
  4. Number of beats per measure and what note gets one beat is determined by the Time Signature.

Lesson Overview

  1. Time Signature
  2. Time Signature Charts

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