Rhythm
How long notes last, how silence is written, and how time signatures group the beats. Count along with the examples and press Play to check yourself.
- Note values: how long each note lasts
Note values tell you how long to hold a note. In 4/4 time a whole note lasts 4 beats, a half note 2, a quarter note 1, an eighth note half a beat...
- Whole note: symbol, beats and counting
A whole note is an open oval notehead with no stem. In 4/4 time it lasts 4 beats, a full measure, and you count it "1 2 3 4" while holding one...
- Half note: symbol, beats and how to count it
A half note is an open oval notehead with a stem. In 4/4 time it gets 2 beats, half of a whole note, and you count it "1 2" or "3 4". In British...
- Quarter note: symbol, beats and counting
A quarter note is a filled-in notehead with a stem and no flag. In 4/4 time it gets 1 beat, so you count "1 2 3 4" with one note on each number....
- Eighth note: symbol, beams and how to count it
An eighth note is a filled notehead with a stem and one flag, or one beam when two or more are grouped. In 4/4 it lasts half a beat, so two fit in...
- Sixteenth note: symbol and how to count it
A sixteenth note is a filled notehead with a stem and two flags, or two beams when grouped. In 4/4 it lasts a quarter of a beat, so four fit in...
- Dotted half note: how many beats it gets
A dotted half note is a half note with a dot after the notehead. The dot adds half the note's value, so it lasts 3 beats in 4/4 and 3/4. You count...
- Dotted quarter note: how to count it
A dotted quarter note is a quarter note with a dot after the notehead. The dot adds half a beat, so it lasts 1 and a half beats in 4/4. It is...
- Rests in music: every rest symbol and its length
A rest is a symbol for silence. Each note value has a matching rest: whole, half, quarter, eighth and sixteenth. In 4/4 they last 4, 2, 1, half...
- Whole rest: symbol and how long it lasts
A whole rest is a small filled rectangle hanging below the fourth line of the staff. In 4/4 it lasts 4 beats, and in any time signature it can...
- Half rest: symbol, beats and how to spot it
A half rest is a small filled rectangle sitting on top of the middle (third) line of the staff. In 4/4 it lasts 2 beats, half a whole rest. In...
- Quarter rest: symbol and how many beats it gets
A quarter rest is a zigzag squiggle in the middle of the staff. In 4/4 it lasts 1 beat, the same as a quarter note. In British English it is a...
- Time signatures explained
A time signature is two stacked numbers at the start of a piece. The top number tells you how many beats are in each measure. The bottom number...
- 4/4 time signature
4/4 means four beats in every measure, and the quarter note gets one beat. It is the most common time signature in Western music, so it is also...
- 3/4 time signature and waltz time
3/4 means three beats in every measure, and the quarter note gets one beat. You count "1 2 3" with the strongest accent on beat 1. It is the meter...
- 6/8 time signature
6/8 has six eighth notes in each measure, grouped in two beats of three. You can count "1 2 3 4 5 6" slowly, but you feel it as two beats:...
- 12/8 time signature
12/8 has twelve eighth notes in each measure, grouped in four beats of three. You can count "1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12," but you feel four...
- 5/4 time signature
5/4 means five beats in every measure, with the quarter note as the beat. Because five is an odd number, it is usually felt as a group of three...
- Cut time (2/2)
Cut time is another name for 2/2, written as a C with a vertical line through it. There are two beats in each measure and the half note gets one...
- Syncopation in music
Syncopation is a rhythm that stresses beats or parts of beats that are normally weak. Accents fall on off-beats, notes are held across strong...