Learning to Read Music: Part 3

Learning about Rhythm and Beat        

Music is made up of notes that are played for varying lengths of time. Some notes are long and some are short. These different note lengths, along with the silences between the notes, are what make rhythm.

Rhythm is different from beat. Beat is the steady pulse of the music similar to the regular ticking of a clock. When you clap or tap your foot while listening to music, you are clapping or tapping the beat. Rhythm is the pattern of how long or short the notes are held or played. Another way to think of rhythm is the pattern of how you sing words in a song. Some notes are held longer and some are short.

We've learned that the line or space on which a note is written tells the musician what note to play. The type of note tells the musician how long or short to play that note.  A quarter note is played for 1 beat, a half note for 2 beats, a whole note for four beats. Here's what they look like. Next time, we'll learn about notes with other values including eighth notes, sixteenth notes and dotted notes. 

There are also “rests” of these same values.  Rests indicate silences instead of sounds.

Click here to play a rhythm game from Classics for Kids. Listen to a simple rhythm and then use your space bar to tap it out. 

Click here for free printable pages from Let's Play Music to practice clapping the beat or rhythm of three familiar songs.

Click here for a free printable "Color-by-Note Rhythm" worksheet from Making Music Fun to practice identifying rhythm values.

In honor of our composer of the week, Beethoven, you can watch a short video here from the Melbourne Symphony about a simple rhythm that is used in Beethoven's 7th Symphony. 

For elementary school students, click here for a lesson about note values and duration on Khan Academy.

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