Reading and clapping simple rhythms
Quarter notes, eighth-note pairs, a quarter rest, and four beats in a bar.
What a learner can do afterwards
- Can explain Reading and clapping simple rhythms
The lesson
Now we can read rhythms and clap them. A quarter note gets one beat, and we say ta for it. Two eighth notes are joined together and share one beat, and we say ti-ti for them. A quarter rest is one beat of silence, so we stay quiet and count it.
The notes are grouped into small boxes called bars. In many songs each bar has four beats.
Clap this bar and say it: ta, ti-ti, ta, ta. That is four beats. The ti-ti is two quick claps in one beat.
Read this bar with a rest: ta, ta, rest, ta. On the rest, open your hands and stay silent for one beat, then keep counting.
Make your own four beat bar. Pick from ta, ti-ti, and a rest for each beat. Clap it four times in a row.
A quarter note is one beat, two eighth notes share one beat, a quarter rest is one silent beat, and a bar here has four beats.
Watch it
Where it sits
This opens up
Nothing builds on it yet.
8 questions wait behind this lesson, each with its answer explained. Every answer feeds the sky: stars light as they are learned, and dim when it is time to come back.