Rhythm Counting
Lesson 1

Section 1.3 - How do we count rhythms and perform them?

Step 1 - Time Signature
When writing in counts for rhythms, always look to see what time signature you have first to determine how many beats are in a measure and what kind of note gets one beat.

Step 2 - Begin writing beats for the first measure

Tip - Every measure begins with the number 1.

Tip - Every measure will have the number of beats required in it, meaning that if the time signature is 4/4, at some point you will have written a 1, 2, 3 and 4 in that measure. If you get to a bar line and have not written all of those numbers yet, something is wrong.

A quarter note receives one whole beat of time in this example of music. So, begin the measure by writing a 1 under the first quarter note.

A quarter note takes up one whole beat of music, meaning it fills the whole pie. So, if beat one is completely full, you need to move on to beat two of the measure. You cannot write the next number in the measure unless all the parts of the pie are full. So, if beat 1 only has half of it taken up, you can’t write the number 2 on the next rhythm of the measure. There has to be something else before you can write the number 2.

The next beat in the measure will be the number 2.

Once again, you have a quarter note that has taken up the entire pie for that beat. So, you must move on to the next downbeat, which is the number 3.

Another quarter note, another beat of music is full. So, move on to the next beat, which is beat 4.

Step 3 - Check the first measure
Go back and recheck the first measure to be sure you have every number required in it. Do we have a 1, 2, 3 and 4? Yes. We can move on to the next measure.

Step 4 - Begin writing in rhythms for measure 2
Now, we have hit a bar line, meaning we are starting a new measure. And when we start a new measure, we always begin with what number?........1.

So, we have written a number 1 under the first rhythm in measure 2. But wait, the rhythm is not a quarter note. We must analyze what kind of rhythm it is.

Is the rhythm bigger, or a longer duration, than the quarter?

Yes! It is a half note, and we know that a half note gets two full beats of music, or the equivalent of two quarter notes.

How do we show rhythms or durations in our counting that are longer than one beat? We put a dash between the number.

The first half note is going to take up all of counts 1 and 2. Two pie charts are completely full. Write the number 1 under the first half note, then a dash followed by the number 2. That dash indicates that the rhythm is continuing over the downbeat of beat number 2.

Now, we run into another half note. We know it takes up two beats. What number are we going to write under that second half note? We already used a 1 and a 2, so the next number would be a 3.

Finally, that half note continues through beat four, so add a dash and a 4.

Step 4 - Recheck measure 2
Do you have a 1, 2, 3 and 4 written in that measure?

Step 5 - Write the rhythms for measure 3
Measure 3 has all quarter notes in it, which we have already one before. So go ahead and write in the counts.

Step 6 - Recheck measure 3
Do you have a 1, 2, 3 and 4 written in that measure?

Step 7 - Write the rhythms for measure 4
When you look at measure 4, it has a whole note in it. How many beats does a whole note get in 4/4 time? 4 (equal 4 entire quarter notes, or 4 full pie charts). It takes up the whole measure here.

Begin the measure with the number 1, as always, and since the whole note lasts four whole beats, you will have to put dashes in between all of the numbers all the way to 4.

Section 1.5 - The Dotted Half Note

When a dot appears after a rhythm, it adds half the amount of the original rhythm to it. Or, you can think of multiplying the original rhythm by 1.5 and that is the duration you will have for the dotted note.

A dot added to a half note will be 2 x 1.5, which equals 3. A dotted half note receives 3 beats.

When you are using a dotted half note in music, that note will consume 3 entire pies, or 3 entire quarter notes. You will have to write 3 numbers for it.