Noisemaking 101 - Basics of Rhythm
What is rhythm?
Rhythm is how long we should hold a note or pitch. It is indicated by several different symbols that are standard to all music in the Western world.
You might be wondering what a pulse or beat is. These two words are quite similar in meaning and for our purposes lets assume they are. The beat or pulse is a regularly occurring stimulus that is perceived as a point in time...Huh? The short answer is when you tap you foot to music you've found the beat in music. The pulse or beat determines how fast a rhythm will be played.
How to read rhythm
Like a book we read music from left to right. When we arrive at a certain symbol we will play that note for the duration the symbol tells us.
Rests
Along with the symbols that tell us how long to play a note we also have notation to tell us how long not to play a note.
Here is a chart of the simple rhythms and rest you will encounter.
Counting
You will notice on the chart that I have included some numbers. These numbers indicate how many beats a note should be played for or how many rests you should be silent for. Remember to keep your count steady.
The next tutorial covers time signatures.
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