Reading Musical Rhythms:

                As we discussed in the Learning Music With Ray: Reading Music (Rhythm vs. Pitch) lesson, there are two main aspects of musical notation.  A musical note simultaneously conveys both pitch and rhythm.  Pitch tells us how high or low to play (what frequency).  Musical rhythm tells us how long to hold a note for.  Today we will be focusing on the rhythmic aspect of notation

We read rhythms by observing the shape of the note.  Each musical rhythm is portrayed by a differently shaped note.  A whole note is the longest fundamental rhythm of most modern music.  By fundamental, I mean it is the longest rhythmic value represented purely through notation.  Other notational additives, such as dots and ties, can be used to lengthen a circle.  We will discuss these additives in more detail in future lessons.  The whole note is the shape of a hollow circle.  Its value is always equal to the whole base value of the time signature. 

Before I continue, let me explain this concept of base value.  The bottom number of a time signature tells us the base value of that piece of music.  Just like math, music can be performed in different base values.  The most common base value for music is 4.  This concept is more thoroughly covered in my Learning Music With Ray: Time Signatures part 1 lesson.  Most beginning musical performance repertoire contains time signatures with a 4 on the bottom.  For this reason, most teachers tell their students that the quarter note receives one beat, the half note receives two beats, the whole note receives four beats and the eighth note receives half a beat.  These are the correct rhythmic values in a base 4 time signature.  However, these values change in a different base system.  Today, I am choosing to present all of the information about base systems and rhythmic values in the interest of teaching for understanding.  If understanding this concept proves difficult for you at this stage, concentrate on studying the rhythmic values in base 4 time signatures since these are the most common.  Since all of the information is being presented, the lesson can easily be customized for various levels of learning.  It would be impossible to add to the lesson if I decided to leave out the information about rhythmic values in other base systems. 

A half note is a circle with a line extending from one side.  This line is called a stem.  This additional physical characteristic is the only thing that distinguishes this rhythm from a whole note.  A half note receives half of whatever the base value is set in the time signature. 

A quarter note is a circle that has been colored in and has a stem.  The fact that the circle is now colored in (instead of being hollow) is the only thing that distinguishes this rhythm from a half note.  A quarter note receives a quarter of whatever the base value is set in the time signature.

An eighth note is a circle that has been colored in, has a stem and has a flag attached to the stem.  The flag is the only thing that distinguishes this rhythm from a quarter note.  An eighth note receives an eighth of whatever the base value is set in the time signature.

The rhythmic values that are shorter than an eighth note are created by adding additional flags.  Two flags added to a stem indicates the value of a sixteenth note (one sixteenth the length of the base value), three flags indicates the value of a thirty-second note (one thirty-second the length of the base value), four flags indicates the value of a sixty-fourth note (one sixty-fourth the length of the base value) and so on.  It would be impossible to list all of the rhythmic values, since they continue on (theoretically) in this pattern indefinitely.  The pattern I refer to consists of the denominator of the fraction constantly being doubled (or the fraction itself constantly being halved). 

When two or more rhythms with flags are written next to each other, they can be connected by beams as a substitute for the flag.  In this case, one beam would indicate a grouping of eighth notes, two beams would indicate sixteenth notes, and so on.  Even mismatched flag rhythms can be beamed together.  They are all connected with at least one beam, and additional segmented beams are added to indicate the different rhythms.

As mentioned earlier, the values of the rhythms are derived from the base value of the time signature.  The most common base value is 4, so the most common rhythmic values (in base 4) are:

In a base value of 8:

In a base value of 2:

All of these values are depicted in one master chart provided below.     

               This Learning Music With Ray video discusses how to read the fundamental rhythmic values found in musical notation.  I describe the physical appearance of each basic rhythmic value, pointing out the physical attribute that changes with each shorter rhythm.  I also explain the beat value that each basic rhythm possesses in various time signatures, and why their values change in different time signatures.  I provide visual illustrations and charts to help explain all of these concepts.