LESSON 2 PART 1

Notating Rhythm

If you want to share your ideas with other musicians you could teach them your music by ear, but it is more efficient to write it out and let them see it on paper (provided they can already read musical notation). You can also store your ideas and easily recall them when needed if they are written down somewhere.

A few basic tools are needed before we can begin notating our rhythmic ideas:

The Staff

Five lines and four spaces make up the staff, which is where time signatures, pitches, rhythmic figures, barlines, and rests are placed to make up a musical composition.

Bar Lines

The vertical lines that divide the staff into "bars" or "measures".

Time Signature

Two numbers expressed as a fraction at the beginning of a composition. The top number tells you how many beats are in a measure-this can be any number

-and the bottom number tells you what type of note gets the beat-1on the bottom means the WHOLE note gets one beat, a 2 means the HALF note gets one beat, a 4 means the QUARTER note gets one beat, an 8 means the EIGHTH note gets one beat, a 16 means one SIXTEENTH note gets one beat, and 32 on the bottom means that a THIRTY-SECOND note gets one beat. For now, we will only be using the 4/4 time signature which means there are FOUR BEATS in a measure and each QUARTER NOTE will get one beat. Notice the numbers over the rhythm symbols in the chart below:

The following symbols are used in the notation of rhythmic ideas:

[names of notes]

The preceeding rhythms are examples of Duple Rhythms, they can all be evenly divided by two. Other rhythms such as triplets, quintuplets and septuplets cannot be evenly divided by two and are called compound rhythms. Compound rhythms will be discussed at a later time.

How to use this chart

Looking at example #1, you see the symbol for Whole Notes. A whole note is played by striking the playing surface on beat, or count 1, then waiting by counting 2 3 4, evenly, and then striking the playing surface again on 1.

Ex. #1 count out loud as you play [Whole notes]

Whole notes can be divided many different ways. The first way is to divide it in half. Example #2 shows the counting for Half Notes. There are two half notes in one whole note. The first half note is struck on count 1 and the second is struck on count 3, remember to keep your counting or subdividing even.

Ex. #2 only play on beat 1 and beat 3 [halfnotes]

Each half note is divided into two Quarter Notes. Quarter notes get one beat each so you will strike the playing surface on beats 1 2 3 4, keeping an even distance between each note.

Ex. #3 play all four beats [quarter notes] There are two quarter notes in each half note, or four quarter notes in one whole note.

So far we have been dividing whole beats, when you divide the quarter note into two equal parts you will have two eighth notes. An eighth note is only half a beat long, so the counting will be a little different. To count eighth notes add the syllable "an", written as a plus sign, to the main beats.

Ex. #4 Count evenly, 1 an 2 an 3 an 4 an [Eighth notes] There are two eighth notes in a quarter note, four eighth notes in a half note, and eight eighth notes in a whole note. When the eighth note is divided we get two sixteenth notes. Again the counting will be a little different. Add the syllables "e", "a" to subdivide four sixteenth notes per quarter note beat.

Ex. #5 Count evenly, 1 e + a 2 e + a 3 e + a 4 e + a , remember to keep an even distance between notes. [Sixteenth notes] There are two sixteenth notes in one eighth note, four sixteenth notes in one quarter note, eight sixteenth notes in one half note, and sixteen sixteenth notes in one whole note. Understanding and memorizing the preceeding examples is very important if you are to be successful in accurately writing out your rhythmic ideas.

**Adrums Menu**
Welcome Page	Send mail to adrums@aol.com	Closed For Repairs
Lesson 1 Part 1 - The Ready Position	Lesson 1 Part 2 - The Free Rebound Stroke	Lesson1 Part 3 - What's a Metronome?
Lesson 2 Part 1 - Notating Rhythm	Lesson 2 Part 2 - Realizing Rhythmic Ideas	Lesson 2 Part 3 - Tuning The Drumset
Lesson 3 Part 1 - More Rhythmic Ideas	Lesson 3 Part 2 - Rock Beats	Lesson 3 Part 3 - Motown Beats
Lesson 4 Part 1 - Fills	Lesson 4 Part 2 - Repeat Signs	Lesson 4 Part 3 - Beats & Fills
Lesson 5 Part 1 - Jazz Ride Pattern #1-8	Lesson 5 Part 2 - Jazz Ride Pattern #9-16	Lesson 5 Part 3 - Adding The Left Hand

Last Update 1/23/00
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