Written Piano Music and Rhythm Part 1
Rhythm is something that can be improvised or changed easily
if you know the piano
well. Think about singing: You can sing by holding some notes
longer and cutting
other notes shorter. You do not need to be told how to do
it.
If you want to learn a song that you do not know, written
music can be used to help you
understand the rhythm. Also, if you want to play in an ensemble
that is playing from
sheet music, you will stay in time with them better if you play
from written music as well.
The first thing you need to learn about rhythm is the time
signatures. The time
signature is written to the right of the treble and bass clefs
on the first line of a piece of
music. If the time signature changes within the piece, a
different set of numbers is
written at the point where the change is about to take
place.
A time signature is two numbers, one over the other. The top
number tells you how
many beats there are to a measure. A measure is a unit of the
musical piece that is
marked off by a vertical line through the staff. There should
be identical vertical lines
through the treble and bass staffs at various points. Try to
find them on your music.
The bottom number tells you what kind of note makes one beat.
Therefore, a 3/4 time
signature would mean that there are three notes to a measure
and these notes are
quarter notes. As you become more familiar with piano rhythms,
you will see that the
time signatures are more of a suggestion than an order to stamp
your foot and play a
quarter note with each beat. However, to begin it is easiest if
you do if you tap your foot
and play one beat per every note of the type listed in the
bottom of the time signature.
Notes have different values based upon how they are written. A
whole note is the basis
of the rhythm. A measure can consist of a whole note and
nothing more. In 4/4 time, a
whole note is worth 4 beats. This makes sense when you consider
that a quarter note
is worth 1 beat. 4 quarter notes would make one measure. Four
fourths equals a
whole.
Music rhythm is very similar to math. In fact, it has been
shown in studies that babies
who are exposed to hearing music with complex rhythms are
better at complex math
later in life. To begin, though, you only need to know a few
simple equations.
If a whole note is worth 4 quarter notes, it can be worth two
half notes as well. A
measure can also be divided up into eighth notes. A whole note,
two half notes, or four
quarter notes are worth eight eighth notes. When you add a dot
to a note, it adds half
again to that note. So, a dotted half note would be worth three
beats, or the duration of
three quarter notes.
The whole note is a simple circle with an open center. The
half note is the same, but it
has a line coming up from the side of it, making it look
different. The quarter note is like
the half note, except that the center of the circle is filled
in. An eighth note has a small
flag on the line coming up from the note. It can look like this
if it is alone: ♪. Or it can
look like this if it is with another eighth note: ♫.

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