Transcript LESSON 2 - Tempo & Rhythms

Basically, Music
(a class on music basics)
Class 2: Tempo & Rhythms
To understand rhythms you must fist learn the different notes and their association with
each other.
whole note/rest = 2 half
half note/rest = 2 quarter
quarter note/rest = 2 eighth
eighth note/rest = 2 sixteenth
Adding a dot to a note increases the note value by ½.
half note/rest = 3 quarter
quarter note/rest = 3 eighth
eighth note/rest = 3 sixteenth
When three notes are tied together with a ‘3’ are called a triplet:
half triplets - sung in the period of a whole note
quarter triplets – sung in the period of a half note
eighth triplets – sung in the period of a quarter note
sixteenth triplet – sung in the period of a eighth note
Time signatures are used to determine how many beats are placed in a measure and
which note gets 1 beat.
The top number of the key signature indicates the number of beats per measure, the
bottom number indicates which note gets 1 beat.
Sometimes a song cannot be lead beating out every beat in the measure such as in 6/8
time in which its sometimes easier to beat the song out in 2 instead of 6, in ¾ time
beating just 1, and in 4/4 time beating in 2. Examples are in 6/8 time: We Praise Thee,
O God (2), in ¾ time: To God be the Glory (4), 4/4 time: Step By Step (15). This is what
is called the feel of a song and can greatly change the way a song is sung.
Another part of the time of a music involves rhythm or the syncopations of a song.
This is mostly found in the contemporary songs more than the standard hymns in
which we change notes off of the beat. An example of singing on the beat is Come,
Thou Almighty King (19) – look at this song and see how the words or syllables are
mostly sung on the beat. Now look at Be Exalted, O God (89) and see how the some
of the words or syllables are sung on the up-beat. There are even song that we sing as
a different rhythm that what is written on the page. Example: Nothing But The Blood
(902), this is how it is written:
This is how we sing it:
Phrasing is done by the punctuation used in the words of a song, this sets up places that
we typically breath at. In chorus music singers take breaths at different intervals as to
not disrupt or make the song sound “choppy”. This is typically not done in church
singing where breaths are typically taken after a . , ! ? , etc. or it may be dependent upon
the meter of a song. The meter of a song is just like the meter of a poem such as
Mary had a little lamb. (6 syllables)
Who’s fleece was white as snow. (6 syllables)
Everywhere that Mary went, (5 syllables)
The lamb was sure to go. (5 syllables)
The meter for the poem is 6.6.5.5, the songs we sing are not any different, such as For
the Beauty of the Earth (67) is metered in 7.7.7.7.7.7:
For the beau-ty of the earth, (7)
For the beau-ty of the skies, (7)
For the love which from our birth, (7)
O-ver and a-round us lies. (7)
Lord of all, to Thee we raise, (7)
This our sac-ri-fice of praise. (7)