The_Complete_Idiot%27s_Guide_To_Music_Theory

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Part 2: Rhythms
Taking the Measure of Things
Rhythm is about counting. Listen to your favorite pop song, and feel the beat.
(Go ahead, tap your foot—it’s okay!) You’ll likely feel the beats fall into groups
of four—one, two, three, four; one, two, three, four …. It’s easy to hear because
it’s very natural.
Let’s use a specific example—“Mary Had a Little Lamb.” The notes of the
song fall into groups of four; just replace the words “Ma-ry had a” with “one
two three four” and you see how it works.
In this song, and other songs based around groups of four, each group of four
beats is called a measure, a container that holds a specific number of beats. In
standard 4/4 time, a measure holds the equivalent of four quarter notes. The
beginning and end of a measure are signified by bar lines, like this:
A group of measures on a staff; each measure is separated by left and right bar lines.
The first beat in a measure is counted as one. The second beat is counted as
two. The third beat is counted as three, and the last beat is counted as four.
There is no five; if you count out five you’ve counted too far! Whenever you hit
four, the next beat is always one.
Every time four beats go by—one, two, three, four—another measure is completed.
If you put enough measures together—one, two, three, four; one, two,
three, four—you have a song.
Taking Note—of Notes
Every time you sing or play a tone, you’re also singing or playing a note value.
There are different types of note values, with each note value signifying a specific
length of time—as measured by parts of a measure.
To better explain, we have to get into a little math. (Don’t worry—there won’t
be any story problems!) You see, each note value lasts a specific duration, and
each duration reflects a ratio to duration. As you can see from the following figure,
each shorter note is precisely half the duration of the previous note. So if
you can divide and multiply by two, this should be fairly easy for you.