Hello, and welcome back. I'm Joseph Hoffman.
Today we're going to be talking about rhythm and beat
and we're also going to be dictating our first rhythm.
So what is beat in music?
Well you've probably felt your heart beat many times before.
It's easy to feel especially when you've been running fast.
It might be beating fast.
[Heartbeat]
Well, did you know that your heart is always beating even when you're asleep?
When you are asleep, it might be beating more slowly like this.
[Heartbeat]
Well in music, there is always a beat too.
And it can be going fast sometimes and slow sometimes but it's always there.
Now let's try clapping a beat together, and I'll do some rhythms.
[Clapping]
So what we're clapping is the beat.
And you'll notice that it's steady.
It's a consistent steady speed.
Now, while we keep clapping, with my lips I'm going to speak some rhythms
[Speaking rhythms]
Good. Did you notice that our hands were clapping a steady beat
while my lips did some slow and some fast patterns.
Keep clapping with me.
Let's listen again to some rhythms.
[Speaking rhythms]
So remember, the beat is always steady, but the rhythms
can have some fast, or some slow patterns happening at the same time.
Now let's see if you can feel the beat to some piano songs that I play.
This first song is by Rachmaninoff. It's one of my favorites.
And it has kind of a medium fast beat like this.
[Clapping]
So I'd like you to clap while I play. See if you can feel the beat inside the music.
[Playing piano]
Good, could you feel that nice steady marching beat?
Great.
Now let's try another one.
This time, let's do a slower beat.
And in music, the different speeds of the beat
those are called tempi, or the tempo of a song.
So this time we're going to do a slower tempo.
This is a beautiful song by Bach.
Keep clapping the beat while I play.
[Playing piano]
Alright now it's time to try dictating our first rhythm.
Dictating means you're going to take what you can hear and write it down.
So we're going to write down the rhythm or dictate
the rhythm of "Hot Cross Buns".
Let's come on over and get started.
Okay here I have a heartbeat mat and these heart shapes
are showing you each beat in the song that we're going to dictate, "Hot Cross Buns".
So first, let's try singing "Hot Cross Buns" and touch each beat with me as we sing.
Ready go.
Hot Cross Buns. Hot Cross Buns.
One a penny, two a penny,
Hot Cross Buns.
What did you notice as we did that together?
Did you notice that the beats were always moving from left to right
and then when we finish one row, we go down to the next row and start over again
until we've made it through all the rows.
Did you also notice that there were some beats that
didn't have a sound or a word in them?
Let's see if we can find where those beats were again.
I'll sing the first line of "Hot Cross Buns" again,
and see if you can find where there is a beat with no sound in it.
Hot Cross Buns.
Which beat didn't have a sound in it?
If you're pointing right here, you are correct.
In music, when there is no sound in a beat, we call that a quarter rest
and it looks like this.
A quarter rest kind of looks like a zigzag with a hook on the bottom.
When you see one of these in music, it means don't play or sing in that beat.
There will be silence.
So I'm going to put this quarter rest right here.
Now, what did you hear in these three beats?
Let's listen one more time.
Hot Cross Buns.
There was one word, or one sound in every beat.
This is a picture of what we draw when there is a beat with one sound in it.
It has a black note head at the bottom, and a stem
and it's called a quarter note.
A quarter note makes a steady sound like this:
TA TA TA TA.
When you see one of these, it means to make one sound that lasts for one beat.
Each one of these beats had a quarter note in it,
so I'll place them here.
Like this.
So if we were to speak this song in rhythm language or in rhythm words
it would sound like this:
TA TA TA rest.
I whisper the word "rest" when we see a quarter rest.
Now, what happens in this row?
We already had Hot Cross Buns rest.
Hot Cross Buns rest.
What rhythm should I draw in this row?
If you said the same thing, you are correct.
We need three quarter notes
and one quarter rest.
Now we're ready for this next row.
In this row we have: One a penny, two a penny.
This time instead of words, I'm going to just sing it with a syllable.
[Singing]
What did you notice about those beats?
Did you notice that the notes were going faster?
That's right, those notes were going faster.
Because they were going faster, we were able to fit two sounds in each beat.
Listen one more time.
[Singing]
When you have two faster sounds inside one beat, we draw it like this.
You'll notice this time there are two note heads
and each one of these note heads makes a sound.
They each have their own stem and are connected with a beam.
So this makes a sound like this: TI TI TI TI TI TI
And we call them eighth notes.
So this is a picture of two eighth notes.
Now on this row, every single beat had a pair of two eighth notes
so I'm going to draw them like this.
Good now let's try to say the rhythm of this row.
Every pair of eighth notes we'll say TI TI.
Ready go.
TI TI TI TI TI TI TI TI.
Great now there's just one row left.
What do you think we should draw down here in this row?
Hot Cross Buns.
Yeah it's the rhythm we've already drawn once before.
Actually twice before.
It will look like this.
Now we've dictated the whole rhythm of "Hot Cross Buns".
Let's try to sing the whole song now using rhythm words.
We'll say TA whenever you see a quarter note.
We'll whisper rest whenever you see a quarter rest
and we'll say TI TI whenever you see two eighth notes.
Here we go, let's do the whole thing together.
Ready singing in rhythm words and point to each beat on your screen.
Ready go.
TA TA TA rest.
TI TI TI TI TI TI TI TI
TA TA TA rest.
Good job. Now let's play a game.
I'm going to make some of the notes on the heartbeat mat disappear.
Uh oh some of the rhythms are missing now.
Can you help me put them back where they belong?
Let's fill in the missing rhythms.
I'll sing a row, and you tell me what to put in the empty heartbeat.
[Singing]
What belongs right here?
If you said a quarter note, or a TA, you are correct.
Okay let's go to the next row.
[Singing]
What goes in this missing beat?
If you said a quarter rest, you are correct.
I filled in a quarter rest there.
Let's go to this next row.
[Singing]
What goes in this missing beat?
If you said two eighth notes, or TI TI, you are correct.
In this last row there are two missing beats to help me with.
[Singing]
What goes right here?
If you said a quarter note, you are correct.
What about here?
If you said a quarter rest, you are correct.
Great job dictating your first rhythm and learning about quarter notes,
eighth notes and quarter rests.
If you'd like to download those cutouts so you can do this activity yourself at home
along with heartbeat mats, you can download those from our website.
Now that you know how to speak "Hot Cross Buns" in rhythm words,
the next time you practice "Hot Cross Buns",
as you play try singing the rhythm words this time.
You'll say TA for the quarter notes and TI TI for the faster notes on one a penny.
Thanks for watching, and I'll see you next time.
What a lovely place for a rest.