Hello and welcome back. I'm Joseph
Hoffman. Today we're going to be taking a
closer look at the rhythm of "Listen for
Bells" from way back in unit one, but
trust me, there's a good reason we're
going back to "Listen for Bells" because
it will help us uncover the secrets of a
new rhythm term called time signature, so
let's come to the heartbeat mat to get
started. Here I have noted the rhythm of
"Listen for Bells" which we figured out in
a previous lesson, but let's refresh your
memory by singing through it once.
Can you point to each beat with me and
let's sing the words. Listen for bells
in the steeple to ring. Then we do it again,
ding-ding-ding-ding-ding
ding-ding-ding-ding-ding.
Good, now remember we've got our dotted
half note here which last for all three
of these beats. Ding. The rest of the notes
we have all quarter notes. Now today
we're going to figure out something
about how beats work in music. There are
patterns of strong beats and weaker
beats. Listen to these first three beats
and tell me if you can tell which of
these first three is the strongest beat.
Listen for. Could you point to the beat
you think is the strongest sound. Listen
for. If you pointed to the first beat you're correct, and
words kind of have a natural strength, if
you say the word "listen" there's a
natural strength on that first syllable.
You wouldn't say li-STEN or listen FOR,
it sounds most natural to go, listen for,
with a strong beat right here. Now let's
look at the next three beats. Tell me if
you can tell where the strong beat is in
this group. Bells in the. Listen again.
Bells in the. Where's the strong beat?
Once again it was the first beat of the
group of three.
Now let's keep on going. Steeple to.
Where did you hear the strong beat? Once
again it was the first of this group of
three. How about ring? This was kind of
obvious. This first beat has the most
strength because that's where the note
occurs, and then these next two beats
it's just sustaining. So you're probably
noticing a pattern. The beats are
actually arranged in groups of three in
this song. Every three beats there's a
strong beat. Listen for bells in the
steeple to ring. The way we show groups of strong and
weak beats is by using what's called bar
lines. Bar lines are little vertical
lines that will be placed in the music
in between a recurring number of beats. In this song it's every three beats
there's a bar line, and almost all music
is arranged this way in groups, recurring
groups of strong and weak beats, and the
first beat is always the strongest, so
this bar line is kind of a signal to you
that that next beats going to be strong.
Now let's this time instead of singing
the words to "Listen for bells" can you
count one, two, three with me, actually sing it to
the tune of "Listen for bells" but let's
point and every time we say a beat one
we'll sing it a little extra strong. Ready,
try it with me counting, 123 123 123 123
123
Very good, so one new term we have so far
today is bar line. Every one of these
vertical lines is a bar line. Bar lines
separate beats into what are called
measures. One measure is a group of beats
in between two bar lines, so here's one
measure, here's another measure, here's
the third measure, and here's a fourth
measure. So right now we're looking at
four measures worth of beats, and
actually there usually isn't a bar line
at the start of a piece. We'd usually
place here a time signature. A time
signature always consists of two
fancy-looking numbers stacked right over
each other, and the signature is always
placed at the beginning of the score,
right after the clef. The top number
tells you how many beats per measure, so
once again for "Listen for bells" that's
why this top number is 3, because we have
three beats in every measure. Now I've
changed out my time signature for a 2/4
time signature. This top number two now
tells us that there will be two
beats in every measure with the bar
lines separating it out. This rhythm
happens to be The Wild Horses" and you'll
hear the strong beat at the start of
every measure. Listen. This is the dance
of the wild and running horses. You feel
how that first beat is the strong one? It
wouldn't sound good to go, this is the
dance of the, sounds kind of awkward. It's
this is the dance of the wild and
running horses. This time the strong and weak
beats are in groups of two.
Here's another song you know, and this time
what's our time signature? It's 4/4. This
top number four is telling us what? It
has four beats in every measure. 1 2 3 4
beats and then a bar line. And what about
this measure? Is this a full measure? No, it's
only two beats, which means our measure
isn't done, which is why there's no bar
line here. Measures can actually go off
one line and continue on to this line. We
have beats one, two, three, four, bar line,
then four more beats, one, two, three, four,
bar line. Let's see if you can guess what
song this is. bah-bah-bah-bah
bah-bah-bah-bah bah-bah-bah-bah
bah-bah-bah-bah.
That's right, it's five woodpeckers. It's
also possible to have lots of other time
signatures. There's 5/4, you can
even have 10/4, or 19/4. Excuse me, Mr. Hoffman?
Yes, Princess? Well, you explain the top
number of time signature very nicely...
Yeah, the top number tells you, what was it?
How many beats...
Oh, right how many beats,
in every measure. Right, but Scuba and I
were wondering what the bottom number means.
Yeah. Well, I don't really want you to
worry about the bottom number because
for your first year or two of piano
lessons
it's always going to be the number four.
So for now,
let's just focus on the top number.
But Mr. Hoffman, why is it always a four?
What does that even mean? I have a curious mind.
Yeah, we really want to know.
It's kind of complicated and advanced I really
think it's going to be confusing.
Tell us what it means, please? Okay guys.
I'll gladly explain since you asked.
Yay! Well, the bottom number signifies
what kind of note equals one beat.
Ah. Let me explain a little better.
We've been saying all along that a
quarter note equals one beat and a half
note equals two beats, but this is really
only true when there's a four on the
bottom. It's that number on the bottom
tells you what kind of note equals a
beat, and when there's a four on the
bottom that means a quarter note equals
one beat. So 4/4 written another way you
could just say it's four quarter note
beats per measure. When you have 3/4 in
your time signature that's saying
there's going to be three quarter note
beats per measure, but when you change
the bottom number to something else, for
example let's say 3/8, that's telling you
that it's going to be three eighth note beats per
measure, and all of these values now
double. A quarter note is now equal to
two beats, a half note is going to be equal
to four beats. You can even have a two on
the bottom, like let's take 4/2 time, so
now it's four half note beats per measure,
or you can have a 16 on the bottom. You
can have 11/16 which means there's going
to be eleven sixteenth notes per measure. The
bottom number tells you what kind of
note gets one beat there are you
satisfied guys? Made perfect sense to me!
Really?
Well, I think we're ready to move
on, Mr. Hoffman.
Ok, so like I said for now please just
assume the bottom number is going to be
four, and just worry about that top
number, which tells you what? The top
number tells you the number of beats in
every measure. That's right, the number of
beats in every measure. Here's the rhythm
of another song you know. I left off the
time signature, but I did put in the bar
lines so you can see how big the measures
are. Looking at this
can you guess, or figure out I should say,
the time signature? Try to tell me the
time signature for this song. Since you can
see there are two beats in every measure
our time signature would be 2/4.
Remember the top number will tell us the
beats, bottom number for now is always
going to be 4. By the way this is a song
you know. It's "Love Somebody." buh-bup-bup-bup
bup-bup-buh, buh-bup-bup-bup-bup-bup-buh. Let's try
another one.
Here's another rhythm with barlines. Can
you figure out the time signature for
this example? If you count the beats
you'll see we have one two three four
five beats, then a bar line, then another
one two three four five beats, then a bar
line, which would be a 5/4 time
signature. Five quarter note beats. Here's
another rhythm for you. Can you figure
out the time signature?
You can see we have four beats here, one two three four,
barline, one two three four, barline, one two three four, this time a
double bar line, which is traditional to
put at the end of a song to know when
you get to the very end. Four beats per
measure tells us we have a 4/4
time signature. All right, this time I've
given you the time signature, but I
haven't put in the bar lines. That's
going to be your job. Can you point to
where I should put in the first bar line?
Given that our time signature is 3/4.
If you're pointing here, you're correct.
Three beats, one two three, then a bar
line. Point to the next bar line. That's
right, it's here, and point to the next
bar line, it's going to be right here, and
our final bar line right here, and so I'll use a double bar line. Here's our
last one with a 4/4 time signature.
Can you point to where the first bar
line should go? If you're pointing right
here you're correct.
One two three four beats, then a bar line.
Where should the next bar line go? We
have one two three four more beats, then
a bar line, and where should the next bar
line go?
That's right, and it's our last one so
we'll use a double bar line to say we're
done. Great job learning about time
signature today. For even more practice
with rhythms and time signatures you can
download the complete materials for this
unit from our website. Thanks for
watching and see you next time.
Okay, I think I got it now. So you take
the top number divided by the square
root of the bottom number...
No, no, no, I know, you take the bottom number,
add a dotted sixteenth note, and then
multiply by the common denominator of
the integral of the top number...
No, no, you substitute and then carry the
one and you get a big wonderful scribbly
musical mess! It all makes sense now.
Thank you Mr. Hoffman! Thank you!