Rhythm Notation

This lesson is part of the Fundamentals of Sound & Music module.

Objectives

• Students will be able to play a short notated rhythm.
• Students will be familiar with rhythmic symbols including: note shapes, rests, dots, ties.
• Students will be proficient with basic rhythmic notation values (including explore to British equivalents).
• Students will be familiar with tuplets.

Resources

Readings

• T. Rush. "Rhythmic Notation." (Music Theory for Musicians and Normal People).
• "Rhythms in Notation." (Music Crash Courses).
• R. Hutchinson. "Durational Symbols." (Music Theory for the 21st Century Classroom).
• R. Hutchinson. "Dots and Ties." (Music Theory for the 21st Century Classroom).
• R. Hutchinson. "Tuplets." (Music Theory for the 21st Century Classroom).

• MusicTheory.Net lessons on note durations, rest durations, and dots & ties.
• Contains British terms: Teoria.net lessons on note values, dotted notes/ties, rests, notes shorter than a beat, eights and sixteenths and rests, triplets

Class Activities

• Discussion of the symbology of rhythm in staff notation (including a short history)
• Construction and performance of written rhythms
• Rhythmic transcription of short excerpts of music from different genres and time periods
• Beaming and substitution exercises
• Rhythmic cell game where students repeat, imitation, embellish given rhythmic cells.

Assignments

• Matching recorded examples to written rhythms
• Short rhythmic transcription
• Duration/rest substitution exercises

Drills:

• Teoria.com: Rhythmic Reading Drill
• G. Biringer. "Pitch and Rhythmic Notation." (Worksheets for Music Theory Fundamentals).