You Got Rhythm! The Complete Course On Rhythm

Here are all the note values, from longest to shortest. This is what they look like.

Here's some musical examples of songs that use 'diminution' - shorter and shorter note values.

I use plasticine and musical examples to demonstrate the concept of the shorter note values. Then download your Guide to Rhythm Note Values in the Resources section of this lesson.

Step-by-step explanation of all the rhythm note values, using the Guide to Rhythm Note Values.

Learn both the British and American names for note values so you can communicate rhythm verbally. Neither English system is perfect!

A beat in music is not always a quarter note.

We practise together the longer note values, from crotchets/quarter notes to breves/double-whole notes.

'Call and Response' is a teaching technique for rhythm where we can have a musical conversation.

Practice with me the smaller note values right down to 64th Notes/Hemidemisemiquavers using the Call and Response technique.

Creators need to get their ideas onto paper quickly while they're fresh in their mind. This as true for poets such as rappers, as it is for composers such as Beethoven. In this lesson, you'll learn the quick way to write down rhythm, which will nevertheless be just as legible as printed sheet music.

Back in school you probably had to endure dictation sessions where you had to write down the words and sentences the teacher spoke. Now learn the music version, aural dictation. If you are inspired by music you hear, you'll need to write it down so you don't forget it. Here's how.

In this music writing exercise, challenge yourself to write down as many musical notes as possible within 10 seconds. Track your progress using the Personal Achievement Diary, available in the Resources section of this lesson.

More aural dictation practice for you.

Introducing the teaching methods I'll use to teach you everything you need to know about time signatures. Go ahead and download your handy Guide to Commonly-used Time Signatures in the Resources section of this lesson.

In this lesson, you'll learn the concept and function of time signatures in written music and how they work.

Together we practise completing measures in various time signatures.

Conducting music is a useful communication tool which helps you feel the music. Conducting also expresses time signatures.

Conducting and feeling two beats per measure is probably the easiest place to start.

3/4 is a common time signature with three beats per bar. Learn how to conduct and feel the music.

The vast majority of popular music is in 4/4 time signature. Learn how to conduct and feel the music in 4/4.

Feeling one beat in a bar can be dictated either by the time signature or the speed of the music.

5/4 time signature can be felt in three ways:

1. five beats in a bar;

2. two beats in a bar (one longer beat followed by one shorter beat); or

3. two beats in a bar (one shorter beat followed by one longer beat).

What is the difference between 12/8 and 4/4 time signatures.

How to figure out what a time signature might be by listening and referring to your Guide to Time Signatures.

Like other languages, the language of music uses grammar to make it easier to read and understand. Learn to group notes using beams to make rhythm easier to read.

Because the Double-whole note or Breve is worth 8 quarter-note or crotchet counts, it is too long for most time signatures. In most commonly-used time signatures, eight counts in music is usually written by using ties. The only time signatures that can use breves are, for example, 4/2 which uses 4 half notes or minims in each measure.

Music manuscript paper contains several staves on the page. Several different versions are available to download and use if you wish.

Systems in sheet music are very common in piano music. In this lesson, we look at some extreme examples.

The tie in written music connects two notes of the same pitch. Tied notes add together the duration of each note.

Dotted notes add to the duration of the note by half it's value. Download your handy guide to dotted notes in the Resources section of this lesson.

Practice reading and clapping dotted and tied notes.

Get more practice reading and clapping rhythms that use dotted or tied notes.

You are invited to solve these tricky rhythm puzzles. The Challenge and solution is available for download in the Resources section of this lesson.

Solution to the first rhythm puzzle of the challenge.

Solution to the 2nd rhythm puzzle.

Solution to the final puzzle.

Learn about tempo, beats per minute (BPM) and metronome markings (mm).

To begin improving your sense of rhythm, learn to subdivide the beat into two equal parts. Learn how to internalize the beat.

Learn a technique professional musicians use to become virtuosos. I show you how to access and use a metronome to play rhythm faster and faster.

If you are interested in personal development, here is a musical challenge for you!

First we look at how slowing down is indicated in written music, using the Double-bass sheet music for Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture.

Then we look at how speeding up is done in music. I take you through the Tuba part of Hall of the Mountain King from the Peer Gynt Suite by Grieg.

An 'anacrusis' in music is also called a 'pick-up'. It's the music that comes before the first downbeat.

We look at the following music to see if they have an anacrusis or not:

1. Twinkle Twinke Little Star (trad. arr. Mozart)

2. Tricky (Run DMC)

3. Happy Birthday To You (Patty and Mildred J Hill)

4. Trumpet Concerto in E-flat: 3rd Movement (Haydn) performed by Wynton Marsalis

5. New York, New York (John Kander) performed by Frank Sinatra

6. Mannish Boy (Muddy Waters)

Knowing when not to play in music is as important as playing. In this lesson, we do a deep dive on how non-music is written down in standard musical notation. We also look at cues, which help you know when to start playing again.

In this activity, I'm asking you to count up how many bars' rest the two guitarists, Richard Kruspe and Paul Landers take during the Rammstein song 'Heirate Mich' ('Marry Me').

I talk you through the solution of the above activity

I'm being a little bit mean to my students here. I'm asking that you count 63 bars rest in Phil Collins' In the Air Tonight before coming in with that highly-syncopated drum riff. But you never know: maybe one day you'll be asked to sight-read on stage with a band this song, and you'll be ready!

You can now join the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra as their Principal Cymbal Player - no audition required! In this lesson, I show you how to count your bars rest, follow the conductor Gustavo Dudamel and play your part in Richard Strauss' Also Sprach Zarathustra. You might have to rehearse several times before moving onto the next lesson. I certainly had to do several 'takes' before almost getting it right!

Tune up those saucepan lids because it's time to perform 'Also Sprach Zarathustra' by Richard Strauss with one of the top orchestras and conductors in the World. Only the best for my students!