How to count beats and hold a note for two on the piano

Up to now every note you have played has lasted exactly one beat. Real tunes are not like that. Some notes are short and some are long, and the mix of the two is what makes a melody recognisable. This lesson adds the first long note, one that lasts two beats, and shows you how counting keeps it the right length. You will also start passing a tune from one hand to the other.

Counting the beat

Music usually groups beats into fours. Instead of counting "1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8…" forever, you count 1 2 3 4, 1 2 3 4, starting again at 1 each time. The 1 often feels a little stronger, like the first step of a march.

Count aloud at a calm speed, about one number per second. Keep the numbers evenly spaced, as if each one were a tick of a clock. This counting voice is your timekeeper: when it is steady, your playing will be steady too.

Short notes and long notes

A short note here lasts one count. You press the key as you say the number and let it go just before the next number.

A long note lasts two counts. You press the key on one number, keep it held down while you say the next number, and let go when the number after that arrives. For example, if a long note starts on 3, you press on 3, keep holding through 4, and release as you reach the next 1.

The key point is that you never stop counting. Your mouth keeps saying the numbers while your finger stays still on the key.

Short, short, long

Here is a pattern with three notes: E, D, then C held for two counts. Counted out, it goes:

• E on 1
• D on 2
• C on 3, held through 4

Play it twice in a row with your right hand (fingers 3, 2, 1) and you have the opening of Hot Cross Buns, a traditional English tune that many people learn as their first piece. The whole melody goes like this, with the long notes in capitals:

• E D C
• E D C
• C C D D
• E D C

The third line has four short notes, one on each count, and it hurries along compared with the others. That contrast is part of what makes the tune fun. You can hear the full version on the Hot Cross Buns song page.

Taking turns between the hands

Both hands can share a tune. One hand plays a phrase, then rests while the other hand answers. To do this, set up both hands at once:

• The right hand sits on middle C, D and E with fingers 1, 2, 3.
• The left hand sits on the C, D and E an octave lower with fingers 3, 2, 1.

Now try this, holding every note for two counts:

1. Right hand: C D E D, each note held for two counts (eight counts in all).
2. Left hand straight away, without a gap: E D C C, each held for two counts.

The tricky moment is the handover. The left hand must be ready before the right hand finishes, so the beat carries on without a pause. Look at the left hand while the right hand plays its last note, so your eyes arrive first.

How to practise

1. Count "1 2 3 4" aloud for a minute without playing. Clap on each number.
2. Clap "short, short, long": clap on 1, clap on 2, clap on 3 and then hold your hands together through 4. Repeat several times.
3. Play the same rhythm on middle C alone: C on 1, C on 2, C on 3 held through 4. Say the numbers as you play.
4. Play E D C with the right hand, holding the C. Then play it twice in a row.
5. Learn Hot Cross Buns one line at a time, then join the lines. Keep counting through the long notes.
6. Try the hand-to-hand exercise slowly. If the handover leaves a gap, slow the count down until it doesn't.

Common mistakes

• Stopping the count during a long note. If your voice stops, your sense of time stops too. Keep saying "3, 4" while you hold.
• Holding too long. The opposite problem: the C drags into the next bar and everything after it is late.
• Rushing the short notes. In C C D D, beginners often speed up. Every count is the same length, whether a note is long or short.
• Pausing at the handover. Prepare the other hand early so the beat never stops.

Listen for the beat

A good way to feel a steady four is to listen to a march. Schumann's Soldiers' March, from his Album for the Young, has a beat that never wavers. Tap your foot and count 1 2 3 4 along with it. You will notice that some of its notes are short and some are longer, but the beat underneath keeps going.

Try it in Pianuvo

This is the third lesson in Unit 0: First week at the piano. You tap "short, short, long" on middle C with a click, play E D C with a held C, pass a phrase between the hands and then play the whole of Hot Cross Buns. Each exercise listens as you play on the screen, on a MIDI keyboard or on a real piano with the microphone, and shows you whether your long notes lasted the full two beats.