Until now you have learned tunes by ear and by letter names, counting the beats aloud. Written music lets you see those beats instead. This lesson introduces the simplest written note, the quarter note, and the signs that organise beats into bars. To keep things clear, the music here is written on a single line called a rhythm line, which shows only how long each note lasts, not which key to play. Pitch on the staff comes in a later unit.
The rhythm line
A rhythm line is one horizontal line with notes sitting on it. Every note is on the same line, so you cannot tell from it whether to play C or G. That is deliberate. It lets you focus completely on timing: when each note starts and how long it lasts. Drummers read something very similar.
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The quarter note
A quarter note has a solid, filled-in oval head and a straight stem, a thin vertical line attached to the side of the head. It lasts one beat. When you see a row of quarter notes, you play one note on every count, evenly, like footsteps when you walk.
The name "quarter note" comes from the fact that four of them fill one whole bar in 4/4 time. You will meet the longer notes they are a quarter of in the next two lessons.
Bars and bar lines
Long stretches of beats are hard to follow, so written music chops them into small, equal boxes called bars. The vertical lines that divide them are bar lines. A double bar line, one thin line and one thick, marks the very end of a piece.
Bars do two useful jobs. They tell you where count 1 falls, because every bar starts again at 1. And they give you an easy way to find your place: "start from bar 3" is much clearer than "start from the eleventh note".
The time signature: 4/4
At the start of the music you will see two numbers stacked on top of each other. This is the time signature. In 4/4, the top number says there are four beats in every bar. The bottom 4 tells you that each beat is a quarter note. For now, the top number is the one to watch.
In 4/4 you count 1 2 3 4, then start again at 1 for the next bar. Beat 1 is the strongest, the one you might stamp your foot on; beat 3 is a little strong too, while 2 and 4 are lighter. You don't need to play them differently yet, but you may notice the music naturally leans on the 1.
Putting notes to the rhythm
With your right hand in C position (thumb on middle C, little finger on G), you can play a rhythm line on any keys. Here is a four-bar exercise where every note is a quarter note:
- Bar 1: C D E F
- Bar 2: G F E D
- Bar 3: C E G E
- Bar 4: C C C C
Every note gets exactly one count. Notice that bar 3 skips over some keys (C to E to G), so your hand must stay in position while fingers 1, 3 and 5 do the work. Bar 4 repeats the same key four times; let the key rise between each one.
How to practise
- Set a metronome to 72, or simply count at a comfortable walking speed.
- Clap the four bars of quarter notes while counting "1 2 3 4" aloud. One clap per number.
- Play the same rhythm on middle C only, still counting aloud. Keep each note the same length.
- Now play the four-bar exercise above, one note per count. Don't stop at the bar lines: the count goes straight from 4 back to 1.
- Ask someone to clap two bars of quarter notes, or clap them yourself, and then play them back on middle C. This checks that you can hear a steady beat as well as feel it.
- Finally, play "E F G F, E D C D", two bars of quarter notes, and listen for evenness.
Common mistakes
- Speeding up. Easy notes often get faster. The fourth bar should be exactly as slow as the first.
- Losing count on repeated notes. In "C C C C" it is easy to play three or five by mistake. Say the numbers.
- Reading ahead with your fingers. Your eyes should look ahead, but your fingers should wait for the beat.
- Holding notes too short or too long. A quarter note fills its whole beat; let go just before the next note, not halfway through.
The note lengths and rhythm guide has a longer look at counting if you would like more practice ideas.
Try it in Pianuvo
This is the first lesson of Unit 1: Pulse and rhythm through playing. A playhead moves along the rhythm line while you play quarter notes with a click, copy rhythms you hear, and then play a short piece called Walking in C. The Academy listens as you play, through the on-screen keyboard, a MIDI keyboard or your own piano and a microphone, and scores how close each note was to the beat.