Speed of Playing- Tempo

At this point we need to introduce how fast we clap these rhythms, our tempo. Do it slow at a speed you can control. Speed will be added and developed as you learn the rhythm.

Speed can be stated in terms of beats per minute. For our example
say quarter note = 60 means to play a quarter note with 60 beats per minute. Or play one quarter note per second. This is the baroque speed and is a great speed to learn simple rhythms.

If we used eighth note = 60 we would play an eight note every second. Which is twice as slow as a quarter note.

Wow, that’s a lot of fours in the previous pattern, let’s try another one, how about the waltz rhythm. We all dance to this one.  It is counted:  ONE, two, three.  ONE, two, three.Accent on the one.

 Time Signature - Three Quarter Time: 

Only 3 quarter notes in a measure
This time we are working with "three-four" time.  How do we count it?  Work it from the top numeral this time.

"3" represents number of beats per measure, count and clap 1 - 2 - 3.

"4" represents the time value of the beat – a quarter note.

The counting will be done with quarter notes and there will be three counts per measure.

Next up let’s count on an eighth note.
 
 Time Signature: (Six Eight Time)
What happens if we decide to use eight notes as our counting beat? Well, we can now make the bottom number an 8; so that every eighth note gets a count of 1.

 
This time we are working with "six-eight" time.  How do we count it? 

The bottom number: "8" represents the time value of the beat – an eighth note.
 
The top number "6" represents number of beats per measure,

count and clap 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6.

The beat will be an eighth note and there will be 6 counts per measure.

Next we will apply the time value to more than one measure and with different note durations and values to count with in the music time. 


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