The course › Unit 6: Rhythm in detail
Lesson 36 of 72 · Four notes in one beat: ti-ri-ti-ri
Split the eighth note in two again and you get the sixteenth note, which lasts a quarter of a beat. Four sixteenth notes fit in one quarter note. They have two flags, or two beams when they’re grouped.
Say them “ti-ri-ti-ri”, nice and even.
Ta, ti-ri-ti-ri, ta, ti-ri-ti-ri.
Each measure lasts 4 beats: 1 whole note = 2 half notes = 4 quarter notes = 8 eighth notes = 16 sixteenth notes.
Why this way: Read sixteenth notes in groups of four, like a single four-syllable word, rather than note by note. Grouping like this (psychologists call it chunking) lets you read and play much faster.
Slowly! Four even taps in one beat: say “ti-ri-ti-ri” as you tap, as written under the notes.
An eighth note and two sixteenth notes can share one beat. Two patterns show up everywhere:
Did you know?: Repeated over and over, the “ti-ri ti” rhythm sounds like a galloping horse. You can hear it in the famous finale of Rossini’s William Tell Overture (1829).
The two patterns, then a mix. The sixteenth notes are tight together, the eighth note a little longer.
A review of the whole unit: rests, eighth notes, dotted notes, sixteenth notes. Read each rhythm all the way through before you tap.
To finish the unit: a little study that gets your fingers running, in sixteenth notes. Right hand in C position. Start slowly (lower the speed if you need to): the sixteenth notes must stay even, in groups of four.
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