Rhythm

All music has a regular beat which can be played at any speed.

Different types of notes last for different numbers of beats.

A quarter-note' or 'crotchet' lasts for 1 beat and looks like this:

so five quarter-notes in a row will look like this :

A 'half-note' or 'minim' lasts for 2 beats and looks like this:

so four half-notes will look like this :

Click on the play button to hear the half-notes played on the saxophone, together with a background tick for the beats (there are 4 beats introduction before the saxophone starts).

Finally, a whole-note, or semibreve lasts for 4 beats and looks like this:

so four whole-notes in a row will look like this :

Click on the play button to hear the 4 whole-notes played once again on the saxophone, together with a background tick for the beats (again, there are 4 beats introduction before the saxophone starts).

Bars

Bars lines divide the music into groups of equal beats. The music written between one bar-line and the next is known as a bar of music.

The first type of bar we will see is 4/4, written :

which means there are 4 quarter-note beats in each bar. Below is an example of two bars written in 4/4 time. The first bar contains 4 quarter-notes, each lasting for one beat. The second bar contains a whole-notes which lasts for 4 beats, and so, occupies the entire bar.

A double bar-line signifies the end of a piece.