Catch the rhythm
Music has a steady step. Listen, tap and build your own rhythm.
One set of controls for the whole page. Open console
Theory
Metronome
Choose tempo and meter in the Rhythm console. The pendulum moves evenly. A higher click marks the start of a bar.
Metronome stopped
Console tempo counts quarter notes per minute. The meter's lower number chooses the note value counted by the pendulum.
A rest takes time too
A half note lasts half as long as a whole note. Two quarters fill one half. A rest takes the same time, but stays silent.
Every note value has an equally long rest. Wait during a rest: its time stays in the bar. Listen to a quarter note, quarter rest and another quarter note.
Listen and follow: note, silence, note.
Slide a long pattern sideways. During playback the view follows the line.
This example keeps its pattern for the explanation. The console changes its tempo; meter and palette control the activities below.
A dot adds half
A dotted quarter lasts as long as a quarter plus an eighth. Two flags mean a sixteenth note: half as long as an eighth.
This example keeps its pattern for the explanation. The console changes its tempo; meter and palette control the activities below.
Time signature
The top number counts units in a bar; the bottom names their value. For example, 3/4 means three quarter notes in a bar.
Meter sets the bar length. Maximum bars controls games and the metronome. Tempo, note values and rests apply across the page.
Teaching example · 4/4
Where do the spaces come from?
A quarter, two eighths, a rest, a quarter. The eighths are closer together. Wait during the rest. The dot below a note marks when its sound starts.
This example keeps its pattern for the explanation. The console changes its tempo; meter and palette control the activities below.
Slide a long pattern sideways. During playback the view follows the line.
Time runs from left to right. A filled dot is a sound; an empty dot is a rest. Each band shows its duration.
Teaching example: divide a whole
Tap a long card to divide it into two equal parts. Sixteenths are the smallest here.
This example keeps its pattern for the explanation. The console changes its tempo; meter and palette control the activities below.
Practice
A bar: fill it exactly
Choose meter, note values and rests in the console. Fill one bar, or listen to a fresh example and change it.
Available from console
Slide a long pattern sideways. During playback the view follows the line.
Games
Echo the rhythm
Start with steady taps, then rests and shorter notes. Listen, press Answer and repeat with the large pad.
Steady taps
Slide a long pattern sideways. During playback the view follows the line.
Listen to the pattern first.
Repeat the spacing between taps. Start when you are ready.
What is missing?
A different position disappears in each fresh pattern. Choose the value that fills it. Notes and rests come from the console.
Which pattern did you hear?
Listen to the mystery and choose its pattern. Notes sound; rests stay silent.
Listen to the mystery first.