Welcome to LivingPianos.com, I’m Robert Estrin. The subject today is about how to figure out rhythms by counting. It’s essential to count rhythms so you know the timing of a piece of music. There’s a lot that we can talk about here. The number one fundamental is understanding time signatures. Time signatures tell you how to count a piece in the first place! What’s counting all about? Well, a carpenter has a tape measure right on their belt. They check their work constantly by measuring. The way we measure in music is by counting.
If you don’t count, you’re just guessing rhythms.
Maybe you have a good sense of rhythm. You can listen to recordings and get an idea of what the rhythm is like. But how do you know the recordings are even right? Suppose it’s a piece that has no recordings? At some point or another, you want to be able to figure out rhythms, and counting is the answer for that.
First, you look at the time signature. The time signature contains two numbers and is found at the beginning of every piece of music. The top number tells you how many beats are in each measure. The bottom number stands for the kind of note getting one beat. So if the bottom number is a four, that stands for the quarter note getting one beat. If the bottom number is a two, the half note gets one beat. If the bottom number is an eight, the eighth note gets one beat. If the bottom number is a one, the whole note gets one beat. So that’s what the bottom number tells you.
So if you have a piece of music in 4/4 time, you would count, one, two, three, four. If you have quarter notes in 4/4 time, there would be one note on each beat. If you have half notes, there will be notes on the first and third beats. But the counting never changes.
Never change the style of counting within a piece of music.
The counting must remain consistent! That’s how it measures accurately. Imagine if you had a tape measure that had inches marked in some places but in other places had multiples of six inches marked without the inches marked anymore. It would be very confusing! So, no matter what types of notes you have, the counting remains consistent. Once you embrace this fundamental concept, figuring out rhythms will become a breeze!
A simple tune like, Mary Had a Little Lamb is in 4/4 time and contains mostly quarter notes and half notes, as well as a whole note at the end. This is a very simple rhythm. But most rhythms are quite a bit more complex.
What do you do if you have eighth notes in 4/4 time or in 3/4 time for that matter?
There are two eighth notes in each quarter note and the quarter note gets one beat. So an eighth note gets half a beat. You count half beats by saying and between the numbers. So for a piece in 3/4 time you would count, one and two and three and one and two and three and, et cetera. So you know exactly where all the notes come in.
What if you have 16th notes in 2/4 time? There are four 16th notes to each beat, so you must divide the beat into four parts. Since you’ve already divided the beats in half, you just need to divide the halves in half. For that you use u.. One u and u two u and u one u and u two u and u. So, if you are in 2/4 time and you have 16th notes, you would have one note for each syllable. Eighth notes still come in where they did before, on the numbers as well as the ands. Likewise, the quarter notes come in where they did before, just on the numbers. Of course you could have half notes, which would get whole measures.
Now you can see that it can be a real mouthful counting like this! As long as your counting remains consistent, you can count just with numbers as well as ands, or even just the numbers. So, in order to figure out exactly what rhythms are, first count with all the subdivisions. But as the music goes faster, you can just think the subdivisions while counting only the numbers. But you must always think the subdivisions, particularly in dotted rhythms. If something is fast, the subdivisions must be precise. Eventually, you can work with a metronome and just count the subdivisions in your head.
Sometimes you have triple divisions of the beat!
Counting this is a little bit different. Something in 6/8 time is, one two three – four five six, one two three – four five six. When going much faster, you may only count the first and fourth beat. You may just count in two. In that case the one represents the first beat, and the two represents the fourth beat.
With polyrhythms, things can get quite different, and you may have really fast notes. Sometimes your best bet is to write-in lines in your music where the beats are which can also help you determine which notes play together with both hands. But those complex rhythmic situations are a subject for another video.
For most rhythms, simply counting them out is the answer for you.
I hope this has clarified things for you, or was at least a good reminder for everybody to remember to count your music. There’s nothing worse than listening to somebody play something where the beats are not consistent. You lose the foundation of the music. Counting is a great way for you to figure out any rhythm! Thanks again for joining me. I’m Robert Estrin here at LivingPianos.com, Your Online Piano Resource.
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6 thoughts on “How to Figure Out Rhythms: Counting”
2022.02
You never cease to amaze me!
As I said in the past, my metronome is now my greatest teacher,
but your primer on rhythm and counting is wonderful.
You will probably get into this in your next rhythm video,
but when one is confronted with three against two
as in Bach’s Jesus Joy of Man’s Desiring,
my organ teacher taught me to say, “one-and-de-two-and-de . . .”
the “de” is where the two of the “one-two”
fits between the second and third of the “one-two-three.”
Perhaps you do the same — I will be looking for the
video where you describe how you do “two against three.”
(That Kawai baby grand you have been using lately is really very nice!”
This may help you: https://livingpianos.com/how-to-approach-polyrhythms/
Another thing that helps to check your work is the playback function in notation editing software such as MuseScore. You might not have a recording that you trust, but the computer will play it for you precisely as written. Of course it would be a lot of work to transcribe a whole piece into the machine, but for trouble spots it’s nice to have an accurate reference.
That’s an interesting way to check rhythms. But it won’t help you when you’re reading music with people!
I find it impossible to figure out and play the correct time signatures. I am an old beginner who is hearing impaired, compounded by tinnitus in both ears. I have tried metronome setting as appropriate then playing a few bars but invariably, I lose the beat when I play as I only hear the loudest sound – the piano. If anyone has any tips, I would surely appreciate it. Thank you.
There are metronome applications you can get for free on your phone which enable you to tap in the tempo. This can make it much easier for you to play with the metronome if it’s set at the right speed.