Reading Music: Rhythm Training

Learn to read, play, and write rhythms

What you'll learn
How to read and play rhythms
Distinguish beat from rhythm
Discover if you are playing rhythms correctly with instant feedback from "Smart Music" software
Learn both "Unit" counting and "Metric" counting
Practice hearing rhythms and writing them down
Get tips for playing various rhythm patterns
Be able to read, play, and write multiples and subdivisions of the beat
Be able to read, play, and write dotted notes, rests, triplets, ties, and more
Requirements
No previous musical knowledge is needed.
Smart Music software (a free download) to complete the rhythm assessments and get instant feedback on your rhythm performance
A piano (or other instrument) is helpful but NOT necessary - you can clap the rhythms if you don't own one.
Some type of basic music notation software will be needed to complete the rhythm writing assignments. I recommend MuseScore which is a free open source music notation software. Or you can just use paper and pencil.
Description
Why a course about rhythm?In my 30 years of experience as a music teacher I have found that more people struggle with reading rhythm than reading pitch.Many courses only teach the letter names of the notes. Knowing the letter names of the notes is useless information if you don't know how long each note should be played for.Isolating rhythm from pitch lets you focus your attention on mastering rhythm which is the most fundamental element of music. Once you have a solid foundation in rhythm, learning the other elements of music will be much easier and quicker.Music is a type of language and so in this course we will learn the same way a child learns a language.First, they learn to speak by hearing others and imitatingThen they learn to read the languageAnd finally, they learn to write the languageEach section includes:Learning a new concept.Practicing the new concept through, imitating, reading, and writing.An assessment in Smart Music where you will get instant feed back on your performance of various rhythms.

Overview

Section 1: What is Rhythm?

Lecture 1 Course Overview

Lecture 2 Beat vs Rhythm

Section 2: Multiples of the Beat

Lecture 3 Half Notes and Whole Notes

Lecture 4 Imitation Exercises: Quarter and Half

Lecture 5 Reading Exercises: Quarter and Half

Lecture 6 Writing Tips

Lecture 7 Writing Exercises: Quarter and Half

Lecture 8 Imitation Exercises: Quarter, Half, Whole

Lecture 9 Reading Exercises: Quarter, Half, Whole

Lecture 10 Writing Tips

Lecture 11 Writing Exercises: Quarter, Half, Whole

Lecture 12 Unit Counting Assignment

Lecture 13 Setting up Smart Music

Lecture 14 Using Smart Music

Lecture 15 Your Microphone

Lecture 16 Assessments for Section 2

Section 3: Subdivisions of the Beat

Lecture 17 8th Notes and 16th Notes

Lecture 18 Imitation Exercises: Quarter and 8th

Lecture 19 Reading Exercises: Quarter and 8th

Lecture 20 Writing Tips

Lecture 21 Writing Exercises: Quarter and 8th

Lecture 22 Imitation Exercises: Quarter and 16th

Lecture 23 Reading Exercises: Quarter and 16th

Lecture 24 Writing Tips

Lecture 25 Writing Exercises: Quarter and 16th

Lecture 26 8th Note and 16th Note Combinations

Lecture 27 Imitation Exercises: 8th-16th Combos

Lecture 28 Reading Exercises: 8th-16th Combos

Lecture 29 Writing Tips

Lecture 30 Writing Exercises: 8th-16th Combos

Lecture 31 Imitation Exercises: Quarter, 8th, and 16th

Lecture 32 Reading Exercises: Quarter, 8th, and 16th

Lecture 33 Writing Exercises: Quarter, 8th, and 16th

Lecture 34 Assessments for Section 3

Section 4: Metric Counting

Lecture 35 Metric Counting for Multiples of the Beat

Lecture 36 Metric Counting Assignment: Quarter, Half, Whole

Lecture 37 Metric Counting Exercises: Quarter, Half, Whole

Lecture 38 Metric Counting for Subdivisions of the Beat

Lecture 39 Metric Counting Assignment: Quarter, 8th, 16

Lecture 40 Metric Counting Exercises: Quarter, 8th, 16th

Section 5: Multiples & Subdivisions

Lecture 41 Rhythms Containing Multiples & Subdivisions

Lecture 42 Imitation Exercises: Multiples and Subdivisions

Lecture 43 Reading Exercises: Multiples and Subdivisions

Lecture 44 Writing Exercises: Multiples and Subdivisions

Lecture 45 Smart Music Subdivisions

Lecture 46 Smart Music Count Off

Lecture 47 Assessments for Section 5

Section 6: Dotted Notes

Lecture 48 How Dotted Notes Work

Lecture 49 Imitation Exercises: Dotted Notes

Lecture 50 Metric Counting Assignment: Dotted Notes

Lecture 51 Reading Exercises: Dotted Notes

Lecture 52 Writing Exercises: Dotted Notes

Lecture 53 Assessments for Section 6

Section 7: Rests

Lecture 54 Types of Rests

Lecture 55 Imitation Exercises: Rests

Lecture 56 Metric Counting Assignment: Rests

Lecture 57 Reading Exercises: Rests

Lecture 58 Writing Exercises: Rests

Lecture 59 Assessments for Section 7

Section 8: Triplets

Lecture 60 Artificial Divisions

Lecture 61 Imitation Exercises: Triplets

Lecture 62 Metric Counting Assignment: Triplets

Lecture 63 Reading Exercises: Triplets

Lecture 64 Writing Exercises: Triplets

Lecture 65 Assessments for Section 8

Section 9: Ties

Lecture 66 Adding Notes Together

Lecture 67 Imitation Exercises: Ties

Lecture 68 Metric Counting Assignment: Ties

Lecture 69 Reading Exercises: Ties

Lecture 70 Writing Exercises: Ties

Lecture 71 Assessments for Section 9

Section 10: Compound Meter

Lecture 72 Changing the Beat

Lecture 73 Imitation Exercises: 6/8 time

Lecture 74 Metric Counting Assignment: 6/8 time

Lecture 75 Reading Exercises: 6/8 time

Lecture 76 Writing Exercises: 6/8 time

Lecture 77 Compound Meter in Smart Music

Lecture 78 Assessments for Section 10

Lecture 79 Conclusion

Lecture 80 BONUS LECTURE: LINKS

Anyone wanting to learn how to read, play, and notate rhythms,Beginning musicians,Musicians who never "really" learned how to read rhythm,Musicians who want to brush up on their rhythm reading