11: Where’s the Beat?
The Beat Goes On
The beat of nearly any piece of music is easy to feel. It’s what sets your
toe tapping, it’s what makes you dance. The beat is a regular pulse, like
your heartbeat, which lasts throughout a piece of music.
Speaking of pulse, did you know that music with a fast beat makes your
heart beat faster and speeds up your breathing? And music with a slow
beat makes your heart and breathing slow down? It’s true.
The beat is music’s pulse, and like yours, it doesn’t stop until the
performance is over.The Notes
There are only three different note lengths you have to know at first.
You’ll notice that the half notes and quarter notes have two examples.
Keep reading to find out why. From longest to shortest the notes are:whole note, 4 beats each:half notes, 2 beats each:quarter notes, 1 beat each:All notes are named from their
relationship to the whole note.A half note is half as long as a whole
note. (two half notes = 1 whole)A quarter note is one fourth as long as
a whole note (4 quarters = 1 whole).