Lesson 14 3/4: eighth notes and half notes
- Practice
- 3/4
- 60 bpm
- 8 bars
- 22 claps
About this exercise
In 3/4 the half note takes two of the three beats, and here it shares the bar with a pair of eighth notes. Bars 1 and 2 mirror each other: "1 & 2 3" (eighth notes and half note) and "1 2 3 &" (half note and eighth notes). Bar 6 repeats the first shape and bar 7 puts the half note at the end.
When the half note comes first, the eighth notes on beat 3 arrive just before the next bar. Keep your hands together through the whole "2" and only release the claps on "3 &", without rushing.
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How to play it
- Count-in: the site counts 1 bar before starting ("1 2 3"). Clap the first note on beat 1 of bar 1.
- Reading: read the line on the yellow strip and look ahead to the next one: that's how you read ahead.
- Hands together: on notes longer than 1 beat (half note) clap and keep your hands together until the end of the note: hands together = the sound keeps going.
- Rests: hands open, no clapping, and keep counting in silence.
- Eighth notes: count "1 & 2 &"; the "&" falls exactly in the middle of the beat.
How to practice
- Say the count out loud, without clapping, looking at the Bar by bar table.
- In Together mode, count and clap at the same time as the character.
- In Your turn mode, clap on your own. If it's hard, slow down and then come back.
Bar by bar
Bold = clap · (n) = don't clap, the sound keeps going (hands together) · [n] = rest, hands open.
| Bar | Notes | Count |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 eighth notes, half note | 1 & 2 (3) |
| 2 | half note, 2 eighth notes | 1 (2) 3 & |
| 3 | 2 eighth notes, 2 quarter notes | 1 & 2 3 |
| 4 | half note, quarter note | 1 (2) 3 |
| 5 | quarter note, 2 eighth notes, quarter note | 1 2 & 3 |
| 6 | 2 eighth notes, half note | 1 & 2 (3) |
| 7 | quarter note, half note | 1 2 (3) |
| 8 | half note, quarter rest | 1 (2) [3] |
Notes used: half note, quarter note, eighth note, quarter rest.