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Rhythm Reading
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Lesson 22 3/4: half note and dotted half note

  • Practice
  • 3/4
  • 60 bpm
  • 8 bars
  • 13 claps
60 bpm

About this exercise

This exercise compares the two long notes of 3/4 up close: the half note (2 beats) and the dotted half note (3 beats). They look almost the same on the score, and the only difference is the dot. The half-note bars have a quarter note before or after it; the dotted-half bars have nothing else.

There are only 13 claps, and almost all the work is holding. Look carefully for a dot after the white note: with a dot, your hands stay together until the end of the bar; without it, there is still one clap to go.

View Details

How to play it

  1. Count-in: the site counts 1 bar before starting ("1 2 3"). Clap the first note on beat 1 of bar 1.
  2. Reading: read the line on the yellow strip and look ahead to the next one: that's how you read ahead.
  3. Hands together: on notes longer than 1 beat (half note and dotted half note) clap and keep your hands together until the end of the note: hands together = the sound keeps going.

How to practice

  1. Say the count out loud, without clapping, looking at the Bar by bar table.
  2. In Together mode, count and clap at the same time as the character.
  3. In Your turn mode, clap on your own. If it's hard, slow down and then come back.

Goal: ★★★ three times in a row at 60 bpm. Then the lesson is completed.

The full practice method →

Bar by bar

Bold = clap · (n) = don't clap, the sound keeps going (hands together) · [n] = rest, hands open.

Bar Notes Count
1 half note, quarter note 1 (2) 3
2 dotted half note 1 (2) (3)
3 quarter note, half note 1 2 (3)
4 dotted half note 1 (2) (3)
5 half note, quarter note 1 (2) 3
6 quarter note, half note 1 2 (3)
7 half note, quarter note 1 (2) 3
8 dotted half note 1 (2) (3)

Notes used: dotted half note, half note, quarter note.