Skip to content
Rhythm Reading
EN

Lesson 25 4/4: quarter note + dotted half note

  • Practice
  • 4/4
  • 60 bpm
  • 8 bars
  • 15 claps
60 bpm

About this exercise

The same pair as the previous lesson, reversed: quarter note + dotted half note. The long note starts on beat 2 and lasts until the end of 4, crossing the middle of the bar. Bars 1, 2 and 6 have this shape; the others alternate with the familiar order and with whole notes.

Starting a long note away from beat 1 is disorienting: many people clap again on 3 out of habit. Think "1, 2, 3, 4" and keep your hands together from 2 on. In bars 3 and 7 the order goes back to normal, so read carefully.

View Details

How to play it

  1. Count-in: the site counts 1 bar before starting ("1 2 3 4"). 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, dotted half note and whole 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 quarter note, dotted half note 1 2 (3) (4)
2 quarter note, dotted half note 1 2 (3) (4)
3 dotted half note, quarter note 1 (2) (3) 4
4 whole note 1 (2) (3) (4)
5 2 quarter notes, half note 1 2 3 (4)
6 quarter note, dotted half note 1 2 (3) (4)
7 dotted half note, quarter note 1 (2) (3) 4
8 whole note 1 (2) (3) (4)

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