About this exercise
This lesson teaches a notation rule: a 2-beat silence that starts on beat 2 is written as two quarter rests, not as a half rest, so the middle of the bar stays visible. In practice it sounds the same: two beats of open hands.
Bars 1, 2 and 7 have the silence in the middle (beats 2 and 3); bar 3 puts it at the start and bar 5 at the end. Read the two rests as a single block instead of decoding them one at a time.
Before you start
A 2-beat silence that starts on beat 2 is written with two quarter rests, to show where the middle of the bar is. It sounds the same as a half rest.
View Details
How to play it
- Count-in: the site counts 1 bar before starting ("1 2 3 4"). 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 and whole 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.
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 | quarter note, 2 quarter rests, quarter note | 1 [2] [3] 4 |
| 2 | quarter note, 2 quarter rests, quarter note | 1 [2] [3] 4 |
| 3 | 2 quarter rests, 2 quarter notes | [1] [2] 3 4 |
| 4 | whole note | 1 (2) (3) (4) |
| 5 | 2 quarter notes, 2 quarter rests | 1 2 [3] [4] |
| 6 | 2 quarter rests, half note | [1] [2] 3 (4) |
| 7 | quarter note, 2 quarter rests, quarter note | 1 [2] [3] 4 |
| 8 | whole note | 1 (2) (3) (4) |
Notes used: whole note, half note, quarter note, quarter rest.