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Rhythm Reading
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Lesson 41 Reading in 4/4: 16 bars

  • Practice
  • 4/4
  • 72 bpm
  • 16 bars
  • 36 claps
Watch the video
72 bpm

About this exercise

The first 16-bar reading. The content is familiar (all of Beginner 1 in 4/4), but the length demands concentration for almost a minute without a break.

You can think of the exercise as four 4-bar phrases: the 1st ends on a whole note, the 2nd on a half note with a half rest, the 3rd on a whole rest and the 4th on a whole note. Find these phrases in the score before you play: reading in blocks keeps you from getting lost.

Lesson video: watch and listen to the whole exercise before you practice.
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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 and whole note) clap and keep your hands together until the end of the note: hands together = the sound keeps going.
  4. Rests: hands open, no clapping, and keep counting in silence.

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 72 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 4 quarter notes 1 2 3 4
2 2 quarter notes, half note 1 2 3 (4)
3 quarter note, quarter rest, quarter note, quarter rest 1 [2] 3 [4]
4 whole note 1 (2) (3) (4)
5 half note, 2 quarter notes 1 (2) 3 4
6 half rest, 2 quarter notes [1] [2] 3 4
7 3 quarter notes, quarter rest 1 2 3 [4]
8 half note, half rest 1 (2) [3] [4]
9 quarter rest, 3 quarter notes [1] 2 3 4
10 quarter note, half note, quarter note 1 2 (3) 4
11 2 quarter notes, half rest 1 2 [3] [4]
12 whole rest [1] [2] [3] [4]
13 2 half notes 1 (2) 3 (4)
14 quarter note, quarter rest, 2 quarter notes 1 [2] 3 4
15 2 quarter notes, half note 1 2 3 (4)
16 whole note 1 (2) (3) (4)

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