The Rhythm Tree

Rhythm makes music happen, its what musicians play along to, it is vital in ALL music. As shown below in the rhythm tree it will show how notes work in lengths, as you get down further each note is 1/2 of the previous note length.



If you are a beginner in understanding music notation you will use a crotchet most commonly and it is most commonly taught as 1 beat in a time signature called 4/4.

In the Time Signature 4/4 A Crotchet is one beat and other note lengths are represented as shown :



It is important to learn these, but do not always have in your head that a crotchet note is always worth 1 beat because sometimes it can be worth half a beat in other time signatures such as 2/2. But whenever a Time Signature has a 4 on the bottom a crotchet will always be worth one beat.

Here is another example about note values compared to others (this would be a time signature with an 8 on the bottom) :



So if you now this I will be posting about writing melodies on a stave next time, hope I helped you understand note lengths using rhythm tree's!