Pulse and counting

A steady beat

A steady beat has the same gap every time, like your heartbeat, a ticking clock, or your feet when you walk.

Not steady means the gaps change: shorter, longer, a stop, then go again. The beat of music is steady.

Pat your knees with both hands 8 times, the same gap every time, like a clock. Then walk 8 steps across the room, one step on each beat.

Count out loud

Give every beat a number: 1 2 3 4, then start again at 1. Say it out loud, one number on each beat, the same gap every time.

Counting out loud keeps the beat steady. Later it tells you where every note goes.

Pat your knees and count 1 2 3 4, four times round, without stopping. Then play one black key on every beat and keep counting.

When the notes stop

The beat does not stop when you stop playing. Play on 1 and 2, lift your hand on 3 and 4, and keep counting. The silent beats still count. Then you come back in at the right time.

A dashed circle is a silent beat: count it, but don't play it.

Beat or rhythm?

The beat is the steady heartbeat underneath. The rhythm is the pattern of sounds on top, long and short, like the sounds of words.

Say bird on one beat: one sound. Say tur-tle on one beat: two sounds. The beat stays the same and the rhythm changes.

Tap the beat with your foot and say bird, tur-tle, bird, tur-tle, one word on each beat. Then clap the words while your foot keeps the beat.

The beat in your fingers

Now the fingers take turns, a new finger on each beat. Play each row twice and count out loud: 1 2 3 4. The numbers in the coral circles are finger numbers, so they never get mixed up with the count.

1. Small-house beatRight hand, fingers 2 and 3 on the black keys of the small house. One circle is one steady beat.
   23232323
2. Big-house beatRight hand, fingers 2, 3 and 4 on the black keys of the big house.
   23432343
3. Left-hand beatLeft hand, fingers 3 and 2 on a small house lower down.
   32323232

My five checks

Show each one at the piano.

Free worksheet

Silent beats still count

Write the count under every beat circle, the played beats and the silent ones. Colour the beats to play from a short instruction. Then fix rows where only the played notes got a number. One A4 page.

Print this pageThe whole chapter: Lesson Book + Workbook