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Rhythm Reading
EN

Lesson 07 The whole note: 4 beats

  • Introduction
  • 4/4
  • 60 bpm
  • 4 bars
  • 8 claps
  • New: whole note
60 bpm

Before you start

The whole note (𝅝, white notehead without a stem) lasts 4 beats: it fills a whole bar of 4/4. Clap on beat 1 and hold your hands together until the end of beat 4.

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.

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.

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 whole note 1 (2) (3) (4)
3 2 half notes 1 (2) 3 (4)
4 whole note 1 (2) (3) (4)

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