Rhythm Basics in Piano Sheet Music

Video Transcript

"Hello! I am Annie Brunson on behalf of Expert Village. Today we’re going to learn the basics of rhythm; what it sounds like and how it is written. There is more to music than just playing the right notes. It’s also playing the right rhythm. There are many ways to help you to find out what kind of rhythm to play. The first is a whole note, it’s just held for 4 counts. The next, is a half note, held for just 2 notes. Then we have a quarter note, for example, you had a piece of music that has 4 beats to measure. It would sound a little bit like this: 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4. Then we also have 8 notes. These notes are worth half a beat. An easy way to remember is saying the phrase, “peanut butter cracker”. In that phrase the, “peanut butter”, are 8 notes and the “cracker” a quarter notes. “Peanut butter cracker.” 1 and 2 and 3 and 4. “Peanut butter cracker.”"