Good Learning Co.
SavannahYear 8
← Music
MusicReading and using notation25 min★★ difficulty

Rhythm notation and note values

Rhythm notation shows exactly how long each note lasts relative to the beat — the timing skeleton underneath every piece of music, from a nursery rhyme to a drum solo.

Part of your national curriculum
  • Composing: Use staff and other relevant notations appropriately and accurately in a range of musical styles, genres and traditions

Lesson overview

What you'll learn in this lesson

Use staff and other relevant notations appropriately and accurately in a range of musical styles, genres and traditions

Key learning points

  • • Basic note values
  • • Time signatures
  • • Rests

This lesson at a glance

  • 25 minutes
  • 13 parts to scroll through
  • 3 quick checks
  • Marked quiz at the end
  • Gentle pace: short sittings with pauses

Words to know

relevantnotationsappropriatelyaccuratelymusical

Scroll down — the lesson carries on below

Part 1 of 13 · Discover8%
1

Watch & discover

Part 1 of 13

Watch first

Rhythm notation and note values

An English teaching video on this topic from TED-Ed. Watch it, then scroll down for the lesson.

In a nutshell

Use staff and other relevant notations appropriately and accurately in a range of musical styles, genres and traditions

2

Learning cycle

Part 2 of 13

Learning cycle 1 of 2

Part 1 · Basic note values

A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.

3

Explore the idea

Part 3 of 13

Learn

Basic note values

A semibreve (whole note) lasts 4 beats, a minim (half note) lasts 2 beats, a crotchet (quarter note) lasts 1 beat, and a quaver (eighth note) lasts half a beat. Each shorter value is exactly half the length of the one before it, which is why two quavers equal one crotchet.

4

Explore the idea

Part 4 of 13

Learn

Time signatures

A time signature, written as two numbers at the start of a piece, tells you how many beats are in each bar (the top number) and what type of note counts as one beat (the bottom number). In 4/4 time, the most common time signature in pop and rock, there are 4 crotchet beats per bar.

5

Quick check

Part 5 of 13

Quick check

How many beats does a minim last?

6

Reset break

Part 6 of 13

Pause

That's sitting 1 of 2 done

Stretch, get a drink, look out of the window. There is no timer and nothing is counting down — your place is saved, so you can come back in five minutes or tomorrow.

Stop here for now
7

Quick check

Part 7 of 13

Quick check

In 4/4 time, how many crotchet beats are in each bar?

8

Learning cycle

Part 8 of 13

Learning cycle 2 of 2

Part 2 · Rests

A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.

9

Explore the idea

Part 9 of 13

Learn

Rests

Rests are symbols showing silence, and they follow the same duration system as notes: a crotchet rest is silent for 1 beat, just as a crotchet note sounds for 1 beat. Rhythmic accuracy depends just as much on getting the rests right as getting the notes right.

10

Quick check

Part 10 of 13

Quick check

What does a crotchet rest indicate?

11

Challenge round

Part 11 of 13

Game · Sort it

Which of these are true?

Drag each card into the right column. Tap a card first if dragging is fiddly.

True

Not true

12

Mastery quiz

Part 12 of 13

Marked quiz

End of lesson quiz: Rhythm notation and note values

3 questions, marked with the reasoning shown. No timer.

  1. 1. How many beats does a minim last?

  2. 2. In 4/4 time, how many crotchet beats are in each bar?

  3. 3. What does a crotchet rest indicate?

13

Lesson round-up

Part 13 of 13

Lesson round-up

Ready when you are

Quiz score

Not sat

Games

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Points this lesson

0

Best run

0 in a row

Luna: 0 out of 3 on the practice checks. Only if you feel up to it — one more?

Ask Luna

Do the work

Your written work for this lesson

This is the part you'd do in your book at school. Pick the pieces below, write here or on paper, and photograph anything you draw or work out.

Article

How a song builds

Most popular songs are built from a small number of sections: an intro, a verse that tells the story, a pre-chorus that raises tension, a chorus that lands the main idea, and a bridge that changes direction before the last chorus.

Writers control energy with texture and range, not just volume. Stripping the drums out for four bars makes the next chorus feel twice as big. Lifting the vocal melody a few notes higher makes the chorus feel like the roof coming off.

Listen for what disappears, not only for what arrives. The quietest bar is often the one doing the most work.

Written for Good Learning Co.

Reading questions

  1. Listen to a song and write down its sections in order, with rough timings.
  2. Describe two moments where the texture changes and what effect each has.
  3. Plan your own 16-bar section, saying which instruments enter and where.

  • Listening notes

    Writing

    Write what you hear: instruments, tempo, mood, and how the piece changes.

    6 sentences

Saved as you type.

Part 1 of 13 · Watch & discover

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    Use staff and other relevant notations appropriately and accurately in a range of musical styles, genres and traditions

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