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The problem it solves
To read or write a rhythm, you have to turn a symbol into a concrete duration relative to the beat: knowing whether a note lasts one beat, two, or half.
Detailed theory
Key idea
Each figure is worth half the previous one: half = 2 quarters, quarter = 2 eighths, eighth = 2 sixteenths.
The quarter note usually equals one beat; the other figures are measured against it.
Understand it
Each note has a figure that shows its duration. From longest to shortest: the whole note, the half note, the quarter note, the eighth note and the sixteenth note. They don't say what pitch sounds, only how long it lasts.
Durations are proportional, always halving: a half note lasts twice as long as a quarter, a quarter twice as long as an eighth, and an eighth twice as long as a sixteenth. Reading rhythm is recognising these proportions, not memorising drawings.
The drawing reflects it: the whole note is hollow with no stem; the half note, hollow with a stem; the quarter, filled with a stem; the eighth adds a flag (or a beam when grouped) and the sixteenth, two. The fuller and the more flags, the shorter.
Think of it like cutting a cake: the whole note is the whole cake; the half note, half; the quarter, a quarter; the eighth, an eighth. Each slice is half the previous one, and together they fill the measure again.
The figures
The figures, from longest to shortest. Each one is worth half the previous one.
Figures and pulse
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One and the same beat can be filled with a quarter, two eighths or four sixteenths: each figure is worth half the previous one.
How to recognise it
How it's written
Look at whether the note head is hollow or filled and whether it has a stem and flags: whole (hollow, no stem) → half (hollow with stem) → quarter (filled with stem) → eighth (one flag) → sixteenth (two). Each step, half the duration.
How it feels
Tap a quarter note on each beat; then split one into two eighth notes (di-da, equally fast) and you'll hear the same time filled with twice as many notes.
Common mistake
Reading the figure as a pitch: figures only tell duration, not whether the note is low or high.
Forgetting that duration is relative to tempo: a quarter lasts more or less depending on speed, but always twice as long as an eighth.
Try it
Tap four quarter notes (one per beat) and then the same four, but splitting each into two eighths: twice the taps in the same time.
Count aloud 'ta' for each quarter and 'ti-ti' for two eighths while keeping the beat.
On the instrument
Figures and pulse
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Different figures in a 4/4 measure: a half note (2 beats), a quarter (1 beat) and two eighths (half a beat each). Listen to how they share out the time.
Where it's used
- Reading a rhythm
- Playing a rhythmic line you've never heard before.
- Writing down an idea
- Notating a pattern you've invented so it isn't lost.
Examples
Figures and pulse
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A simple pattern: quarter, quarter, two eighths and quarter. Count 'ta ta ti-ti ta' and tap it.
Figures and pulse
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A whole note fills the entire measure: a single note lasting all four beats. Compare it with the short figures.
Exercises
Read figures — basic
Half and quarter notes in 4/4: match each figure to its duration (one or two beats) with no subdivisions yet.
Complete 5 attempts · 70% accuracy to pass
Read figures — intermediate
Half, quarter and eighth notes in 4/4, with eighth notes guaranteed.
Complete 8 attempts · 70% accuracy to pass
Read figures — advanced
The full range of figures in 4/4: whole, half, quarter, eighth and sixteenth notes mixed into dense patterns.
Complete 10 attempts · 70% accuracy to pass
Mini test
Check that you've got it.
0/6 answeredQuestion 1/6
What does a rhythmic figure indicate?