7

Rhythms

In the Grade One Music Theory exam, you will probably have to write two bars ofrhythmas an answer to two given bars.The question could look something like this:Write a two-bar rhythm as an answer to the given rhythm.

Check the Time SignatureThe first thing you need to do is look at thetime signature. This tells you how many beats you will need to write in each bar, so it's very important.

In the above question, the time signature is 2/4, so we will need to write note values which add up to two crotchet (quarter note) beats in each bar. Always double-check your finished rhythm to make sure you have the right number of beats.When you beam (join) notes together, make sure that you beam each group correctly. See lesson "Lesson 8 Beaming" for more details about this.For grade 1, the rhythm will be in 2/4, 3/4 or 4/4 time, with no upbeat.Look at the Existing RhythmsThe next thing you should do is look at the kinds of rhythm which havealreadybeen used in the first two bars. What note values were used, and which values weren't used?

In our question, we've got crotchets (quarter notes), quavers (eighth notes) and semiquavers (sixteenth notes). We don't have any dotted notes, and we don't have any ties. You should usesimilarkinds of rhythms in your answering phrase as you have in the given phrase - each bar must have a connection.Re-use RhythmsTo write an answering rhythm, you should re-use some parts of the given rhythm, but don't just copy it exactly, of course!Look at the "blocks" of rhythm which occur on each beat. We could describe the above rhythm as three different blocks like this:1. crotchet (quarter note)2. two quavers (eighth notes)3. four semiquavers (sixteenth notes).You could use the same blocks of rhythm but change their order. Make sure that no two bars are identical though!

Or you could keep a couple of the simpler blocks the same, but swap the others. You will get a maximum 7/10 for simply reversing the rhythm like this:

Or, you can even invent something completely new, but only for one or two beats' worth. For 10/10, you need to "reference the given material", which means reuse a bit of it, and then create something else which is new and interesting. This makes a balanced rhythm.

But watch out! It's not a good idea to invent completely new rhythms for the whole of the answering phrase - you are being marked on your sense of balance, not on how wildly creative you can be! Also, don't use too many rests. The examiner wants to see a rhythm, not bars of silence!Finishing correctlyYou should end your phrase with a reasonably long note. Usually this means acrotchet(quarter note)or aminim (half note). Phrases which end on quavers (eighth notes) or semiquavers (sixteenth notes) sound too abrupt.Don't write a melody!Don't forget that you only need to write a rhythm in Grade One Music Theory! Use the same notes as given in the example. Don't start writing notes of other pitches!Sample AnswersHere are some example answers, with comments:

Comment: The semiquavers (16th notes) from the original have been reused, with some other imaginative material (e.g. the dotted rhythm). (10/10)

Comment: There is hardly any connection between the given and the answering phrase. There's no good reason for the rest at the end either. (8/10)

Comment: This is just an exact copy of the given bars. (7/10)

Comment: The number of beats in the third bar is wrong, bar 4 is a copy of bar 2. (5/10)

Comment: Nothing much of the given phrase has been used, both bars (3 &4) contain the wrong number of beats, and it's not a good idea to write exactly the same rhythm in each bar. (4/10)Rhythm ReviewComposing a rhythm in Grade Two Music Theory is just a little bit harder than for Grade One.You may find it useful to review theGrade Onelesson first, to get the general idea, then return to this page to see what's new for Grade Two.What's NewIn Grade Two, you're only given one bar of rhythm, and you have to compose three more.The rhythms you are given (and those you are supposed to write) will be a little bit more complicated than in grade one. They'll often include dotted rhythms or triplets, for example.Example QuestionHere's a question for us to work through together:Write a four-bar rhythm using the given opening.

How do we start? The first thing to learn is that your 4-bar rhythm must be made up oftwo phrases- we'll call them A and B.Phrase A is the first two bars, and phrase B is the last two.We can think of phrase A as a "question", and phrase B as the "answer".

Question PhrasesAs you can see, in grade two we are actually only givenhalfa question phrase (whereas in grade one you're given a complete 2-bar question). The same kind of thing in words could be something likewhy do you.....?" or "have you ever......?"There are probably millions of ways to finish these questions in a sensible way, and even more ways to finish them with something meaningless!We could ask Have you ever been to France? Why do you get up at 7 o'clock?But it wouldn't make much sense if we asked Have you ever yesterday afternoon? Why do you rabbit mountains?In music, the question must also make sense -musical sense. This means that you need to write something which fits with the first bar, and not something that is totally unconnected to it. Let's take a look at some examples.

This is ok, but not very interesting. We didn't create anything new, so we shouldn't expect many points for this! You won't normally get more than 7/10 if you copy the given opening exactly.

This doesn't fit very well because none of the note values in bar 2 appear in bar 1, so there's no connection.

This one is good - bar two uses some old material from bar one (the triplet), and some new material (the minim (half note)).

This one is also good - the note values all appear in the first bar, but we've changed the order of them. So, there is a strong connection, but it's not an exact copy.

Again, this is good because it re-uses some, but not all, of the rhythms from bar 1.

Not such a good choice - the only note value which appears in both bars is the crotchet (quarter note), but everything else is completely different. It's probably best not to include rests in your rhythm, unless they are part of the rhythm given in bar 1.

Answering PhrasesBefore we think about answering the question phrase, we need to choose a completed question phrase. Let's say we finish our question phrase like this:Look at the types of rhythm we've usedon each beat.We've got three types: a plain crotchet (quarter note), a triplet quaver (8th note) group and a dotted quaver/semiquaver (dotted 8th/16th) pair.We should use mostly these same types of rhythm in our answering phrase.The very last note of the phrase should be a reasonably long one (at least a crotchet (quarter note)), so that the rhythm sounds properly finished.Let's take a look at some answering phrases and see which ones are any good, and why.

This sounds fine. We re-used some of the important rhythms, but not in the same order, and we finished on a nice long minim (half note).

This doesn't sound very good. Because we forgot about the triplets, the last two bars don't match the first two very well.

Here we forgot to re-use the dotted rhythm, and the last bar is certainly not very interesting!

This one is good - the rhythms are re-used in a different order and the final note value is a nice long end note.

This is also a good answer. The rhythms are linked, and the last note is a long enough ending note.