Reading rhythm (part 1)
Hey there, in the previous article we talked about reading pitch, in this article we will begin the conversation around reading the duration of notes.
A lot of the following things are going to make much more sense when we apply them to pieces or song that we are trying to learn, our main focus here is to set a foundation upon which we can build upon.
The pulse
If you have ever been listening to a song and suddenly started tapping with your foot or hand, you have felt the pulse of that song.
You may have even notice that the space or span of time that happens between each tap is consistently equal. That consistent tapping is the pulse of the song.
We can compare the pulse of music with the pulse of our heart. So, in a sense, pulse is the heartbeat of music.
We will often hear the word “beat” instead of pulse. Whichever these two words we use is fine.
Groups of pulses
Next to having a pulse, music will have groups of pulses. The grouping of pulses can vary in number of beats per group, but among the most common ones are groups of 2 beats, 3 beats and 4 beat. The word we use for these “groups” is measure.
The following example shows the first 4 measures of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, which has four beats per measure. 
The vertical lines that you see after each count of four is the way we indicate that a full count has gone by and we are starting a new one. 
It is very common to use the word “bar” instead of “measure”, they can be used interchangeably.
The rhythmic figures
There are different shapes of notes. We use them to indicate the duration of a note. We measure this duration by beats. So, a note can be one beat long, four beats long, half beat long, etc.
There are two ways of identifying each rhythmic figure. They have both names and numeric values. The next image shows both. The numeric option is the most commonly used.
In regards to the parts of the note values, they can have three parts.
Time signature
We call time signature to the combination of two sets of information: 1) the number of pulses per measure and 2) the rhythmic figure assigned as the value of each pulse.
The most common time signature is 4/4. The time signature of a song will be indicated at the beginning of the sheet music right after the clef.
Going back to the Twinkle Twinkle Little Star example, we can see that it uses a 4/4 time signature. Which means each measure has four beats, and that each beat takes a quarter note.
This doesn’t mean that there can only be quarter notes in the music, the quarter note becomes the point of reference to which the other rhythmic figures.
This is why in the Twinkle Twinkle Little Star excerpt we can see measures 2 and 4 have two quarter notes and one half note. The half note takes beats 3 and 4. 
In other words, the fact that the half-note is worth two beats is because the bottom number on the time signature is 4. When the bottom number of the time signature is four, this are the length of the notes:
Whole note = 4 beats
Half note = 2 beats
Quarter note = 1 beat
Eighth note = one-half of the beat
Sixteenth note = one quarter part of the beat
Thirty-second note = one-eigth part of the beat
More time signatures
Theoretically speaking, we can have any number of pulses per measure, but in practice they usually go from 2 to 12.
As for the value of each pulse, we can use any of the rhythmic figures as the bottom number of the time signature. This means, for example, that if we have a measure with 4 pulses, we could have all this options for time signature: 
However, in practice, if the number of pulses per measure is 4, we usually only find options 2/4, 3/4, and 4/4.
There will come a time when we’ll cover more of this in detail. For now, getting acquainted with 4/4, and knowing that other options exist is a very good place start.
I hope this has been helpful. Happy practice 😊
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