- These rhythms might remind you of several tunes. When clapping them, emphasize the strong beats.
- In these, the first note is the strongest; then feel the first beat of every four beats.
Melodies you can clap or tap easily, because they are famous!
Be aware of the rhythmic pattern of whatever piece you are playing, or singing, or clapping. If you establish the rhythmic patterns first, before learning the notes or fingering, it helps you learn new music much faster.
When you are able to clap the rhythms of famous tunes or verses, and feel free with the beat, you will make music with much more ease and freedom. When you know what the familiar rhythms look like, you will be able to transfer the feel and the knowledge of the rhythmic patterns to your new pieces.
Counting out loud helps the brain to grasp the rhythmic patterns. If you don’t have a private space in which to work, and there are people around you, you may feel embarrassed to count out loud; but let this be a stimulus to make a private space and private time for yourself.
Can You Name the Tunes?
You can play a game with your family members and/or friends. One person claps the rhythm of a well-known tune and other people guess what the tune is. It is amazing that only the rhythm can make a tune recognizable!
Below are some rhythm patterns that you can clap or tap, and then you can ask others to “name that tune.”
ZOOM
Think about all the rhythmic illustrations around you: old movies, with Fred Astaire dancing to music or to drums only, or to the machine noises in the belly of a ship; a jazz drummer doing myriad improvisations without any other instruments but feeling a beat behind it all; construction noises that have a rhythm that the workers are not aware of; the windshield wipers in your car!
Mystery Tunes
Track 6 
It’s quicker to read/play notation on the piano if you have marker notes
Marker notes are easy to see on the page, easy to see on the keyboard. There is symmetry to the picture of the grand staff with marker notes: both the treble G and bass F are line notes; the middle C’s on both staffs look exactly the same but in opposite places.
You can practice finding and naming the notes/keys around the marker notes. Buy staff paper, or download it, and copy the grand staff (below left). Draw each of the marker notes; then draw the notes a 2nd above and below the marker notes. Practice saying and playing these notes.
Grand Staff with Marker Notes
It might be helpful to have a good-sized chart with the letters A, B, C, D, E, F, G written on it. Place it on your music stand so you can see the neighboring keys and notes around the marker notes. Play and say the notes out loud; for example, “G, up a 2nd, A”; or “G, down a 2nd, F.” Use neighboring fingers, 2-3, or 3-4, or 1-2, to play these.
2nds and 3rds on the Keyboard
Now do the same for intervals of a 3rd. Instead of a chart, you can cut these letters into separate squares; take out the letter between a marker note and the 3rd above it or below it. Keep these “flash letters.” They may come in handy.
GREEN●LIGHT
Another helpful way to learn intervals is to sing the notes you just wrote, a 2nd above and below the marker notes, a 3rd above and below the marker notes. Sing the names of the notes so that you are establishing the sound of the intervals and reinforcing the note names in your mind.
2nds and 3rds in Our Melody
Track 6
Start relating sounds that you are familiar with to intervals you can play
I have a list of tunes both classical and popular that illustrate the intervals by their first two notes. A tune that starts with an octave (or an 8th) is “Over the Rainbow.” “The Wedding March” (which is from an opera by Wagner) begins with a 4th. Think of tunes you know and try to discover the first two notes: are they close together? Are they far apart? How close? How far? If you have recordings you can easily listen to, try to find the first two notes of your favorite piece(s). “Yesterday,” the Beatles’ song, begins with a 2nd. Schubert’s Unfinished Symphony (the main theme) begins with a 4th going down, then a 4th up. A prominent musical theme in “2001 Space Odyssey” is actually the opening of “Thus Spake Zarathustra” by Richard Strauss. It begins by going up a 5th, then up a 4th.
4ths and 5ths on the Staff
As you look at 4ths and 5ths on the staff, think of “Here Comes the Bride” (the 4th) and “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star,” (the 5th) and associate the sound with the look of the interval on the staff, and with the feel of the interval on the keyboard. Try playing the interval with two hands, as in the photos, then with one hand. The 5th is played with fingers 1 and 5, the 4th is played with either fingers 1 and 4, or fingers 2 and 5. Play them blocked (both keys simultaneously) and broken (one note at a time). Be sure to have both hands try these—equal time!
4ths on the Keyboard
Also, you need to go in both directions—up and down—in identifying intervals. The popular song, “Feelings,” goes down a 5th for the first two notes.
5ths on the Keyboard
Track 6
Basic hand position helps your muscles remember how to play certain intervals
Professional pianists hardly ever have to look at the keyboard. Their hands feel the keys and the intervals in the music.
You have already “felt” 2nds by using neighboring fingers. You have felt a 3rd with fingers 2 and 4 and 4ths and 5ths with each hand. Now practice using alternate fingers 1 and 3 on the 3rd. You can also play the 3rd with fingers 3 and 5, but this will be difficult until the 5th finger is stronger. Play back and forth between finger 3 and finger 5, keeping a relaxed hand and wrist.
Interval of a 3rd
Play the interval of a 3rd with fingers 1 and 3, then 2 and 4, then 3 and 5.
Now work on various finger combinations for the 2nd. Fingers 1 to 2 will be easy to play, but you must curve the second finger to keep it on its tip. Slant the thumb toward the wrist (that is, UP) so that only the side of the tip touches the key. Now play fingers 1-2, 1-2 several times.
Interval of a 4th
Play fingers 2-3 several times, gently, and keep the thumb on its key, even though it is not playing.
When you play from finger 3 to finger 4, think of rocking your hand when each finger plays. In this way the arm and hand help the articulation of each finger, allowing the key of finger 3 to rise as the key of finger 4 goes down.
GREEN●LIGHT
When practicing intervals in one hand, play them melodically (one note at a time) first. Play them back and forth until it feels easy. Then try them blocked, or harmonically (notes played simultaneously). Keep the wrist relaxed. Always practice the same in the other hand!
Interval Piece
A Bit of Itsy-Bitsy Spider
Track 7
The beat goes on, even if the saxophone takes a break
If there are symbols for sound, then, conversely, there are symbols for silence. Music needs to breathe and these symbols are one way to accomplish this feat. Also, in ensemble music, whether it be string quartet, orchestra, or band, certain instruments are silent while others come to the forefront. For every kind of note, except dotted notes, there is a “rest.”
Following the table of rests, I have put some rhythmic patterns to clap. The most efficient way to feel a rest is to use an action other than clapping. As you clap or tap, have your arm(s) move the opposite way for the rests. When you count out loud for the notes, whisper the count for the rests.
Table of Rests
When you play music on the piano, you simply let the key up during the rest, so there is no sound. It is a small action but a necessary one to create the silence that is needed.
Rhythms to Clap or Tap
If you are tapping a rhythmic pattern, be sure to hold the hand down for a long note—half note or longer—as you count. When there is a rest, bring the hand up for the count. It is an action, but a silent one.
GREEN●LIGHT
Try these rhythmic patterns on the piano with one finger on a key. You’ll practice several things when you do this:
1. You can feel and hear the pattern.
2. You can feel the small action of letting the key up for the rest.
3. You can use a different finger, different hand, each time you play the pattern, to increase the independence of the fingers.
Rhythms to Clap or Tap
Track 8