Musical Note Values And Timing…Tough Topic, Important Lesson

What is a beat? You can beat eggs. You can get a severe beating. You can even beat someone up…probably the person that gave you the severe beating in the previous sentence. But what is a beat in music?

A regular beat pattern involves a pulse that repeats with a consistent frequency. Think of a drumbeat. If there is less time between each drum strike, the quicker the beat is. If there is more time between each drum strike, the beat is slower.

Have a look at this video, which shows what different notes values are called (they have particular names). This video will also tell you how many beats each note value is worth.