Rhythm in a melody

▶ Open in Aratu to hear the examples, change them and do the exercises

The rhythm rules work for notes too, with one care: two notes in the same beat go in brackets.

tempo: 90
melody = | [c4 d] e [f g] a | g _ _ _ |

[c4 d] is two eighths in one beat. Why brackets? Because eb is E-flat: without brackets, Aratu could not tell eb from an E followed by a B. Rests and holds can sit next to a note: -e4 is an eighth rest, then an E.

Long notes and ties

_ makes a note last one more beat (or one more part, inside brackets). A _ at the start of a bar ties over from the bar before:

melody = | c4 _ e _ | g _ _ _ | _ _ e _ |

The G lasts six beats: four in the second bar and two more in the third.

Dotted notes and staccato

Inside brackets, a dotted eighth is [c4 _ _ d] (the dot works too: [c4. d]). An apostrophe makes a note short, staccato:

tempo: 100
melody = | e4' e' f' g' | g f e d |

Several notes at once

+ joins notes that sound together, a chord:

keys = | c4+e4+g4 _ _ _ | d4+f4+a4 _ b3+d4+g4 _ |

The "Ode to Joy"

Beethoven's theme, in the public domain, has a dotted rhythm at the end:

tempo: 110
melody = | e4 e f g | g f e d | c c d e | e [_ d] d _ |

The last bar: E lasts a beat and a half (e and the first half of [_ d]), D lasts half a beat, and the last D lasts two beats.

Long lines

An eight-bar melody does not fit on one line of the screen. Break the line wherever you like: a line that starts with a bar line carries on the line of music above it.

tempo: 110
melody = | e4 e f g | g f e d |
         | c c d e  | e [_ d] d _ |
         | e e f g  | g f e d |
         | c c d e  | d [_ c] c _ |

That is eight bars of one single line, the same melody. Lining up the bar lines with spaces, as above, makes the music easy to read, as on a score.

Exercises

End the "Ode to Joy" with the other phrase, which lands on C: in the last bar, d [_ c] c _.

tempo: 110
melody = | e4 e f g | g f e d | c c d e | d _ _ _ |

tempo: 110
melody = | e4 e f g | g f e d | c c d e | d [_ c] c _ |

Write a C major chord (C4, E4, G4) that lasts the whole bar.

keys = | c4 _ _ _ |

keys = | c4+e4+g4 _ _ _ |

Eighths with the first of each beat staccato: [c4' d] on all four beats.

melody = | [c4 d] [c d] [c d] [c d] |

melody = | [c4' d] [c' d] [c' d] [c' d] |

Carry the melody on to the next line, with two more bars: | f4 e d c | d _ _ _ |.

melody = | c4 d e f | g _ _ _ |

melody = | c4 d e f | g _ _ _ |
         | f4 e d c | d _ _ _ |