 Hi guys this is Jason Zach from Nathaniel School of Music. In this lesson we are going to explore the topic of beat division and also practice our very very important note values in the field of music theory. Now note values give us the duration of the note and with this exercise we are going to adjust the duration of the notes and while doing so understand the percentage of the beat associated with these note durations. Normally whenever note durations are taught it's sort of like that usual chart right you have whole notes half notes a quarter notes and whatnot but it may not be a very practical way to understand this subject. So in this lecture I'm going to give you a piano exercise to practice counting this however you could do this on any instrument you could even sing it if you're away from your piano you could play it on a guitar a saxophone or whatever be the case and this lesson is supplemented like all of our other lessons with Patreon notes so if you'd like to get yourself a copy to visualize the notation better you'll have my handwritten notes as well as official staff notation for the entire exercise which you'll see throughout the video as we go through but as a resource it's available on Patreon for a downloadable copy and along with that for that subscription of five dollars a month you'll also get a bunch of other things where we prepare tracks to help you improve your ear training your notation learning popular songs and pretty much any supplementary content or material for our YouTube channel which we've been doing over the past few years. So let's get cracking with the lesson now in the right hand we are going to learn or just basically get your keyboards out it'll be nice if you play along with me. So in the right hand we are just going to deal with these four notes C D E G okay so in the key of C major you could argue this would be the 1 2 3 5 root second major second major third and the perfect fifth degrees from the C scale okay you could avoid your ring finger for this lesson if you don't want to just use the pinky for the G and you're good to go. So how we are going to practice beat division will be using the idea of fractions right now a normal quarter note which we learn in a four by four time signature or even a three by four time signature essentially is the value of a beat or a value of one beat and if you look at it in terms of fractions there is no fraction it's just one by one which is one but in terms of percentages you could also argue that a quarter note occupies 100% of the beat right now it seems very obvious but then you'll if you stick with me till the other parts of the lesson you'll realize how important the percentage are percentages or the fractions are going to be because I am going to cover every single percentage of the beat and or fractions of the beat which you will ever have in music or at least the commonly used ones we are not going to get into things like quintuplets or septuplets which divide the beat into all sorts of other percentages we are going to do all the usual suspects in this lecture okay so the quarter note is something you would need to practice first so you could generally use a metronome while you play or you could even move your head along to the music so right now one two three four and if I consider this as a four by four I would be playing quarter notes also known as crotchets one two three four four and in the left hand you could just play a single C to support this melody in the right hand one two three four one two if you get bored with that C you can do quarter notes by going maybe C A F G so two three four A two three four F four G and so on if you're having an issue changing the notes it's okay you could just stick to a single C you could also kind of alternate your octaves by going maybe C like this C C lower C higher C could also work so the right hand is what we are going to change in this exercise left hand let's keep as it is you can even play chords in the left hand C major A minor but once you come into something in the left hand just stick with that okay so now the right hand is going to be adjusted in such a way that we go through different stages of the beat so hundred percent is a crotchet or a quarter note now you may argue what is after hundred percent well in truth it's like 99.99% but to execute that as a musician we don't have the resources because and it won't even sound great so we just have standard percentages which we can divide the beat by or have our note values for so the next percentage which is closest to 200 which I think is reasonable to practice or important to practice would be the 75% mark of the beat now a 75% mark of the beat if you have a note which exists for 75% of the beat or three fourths of a beat that would be a dotted quaver a dotted quaver lasts for 0.75 of a beat so a dotted quaver if you think about it a quaver is half of a beat right a dot adds half of that half so what is half plus 0.25 0.75 or three fourths so a dotted quaver will be utilized for this purpose so how do we count a dotted quaver becomes an important question you are in the world of 16th notes so you need to count in a way which suits your brain best so what we could do is you could say one e and a two e and a three and a four e and and every third beat you would be targeting a note so one e and a two e and a three e and a four e and a one e and a two e and a three e so one e and a three and a four e and a doomed so beyond the point you don't have to even say the numbers but just remember in your mind you're dividing by four so even though the note value is not playing divided by four the note value is three fourths of a beat in your mind you need to divide the beat by four in order to get to the 75 percent mark right so to get to that 75 we'll have 25 percent 50 percent and 75 percent which is one e and a so if i were to play that just with a c one e and a two e and a three e and a and a two e and a three it also forms like an interesting polyrhythm if you think about it the right hand's doing three one or the right hand in this case is doing four beats while the left hand finishes three hits one e and a two e and a three e and a one e and a two e and a three so the right hand's going like three four one two three by the left's going one two three one two three one two three right the right hand's going one two three four one so that's a dotted quaver so quaver with a dot so how do we count it again one e and a two e and a three e and a four e and a four and six so every three beats it'll recycle itself so one e and a two e and a three e and a four so at four it's going to recycle which is why this works well over a three by four signature so let's bring our note combo the note combo is not going to change it's going to be c d e g and we are not going to go in any other order than that it's going to be c d e g so earlier we did two three four one two now to get the three fourths or a dotted quaver we have to divide the beat by three fourths one e and a two e and a three e and a four e and a two e and a three e and a two e and a three in your mind you could say one e and a two e and a three e and a you can choose some other notes as well if you like so the world of the dotted quaver is beautiful you can get immersed in it and improvise and create your own melodies and phrases and riffs and what not. So try and put it together with the old version 2e and 3e and 4e and this is normal crotchets 1e and 2e and now to do the dotted quaver we go 1e and 2e and 3e so that's the next stage of beat division or commonly known note value. So we've covered 100% of the beat which is a crotchet, 75% of the beat which is a dotted quaver and what's next? You may argue okay after 75% comes 50% that's usually what we do but we also have the world of triplets where the triplet will go 1 3rds, 2 2 3rds and 3 3rds. So 1 3rd will be the quicker triplet, 2 3rds of a beat would be the slower triplet or what we call in music as a quarter note triplet. So a quarter note triplet is such that 3 of them make up a minimum okay or 3 of them make up 2 crotchets or 2 quarter notes so when we call something a quarter note triplet it is a tuplet symbol where we write 3 or we could have written 5 which is a quintuplet or any other division but if we write 3 it's a triplet so what that means is a quarter note, a gang of 3 will always equal to 2 quarter notes in that time or it will equal to 1 minimum. So a quarter note triplet equals to 2 quarter notes the value of 2 quarter notes or it's equal to 2 beats so how do we count a triplet? Instead of saying 1e and 2e and 3e and which is dividing by 4 we don't need that we need a triplet to divide by 3. So it will go 1e and 2e and 3e and 1e and 2e and 3e and 1e triplet, 2 triplet, 3 triplet, 1e and 2e and triplet, triplet, triplet. So where is this note going to latch on to? It's going to latch on to the 2 3rds point of the beat or what I would like to say in terms of percentages 66.66 or 66.67 or something right? So you go 1e and 2e and 3e and so you could start with crotchets, 1e and 2e and 3e and 4e and play quarter notes but keep the triplet vibe in mind now, 1e and 2e and 3e and 4e and 1e and 2e and 3e it will take it's time to resolve because you're still in this lecture I'm trying to say play the same Sarega Pa always, you're doing that as a cycle right? So 1e and 2e and 3e and 4e and 1e and 2e and 3e and 4e and 1e and 2e and so 4 of those note combos will resolve this triplet phrase. Let me show you again. Over, new cycle, change, try to internalize this like it's its own melody, in your mind you're going 1e and 2e and 3e and 4 note groupings but you're dividing the beat by 3. But not the taqita taqita you're not playing at every division, you're playing at every alternate division so taqita taqita taqita. So how does this compare again with crotchets? 100% of the beat is this. Then we have 75% which we learnt earlier 1e and 2e very busy, 16 notes, trippy taqita taqita the very eastern sound. So unlike a lot of my other youtube videos where I go more complex at the end what you guys need to realize is we finished all the hard stuff, now the easy stuff is following us now. So we've done 100%, we've done 75% which is dotted quavers, we've done 66.67% which is a quarter note triplet combos, what's after 66.67 conventionally speaking 50% which is quavers which divides by 2 and I think that'll be super easy. All you have to do is say 1e and 2e and 3e and 4e and 1e and 2e and now play your notes 1e and 2e and 3e and you could also see the notation, there's a notation laid out for you on our, it's also there for download on Patreon so do consider a copy there 1e and 2e and 3e and 4e and so how does this compare with crotchets? Our quarters, quarters was taqita taqita taqita then we had 75, 1e and 2e and the triplets 50%, very straight forward if you ask me, now moving forward to the next division so we've covered 100%, 75%, 66.67% we are getting closer and closer to like lesser percentages, we've done 50%, what's after 50, conventionally speaking one third or 33% of the beat 33% of the beat we already learnt when we learnt two thirds which is 1e and 2e and 3e and 4e but with everything so that actually may be very easy on the mind so that'll be called as eighth note triplets and eighth note triplet is such that three of them equals to one quarter note or one crotchet okay so or one beat so eighth note triplets just to set it up for us 1e and 2e and a 3e and a 4e and so with my voice each note will go with it so 1e 1e and a 2e and a 3e and a 4e and so it'll recycle after four beats but you're playing four note combos 1e and a 2e and a 3e and a 4e and a 4e and a 4e and a 3e and a 4e and a 4e and a 4e very different than the 66% mark which is but very similar as well why it's the same triplet grid then that was your world of triplets so we have the slow one quarter note triplet the fast one eighth note triplet so last but not least we have the semi quavers semi quavers will essentially divide the beat by four so you're looking at 25% of the beat which is 1e and a 2e and a 3e and a 4e and a 1e and a 2e and a 3e and a 4e and so pretty much what we did for 75% 1e and a 3e and boom 50% was 1 and 2 and 3 so this is like the fastest version where you're playing all the notes in that time grid 1e and a 2e and a 3 so everything would involve so if you compare your right hand with your left hand there are four notes in the right hand with one note in the left hand because the left hand continues to hold its ground by playing crotchets or quarter notes so just to compare 100% 50% 25% so you can equate all the three speeds and if you're a beginner you could actually just stick with that you know you could do 100% you could do 50% 25% which are all the usual suspects come to think of it and then you have the triplet world where we go fast triplets or eighth note triplets then you can go to crotchet or slow triplets and of course the 75% one which was a bit weird the most groovy if you ask me I didn't want to miss that out because I love rhythm so so these are about all the note values guys I'm sure you'll agree that using this concept you have different percentages of the beat what if you like go beyond 100% you could have like 150% of the beat which is what now 150% will be a dotted crotchet so that'll be one and two and three and four and one and two and three and four and one and two and three so that's 150% you may argue why can't I divide the beat into eight units well you can it's just semi quavers with faster what is that it's a 32nd note which divides the beat into eight right so then you could go so that you could argue is 12.5% of the beat right 25% divided by two I hope I've got my maths right but I'm sure you'll be better than me at this field especially if you're a genius at fractions and percentages which is all that this lesson pretty much needs so a good way to so let's conclude the lesson with a few tips and a few pointers a good way to practice this lesson first of all is to start with what I told you cdeg with a singular bass that's just a c in the left hand and what you could do moving forward is you can then use it with a metronome or try and play it along with a drum beat but don't give yourself anything more than a crotchet or a quarter note and this exercise will really get you to understand what those note values mean the note values we see every day in our sheet music ultimately this is all they mean they are just fractions they are just fractions of a beat or percentages of a beat you know all the way up to 100% or more than 100% if you do a dotted crotchet it's 150 you do a minimum it's 200% you do a dotted minimum it's 300% you do a whole note or a semi-brief it's 400% so ultimately you should look at this as a x-axis time grid and say I have this symbol what does it mean how long is it that's exactly what music notation is all about it's about there is a note which you stare at it lasts for how long or there could be a rest which also lasts for that long and then you ask yourself after that what what is the note first of all how long is the note and then what is the note and that covers your x and y axis of music if you think about it and the z-axis will be pretty much the volume how loud should I play the note so if you ask yourself this question how long should I play a note then what is the note or in whichever order and then how loud should I play the note that's how the field of music or I would say the field of sound exists in physics at the bare minimum these are the three properties of sound if you think about it pitch volume and duration or time length and so on right guys hope you found the lesson useful do consider downloading a copy of the notes on patreon and it'll be great if you can also hit the like button on our youtube channel there's a bell icon for regular notifications do consider hitting that and let us know in the comments what you thought about the lesson and also things which you'd like to learn in the future and if you'd like something more structured you can head over to nathanielschool.com on our website you either have a free tutorial section with our videos catalogued very well for you to access or you can look at our members only videos which showcase a structured course content or a structured course format for piano learning music theory learning rhythm training year training at different levels so all the best with that have fun practicing and do let us know what you think in the comments or you could drop us a note on instagram or record something and tag either me or the school cheers and see you in the next one