Rhythm is the arrangement of strong and weak beats in a song. Some beats are given a stronger accent than others. This gives music its flow. Most music is arranged in groups of four beats (though other groups occur also). While some rhythms are fairly predictable and straight, others make use of variation and the unexpected. These surprises, called syncopation, make the rhythm more interesting. The challenge for the musicians is finding the right balance between too blah and too much!
Listen to some different rhythms to hear for yourself:
A basic 1-2-3-4 It's simple and would get boring before too long
Busy 1-2-3-4 More interesting and complicated than the last example
Clapping You don't need drums to play a rhythm, this one is all hands
Double Time It's not twice as fast, but doubling the bass and snare make it sound like it is
Percussion A shaker and triangle provide this interesting rhythm
Triple The hi-hats play a 1-2-3 1-2-3 pattern over this busy rhythm
Guitar When one guitar is playing lead, the other one can play the rhythm
Synthesizer Electronic music, like trance, techno and house often uses electronic rhythms
Hear Them All At Once That's right, they can all fit together (they're at the same tempo)
Duration describes amount of time notes are to
be played, whether long, short or somewhere in between. Musicians have special
ways of counting 
out the
length of notes to help them keep their place. If you can count to four and tap
your foot, you can probably figure it out! Music is
made interesting by varying how long we hold each sound. If each note was the
same length, music would quickly become boring.
Listen to this music and follow along. Notice which notes are held longer and which are shorter. The shading of the notes and the use of flags and dots is the musicians' guide. Click here to play
Tempo refers to how fast or slow the music is played. Some tempos are fast (e.g. dance music), some are slow (e.g. a waltz). Tempo is measured in beats per minute, bpm. Some songs have one tempo throughout and others use more than one tempo. Changes in tempo help make music exciting and different. Selecting the right tempo for a song is important. It can mean the difference between making it better or ruining it.
Musicians and composers have special terms to describe the tempo of music as you can see here. Like many other terms in music these are Italian.
When practicing, it is common to use a metronome to help keep the correct tempo. The mechanical metronome, shown here, is an upside-down pendulum that emits audible clicks with each stroke. Its tempo can be adjusted by moving a counterweight on the pendulum.
Let's hear some examples of different tempos using the intro to Light My Fire by The Doors.
| 30bpm | 60bpm | 90bpm |
| 120bpm | Be sure to tap your foot! | 150bpm |
| 180bpm | 210bpm | 240bpm |
The Doors actually played it at about 121bpm. The really slow and fast versions would be very hard to play, but for different reasons. Can you figure out why? Check your answers here.
