Rhythm Reading Exercises
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Rhythmic reading exercises
Practice the following exercises in the following ways:
1. Read them in time with a metronome.
2. Play the lines with one hand and play the negative rhythm with the other.
3. Play the lines alternating right – left – right – left using accents.
4. Write one-part rhythmic pieces using pieces from the rhythm exercises.
5. Write two-part rhythmic pieces using pieces from the rhythmic exercises.
6. Sing or play the rhythms and have someone else improvise during the two-bar
silences.
7. Transpose all the exercises to sixteenth notes and practice all the previous
exercises.
Exercise 1. This exercise begins with a dotted quarter note pulse over 2 bars of 4/4 (example 1). The
1st and the alternating dotted quarter notes are replaced with a quarter note and an eighth note
creating a rhythm ( 2 + 1 ) + 3 in example 2. The 1st and the alternating dotted quarter notes are
replaced with an eighth note and a quarter note creating a rhythm ( 1 + 2 ) + 3 in example 3. The
1st and the alternate dotted quarter notes are replaced with 3 eighth notes creating a rhythm ( 1 + 1
+ 1 ) + 3 in example 4:
Example 1. Example 2.
Example 3. Example 4.
Exercise 2. It is exercise 1 shifted one eighth note
Exercise 3. It is exercise 1 shifted two eighth notes
Exercise 4. It is exercise 1 displaced a white
t—r r PT' *—H—r r pr~'r *—T
D 1 1
“ ' ' Lr^r cnr >r * ' 1
Exercise 5. This exercise replaces the dotted 2nd quarter note from exercise 1 with a B and a C note
with another combination. The 1st line starts 3 + ( 2 + 1 ), the 2nd 3 + ( 1 + 2 ) and the 3rd 3 + ( 1
+ 1 + 1 ):
Exercise 8. It is based on exercise 1. In this exercise each dotted quarter note is replaced by a 2+1
combination. The second line is shifted by an eighth note and the third by a quarter note:
Exercise 9. It is based on exercise 1. In this exercise each dotted quarter note is replaced by a 1 + 2
combination. The second line is shifted by an eighth note and the third by a quarter note:
Exercise 10. The possible combinations of 3 dotted quarter notes (2 + 1, 1 + 2 and 1 + 1 + 1), the
possible shifts on any downbeat or upbeat in the bar, and combinations with quarter notes create an
almost infinite number of rhythms. The rhythms in the following exercise are found in many funk,
pop, Latin and jazz songs. Pairs of eighth notes are placed every 3 beats. The 3-beat rhythm shown
above each eighth note line is the dotted quarter note augmentation from exercise 1:
Exercise 11. Much music written in pop, funk, and Latin is written with sixteenth note subdivisions.
The dotted quarter note overlay becomes a dotted sixteenth note in the following exercise. It is the
rhythmic decrease of exercise 1. It is advisable to rewrite the previous exercises and all the following
ones in their diminished form to facilitate the reading of sixteenth note subdivisions:
The clave rhythm is another rhythmic pattern in which we can substitute the combinations 2
+ 1, 1 + 2 and 1 + 1 + 1 for the dotted quarter notes. Here are some variations of the 3 – 2 and 2 - 3
clave:
• •*p* L' •** •* • •* 1 • । r •* ' p*
More exercises
Practice them with a metronome at a variety of tempos:
* LT7 PR 1 CJ 1 n * 11 7
nr
7
n—
Reading exercise 5.
Reading exercise 6.
D° 1 KT L/UIÜ7 CJI o'r r üi/1
To—7 cr LT^rrf K—r /~rrrrr -----------------------------------
Reading exercise 7.
0e”—vrckrr r'n r lr r rz* l?crrr LHET I
Reading exercise 8.
7
Oc 7
p Ü'7 P'r 1^'HJ'-'HT'U*
nLJ* 7 fLT' 1C1 '—l?P~ T Li* U Li* 11
Reading exercise 9.
°c LiT 17 Ü*?L Li? 1LÍLL7 LÜ*^ Li?
n
^'Li? i7£pp'L/r sr7a-* LÍ* ii
Reading exercise 10.