whole, half, and quarter notes, how long is long
okay. new subject. so far everything has been about which key to press. today's about how long to hold it once you do.
this is the part where I lose people, so let's go slow.
the basic idea
a note on the page tells you two things. which key, which you already know. and how long to hold it, which is what the shape of the note tells you.
- a whole note (an open circle, no stem) gets 4 counts.
- a half note (open circle, with a stem) gets 2 counts.
- a quarter note (filled-in circle, with a stem) gets 1 count.
that's it. that's the whole lesson, structurally. everything else is you getting comfortable with it.
here's the thing behind the thing, though. those numbers, 4 and 2 and 1, don't mean anything on their own. they only mean something next to each other. a whole note is exactly as long as two half notes, and a half note is exactly as long as two quarter notes. it's fractions. whole, half, quarter. someone named these very literally and I appreciate that about music notation, it doesn't always try to be clever.
so when you're looking at a measure of music and it's got a half note and two quarter notes sitting in it, that adds up to 4 counts total, same as one whole note would. the notes are just cut up different ways to fit the same amount of time.
why you have to count out loud, even though it feels dumb
I want you to actually count while you play these. out loud, or at least mouthing it. "one, two, three, four." not just tapping your foot and hoping.
I know it feels like something a beginner does and you'd rather skip to the part where you just feel it. I'd rather be accurate than smooth, and in the first few weeks there is no feel yet, there's just counting, and pretending otherwise is how people end up playing everything slightly wrong and confident about it.
try this at home:
- pick one hand, doesn't matter which. play middle C.
- hold it and count "one, two, three, four" out loud. that's a whole note.
- now play it and count "one, two," let go, play it again, count "one, two." two half notes, same total time as the whole note.
- now four quarter notes, "one," "two," "three," "four," a fresh press on each number.
do this slow enough that you never rush the counting to catch up with your hand. the counting sets the pace. your hand follows it, not the other way around.
the metronome, which you will hate, briefly
this is where the metronome comes in, and I'll be honest, I hated mine for about two weeks. it clicks at you, evenly, no matter what your hands are doing, and when you're off it just keeps clicking through your mistake like it doesn't care. which it doesn't. that's the whole point of it.
set it slow. slower than feels necessary. slower than you think a grown adult should need. then match your counting to the click.
metronomes are not optional, in my opinion, and I know some people will disagree with me on this and that's fine. but slower and even beats faster and lopsided every single time, and a metronome is the only honest way to find out if you're actually even or if you just think you are. your ear lies to you early on. the click doesn't.
a quiet morning and an extra hand
I practice at 5:30 in the morning, before anyone else is up, because that's the only time the house is actually quiet enough to hear myself think, let alone count out loud like a weirdo. one morning Braxton wandered out half asleep, hair everywhere, and just sat down next to me on the bench without saying anything. he put his hands an octave up from mine and started playing whatever came into his head while I was still working through my counted whole notes and half notes, very slow, very deliberate.
it didn't match. it wasn't supposed to. but I left the recording running on my phone because it was one of those mornings you want to keep, and it's a decent reminder that counting steadily underneath doesn't stop anyone from doing something looser on top of it. you need the steady part first, though. he's had years of just banging around on that piano with no counting attached to it at all, and it shows, in both a good way and a bad way. free, but he can't hold a line to save his life.
you're building the line right now. that's this whole lesson.
a caution, small but real
when you're first counting out loud and pressing keys at the same time, people tend to hold their breath without noticing. you'll get to the end of four counts and realize you haven't actually inhaled. it sounds silly written down but it happens constantly and it makes you tense up through the shoulders. breathe normal while you count. the counting is a rhythm, not a task you're bracing against.
before next time
find one line of anything, even just four measures, and count through it out loud twice before you touch the keys at all. once to see it, once to say it. then play it slow with the counting still out loud. dang, it'll feel plodding. that's correct.