Rhythm Dictation: Half Notes, Eighth Rests, Off-Beats

Listen to a rhythm of two measures (UK: bars) on the note G4 and write it with the cards: half notes (UK: minims), quarter notes (UK: crotchets), eighth notes (UK: quavers), sixteenth notes (UK: semiquavers), the eighth rest followed by an eighth note, and their rests, in 2/4, 3/4 or 4/4. The cards include an eighth rest and a single eighth note and a single sixteenth note: for the off-beat, place the rest and then the note; for a group, place two eighth notes or four sixteenth notes in a row and a beam joins them. Bar lines and the final double bar line are yours to place.

How to use the exercise: press Start and then Listen. As soon as the sound begins the cards are active: each one is written right after the previous one. You place the bar lines: the bar line when you finish the first measure and the final double bar line at the end. Nothing stops you from putting more beats in a measure than fit, or fewer: you have to count them yourself, as in a classroom dictation. Undo removes the last card and Clear all starts over. When the double bar line is in place, press Check. You can listen up to three times and write while it plays.

How to take a rhythm dictation with half notes and the eighth rest

Count with the metronome. Before the dictation, one measure of metronome clicks plays at the same tempo, with a stronger first beat. Count along ("1, 2…") and keep counting silently through the whole dictation, even when nothing sounds.
Find the time signature and count its beats. Count them from the metronome measure. Start again at 1 in every measure, even when the first beat does not sound.
Listen to where each note falls inside the beat. A note that starts with the pulse and lasts the whole beat is a quarter note. Two notes that share the beat in halves are two eighth notes; four notes are four sixteenth notes. A single note that arrives halfway through the beat, between two pulses, is an eighth rest plus an eighth note. If the note keeps sounding on the next beats it is a longer value, and if nothing sounds it is a rest.
Split your listenings. Both measures play on every listen, but you do not need to catch everything at once: in the first, the pulse and the first measure; in the second, the second measure; in the third, check the whole dictation.

The most common mistake is hearing the off-beat eighth note as if it fell on the beat: without the pulse inside you, a single note in a beat sounds like a quarter note. Tap your foot and say "(rest)-ti" for the eighth rest and eighth note, "ti-ti" for two eighth notes and "ta" for a quarter note. If the note lands as the foot goes down, it is a quarter note; if it lands as the foot comes up, it is the eighth note after its rest.

What the dictations are like

Every dictation is generated on the spot: two measures of 2/4, 3/4 or 4/4 using half notes, quarter notes, eighth notes, sixteenth notes, the eighth rest plus eighth note, and their rests, all on G4 played by a piano at 60 to 72 quarter notes per minute, a little slower because of the sixteenth notes. The eighth rest plus eighth note always fills exactly one beat: the beat starts silent and the note enters in its second half, off the beat. The other eighth notes come in pairs and the sixteenth notes in fours, each group filling one beat. Every dictation has at least one eighth rest plus eighth note and a half note or a half rest. A measure of metronome clicks plays first at the same tempo, with a stronger first beat. A dictation can begin with a rest, but never has more than two beats of rest in a row or a silent measure. Half notes and half rests go where they are normally written: in 4/4 they start on beat 1 or 3; in 3/4 the half note starts on beat 1 or 2 and the half rest on beat 1; in 2/4 the half note fills the measure (and its rest never appears, since the measure would be silent).

Every note sounds for nearly its full length, so the eighth note after its rest is heard as a short note that enters halfway through the beat, between two pulses. Each test has 10 dictations: 3 in 2/4, 4 in 3/4 and 3 in 4/4, none repeated.

Frequently asked questions

How is the dictation checked?

It counts as correct only if everything is right: the note values, the bar line and the beats in each measure. If you miss, you are told which measure has too many or too few beats and, when the total length is right, whatever sounds different appears in red in what you wrote. Below it you see the rhythm that played, so you can hear it again while you read it.

Why do I have to place the bar lines myself?

Because in a written dictation you add them yourself, and it is how you prove that you counted each measure correctly. If a measure has too many or too few beats, the check tells you how many it has and how many fit, and it also tells you if a bar line is missing. Without the final double bar line nothing is checked: it is the sign that you are done.

How do I write an eighth rest followed by an eighth note?

With two cards, at the start of the beat: first the eighth rest, then the eighth note. The eighth note stays single, with its flag, because a rest cannot be beamed. If you put them the other way around (eighth note, then rest), the note would sound on the beat and, when you check, that beat will not match the dictation.

How is the metronome measure at the start used?

It tells you the speed and where the measure begins: before each audio, a click plays on every beat, louder on the first, at the same tempo as the dictation. Count along with it and keep counting silently while the rhythm plays, rests included.

If you find it hard, start with Which rhythm is playing? or with Which audio is it?. The next group is dotted half notes and the eighth rest. All the groups are in the rhythm dictation index.