Rhythmic Dictation Online: Write the Rhythm Note by Note

Listen to a two-measure (UK: two-bar) rhythm on the note G and write it note by note with the cards, adding the bar line and the final double bar line yourself. This is rhythmic dictation proper, with no options to choose from. You decide what can appear: from quarter notes and rests to sixteenths, syncopation and triplets, in simple and compound meters (2/4 to 12/8).

How to use the exercise: tick the notes and time signatures (or press a quick level), press Start and then Listen. As soon as it plays, the cards become active: each note is written after the previous one. Eighths and sixteenths in the same beat are beamed automatically, and three triplet notes in a row that fill their space are grouped with the 3 (likewise the duplet with its 2 and the quadruplet with its 4). You add the bar lines yourself: nothing stops you from putting more or fewer beats in a measure than it holds; you have to count them, as in a class dictation. Undo removes the last item and Clear all starts again. When you have added the double bar line, press Check. You can listen to the dictation up to three times and write while it plays.

What you can choose

Before you start, pick simple meters (2/4, 3/4 and 4/4) or compound meters (6/8, 9/8 and 12/8) at the top, then tick what may appear in the dictations, one box per item, and the time signatures. If you would rather not set anything up, the quick levels tick the usual combinations. In simple meters:

Notes: quarter note (UK: crotchet), half note (UK: minim), dotted half note and whole note (UK: semibreve).
Rests: quarter, half, dotted half and whole rests.
Eighth notes (UK: quavers), one beat: two eighths; eighth rest and eighth (the note off the beat); eighth and eighth rest.
Sixteenth notes (UK: semiquavers), one beat: four sixteenths; eighth and two sixteenths; two sixteenths and eighth; sixteenth, eighth and sixteenth; dotted eighth and sixteenth.
Two-beat rhythms: dotted quarter and eighth, and the syncopation eighth, quarter, eighth.
Triplets: eighth-note triplets (one beat), quarter-note triplets (two beats) and sixteenth-note triplets (two in one beat, triplet and eighth, or eighth and triplet). Eighth- and quarter-note triplets also come with a rest inside, in any of the three positions.

In compound meters, where the beat is a dotted quarter note (three eighths):

Notes: dotted quarter, dotted half and dotted whole note (which fills a 12/8 measure), and their rests.
Eighth notes (one beat): three eighths; quarter and eighth; eighth and quarter; eighth rest and two eighths; quarter and eighth rest.
Sixteenth notes (one beat): six sixteenths; two sixteenths and two eighths; dotted eighth, sixteenth and eighth.
Tuplets: the eighth-note duplet (two eighths in the space of three) and the sixteenth-note quadruplet (four sixteenths in the space of six), both one beat long.

Your choice is saved: you will find it ticked when you come back and in the other two exercises. And Copy the link with this selection gives you an address that opens the exercise with the same notes, for example to send to your students with the rhythms you are working on in class.

How to take a rhythmic dictation

Count with the metronome. The metronome measure at the start gives you the tempo and the downbeat: count with it ("1, 2, 3…") and keep counting in your head through the whole dictation, also when nothing sounds.
Beat by beat: does a note start, keep sounding, or is there silence? A note lasting more than one beat is a long note (half, dotted half, whole); if nothing sounds, it is a rest, which you do not hear but count.
If a beat has several notes, subdivide. Think of the beat split into two halves or four parts: two equal notes are two eighths; four, sixteenths; one long and two quick ones, an eighth and two sixteenths. If the notes split the beat into three equal parts, it is an eighth-note triplet. In compound meters it is the other way round: the beat divides into three eighths, and if it is split into two equal parts it is a duplet.
Split your listens. Both measures play each time, but you do not have to follow everything at once: the pulse and the first measure in the first listen, the second measure in the next one, and the whole dictation as a check in the last.

What gets mixed up most: the eighth-note triplet and an eighth with two sixteenths (in the triplet the three notes are equal; in the other the first is twice as long), syncopation and two quarter notes (in the syncopation the long note comes in off the beat), and the eighth rest with an eighth and an eighth on the beat (the note lands right between two clicks). And the quarter-note triplet: three equal notes in the space of two beats, which only meet the pulse on the first one. In compound meters, the duplet and the quarter and eighth: in the duplet both notes are equal and the second falls exactly in the middle of the beat.

What the dictations are like

Each dictation is made up on the spot from what you chose: two measures (UK: bars), all on the note G4 played by a piano. Every ticked box has the same chance of appearing, and what has already come up in the test appears a little less, so a hard rhythm shows up as often as the quarter note. Before each audio, one measure of metronome clicks plays at the same tempo, with a stronger first beat. The tempo is between 72 and 90 quarter notes per minute, a little slower (60 to 72) when you chose something with sixteenths. In compound meters the metronome beats the dotted quarter, at 54 to 66 per minute (44 to 54 with sixteenths).

Notes are written the way they are taught: two-beat notes start at the middle of a 4/4 measure, never across beats 2 and 3; the dotted half note fills 3/4 or starts on beat 1 or 2 of 4/4; the whole note fills 4/4. Compound meters follow the same rules: 6/8 is written like 2/4, 9/8 like 3/4 and 12/8 like 4/4, with the dotted quarter as the beat. There are never more than two beats of rest in a row (except with the long rests you choose), the first measure is never entirely silent, and consecutive rests that fit in one are written as one. The 10 dictations of a test are shared among the chosen time signatures and never repeat.

Frequently asked questions

How do you take a rhythmic dictation?

First get the pulse from the metronome measure that plays before the dictation, and keep counting inside. Then, beat by beat: if a note starts, how long it lasts; if a beat has several notes, how they split it (in two, in four or in three parts); if nothing sounds, a rest. Split the listens: the first measure, the second, and one to check.

How do I write a triplet?

With the triplet note cards: three triplet eighths in a row (or with a triplet eighth rest in its place) fill one beat and are grouped with the 3; three triplet quarters fill two beats, and three triplet sixteenths half a beat. The same in compound meters: two duplet eighths or four quadruplet sixteenths fill one beat and are grouped with their 2 or 4. The cards you get are those of what you chose.

How is it checked?

It only counts as right if everything is: the notes, the bar line and the beats in each measure. What is checked is the sound: a half rest or two quarter rests count the same. If you miss, you are told which measure has too many or too few beats (in compound meters, eighths) and, if the total length is right, what sounds different is shown in red; below you see the rhythm that played.

Why do I have to add the bar lines myself?

Because in a written dictation you add them too, and it is how you check that you counted the beats of each measure correctly. Without the final double bar line nothing is checked: it is the sign that you have finished.

Can I practice just one rhythm?

Yes: tick that rhythm and the quarter note (or another value to complete the measures) and untick the rest. Every ticked box has the same chance, so the rhythm you want to practice will come up in almost every dictation. For example, quarter note, two eighths and eighth-note triplet to tell the triplet from the eighths.

Are there dictations in 6/8, 9/8 and 12/8?

Yes: choose "Compound meters" at the top of the panel and their notes and rhythms appear: dotted quarter, dotted half and dotted whole notes and their rests, the one-beat eighth and sixteenth rhythms, the duplet and the quadruplet. The metronome beats the dotted quarter, which is the beat of these meters. Your choices for simple and compound meters are saved separately.

How do I send my students a dictation with specific notes?

Tick the notes and time signatures and press "Copy the link with this selection". When the link is opened, the exercise starts with those notes already ticked. It works for all three exercises: which rhythm is playing, which audio is it, and writing the dictation.

If it is hard, start with Which rhythm is playing?, where you choose among four written rhythms, or with Which audio is it?, which goes from score to sound. To practice writing rhythm without audio there are completing measures and the tuplet exercises.