1.
Beat & Rhythm What is the difference?

2.
The Beat is steady, like your heart.
Sometimes it is fast, sometimes it is slow, but it is
always steady!

3.
• Beat in music is the center of everything—if notes
are words, rhythm is letters that form and structure
each word and each sentence.
• A beat is the basic unit of time in music, and when
repeated in a regular pattern it creates a pulse.
• Essentially, rhythm is the language that musicians
and artists use to play together. It tells the audience
when to clap and dancers when to dance too!

4.
Music is usually divided into bars. Each bar is
divided with bar lines. A time signature tells us how
many BEATS are in each bar!

5.
• Rhythm in all aspects of life is a regularly recurring pattern over
time.
• Many things in our lives have rhythm.
• In music, rhythm is specifically a regular repetition or grouping of beats,
and specifically how unaccented beats are grouped around accented
beats.
• The term rhythm is closely related to the term beat, as well
as pulse and meter.
• To fully understand rhythm and the definition above, we need to unpack
what each of these three terms mean.

6.
Try to clap
along with
this rhyme,
but only clap
where you see
a bee! There
are 2 BEATS
in each bar.

7.
Rhythm fits
within the beat
and represents
the sounds and
silences in the
music.
These can be
both long and
short
We can find rhythm in words – try to
clap the following words:
• Lamp
• Har-ry-pot-ter
• Choc-ol-ate
• Par-snip
• Av-oc-ad-oe

8.
Try to clap the
rhythm along
with the rhyme.
Larger shoes
should be held
for a slightly
longer amount
of time.

9.
Beat vs
Rhythm

10.
Why not try
clap out the
beat and then
the rhythm to
the following
well known
tunes?
Mary had a little lamb
The wheels on the bus go round and round
Twinkle Twinkle little star
Auld Lang Syne
Baa Baa black sheep

11.
Summing Up
Rhythm is to time what melody and harmony is to
pitch or frequency; it divides the abstract
concept of time into discrete and measurable
segments.
It is often the least thought of major aspect of
music, but it is just as important.

12.
THANK YOU!