Reading: mixed rhythms — the check

The capstone reading check for Stage 2. Everything from the stage in one line — a tie, a dotted figure, an eighth run, a rest. Long enough to feel like a real piece of music.

The pre-read

Before the bow moves, in about twenty seconds:

1. Time signature — 4/4. Four beats a bar.
2. Key — no sharps or flats. All natural notes.
3. Range — D up to A, all on the D string.
4. Rhythm traps — the dotted figure in bar 2, the tie into bar 3, the rest in the last bar.
5. Hear beat 1 in your head, then start.

The line

60 bpm

show the answer

How to play it

Bar 1: medium bows, an eighth pair on beat 2. Bar 2: the dotted quarter gets a firm push, the eighth clips short, then a half note held full value — keep it going into bar 3 where it's tied, no new bow attack. Bar 3: fresh bow, an eighth run mid-bar. Bar 4: land the A, hold it two beats, then stop the bow and reset.

Where you should be

By the end of Stage 2 you can:

• read any note-value, dot, rest, tie and time signature by sight
• count any first-position rhythm out loud, continuously, in standard counting
• tell a beamed group from a double stop from a vibrato wobble
• feel simple against compound time, and read 6/8
• read a triplet and a simple syncopation without the pulse moving
• turn a note-value into an amount and speed of bow

If a line like this one still falls apart, it's almost always one layer — go back and drill that one alone. Then the tunes in Movement I are next: the same skills, in real music.