From Zero to Mozart
Stage 2RhythmLesson 17 of 37 · Reading

6/8, properly

6/8 is the most common compound time, and worth getting completely straight. Six eighth notes are written in each bar — but they group 3 + 3, into two dotted-quarter beats.

There are two ways to count it, and you'll use both:

  • The full count — "1 2 3 4 5 6", every eighth, with 1 and 4 stressed. Use this when you're learning a bar slowly.
  • The feel — "1 – – 2 – –", just the two big beats. Use this at speed. It's the swing of a jig, a barcarolle, a lullaby.

The bar, both ways

116 bpm
Six even eighths, beamed 3 + 3. First say all six — '1 2 3 4 5 6' — leaning on 1 and 4. Then feel just the two beats and let the notes flow between them.

The classic 6/8 figure

The most common rhythm in 6/8 is a dotted-quarter (the whole beat) followed by a quarter–eighth ("long–short") on the next.

112 bpm
Bar 1: a full-beat note, then 'long–short' on beat 2 (a quarter on '4', an eighth on '6'). Bar 2: two full-beat notes. Clap it — it should sound like 'DAA-da, DAA' — a lilt, not a march.

Why 6/8 is not 3/4

Both hold six eighth notes. The difference is entirely the accent: 3/4 has three beats and stresses beat 1; 6/8 has two beats and stresses 1 and 4.

126 bpm
Six eighths in 3/4 — three beats, beamed in pairs, stress on 'one'. A waltz.
126 bpm
The same six eighths in 6/8 — two beats, beamed in threes, stress on 1 and 4. A jig. Play both back to back and hear the accent shift the whole character.

On the D string

96 bpm
A 6/8 line on the D string. Beat 1 is a rising run of three; beat 2 is 'long–short'. Feel it in two, and let the bow lilt — a little more speed into beats 1 and 4.

A real 6/8 tune

The rhythm of Row, Row, Row Your Boat: "Row, row, row your boat, gent-ly down the stream" — it rocks in two, like the boat.

116 bpm
Clap and count in two. 'Row, row, row your boat' rides the two dotted beats; 'gent-ly down the' fills in the eighths; 'stream' is held for a whole bar. You'll play it, as a round, in Movement I.

The usual mistake

Counting 6/8 as six beats, so the tune plods; or accenting every eighth evenly, which kills the lilt. Feel the two dotted beats, lean into them, let everything between float.