Beat and tempo
Find the steady pulse under any song, tell it apart from the rhythm on top, and measure how fast it goes in beats per minute.
THE PULSE
The beat
The beat is the steady, even pulse that runs under a piece of music. It is what your foot taps without being asked. Every beat is the same distance from the next one, like the ticks of a clock.
At a wedding, a hundred people who have never rehearsed together clap at the same moments. Nobody told them where to clap. They are all feeling the same beat.
Footsteps on a walk
Walk down the street and your steps land evenly: left, right, left, right. You can talk, whistle or look around, and the steps keep going underneath. The beat is those steps, and the tune is everything you do while walking. Where the analogy breaks: your steps drift faster or slower without you noticing. In music the players choose a speed and work to hold it.
Check yourself
Nika sings "Happy Birthday" while clapping a steady beat. At the end of the first line she holds the word "you" for a long time. What should her hands do during that long note?
- Stop and wait until the next word starts
- Keep clapping at the same even speed
- Clap faster to fill the gap
- Clap once, exactly when the note ends
Show the answer
Keep clapping at the same even speed
Yes. The beat does not care what the melody is doing. A long note simply lasts across several beats.
Beat is not rhythm
Beat
The even pulse. Every beat is the same length. It is usually not written in the tune at all; you feel it. Drums and bass often mark it.
Rhythm
The pattern of long and short sounds laid on top of the beat. The words of a song have a rhythm. Two songs can share a beat and have completely different rhythms.
"Twinkle Twinkle Little Star", first line.
Clap evenly on every number and sing along.
beat: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
sing: Twin kle twin kle lit tle star ----8 beats, but only 7 sung sounds.
"star" lasts for two beats: 7 and 8.Your hands did the beat. Your voice did the rhythm. On beat 8 your hands clapped and your voice did nothing new. That gap between the two is the whole idea of this lesson.
Check yourself
In "Twinkle Twinkle", the beat is the pattern made by the syllables: short, short, short, short, short, short, long.
Show the answer
False
That pattern is the rhythm. The beat is the even pulse underneath: eight equal claps. The rhythm sits on top of it and is allowed to have long and short sounds.
Tempo
How fast the beat goes. It is measured in BPM, beats per minute. At 60 BPM there is one beat every second. At 120 BPM there are two beats every second.
The second hand of a clock ticks at exactly 60 BPM. Clap once per tick, then twice per tick, and you have felt 60 and 120.
| Tempo (roughly) | Feels like | Old Italian name |
|---|---|---|
| 60–70 BPM | A slow ballad, a clock ticking | Adagio |
| 80–100 BPM | A relaxed walk | Andante |
| 120–140 BPM | A brisk walk, a lot of pop and dance music | Allegro |
| 170+ BPM | Running | Presto |
Check yourself
Omid sets a metronome to 120 BPM and claps along for 30 seconds. How many claps is that?
- 60
- 30
- 120
- 240
Show the answer
60
Right. 120 beats in a full minute means 60 in half a minute, which is two claps every second.
Find the beat and the tempo of any song
- Listen low
Ignore the singer for a moment. The drums and the bass usually mark the beat most clearly.
- Let your body join in
Tap a foot or nod. Don't think about it. Your body finds a pulse faster than your head does.
- Check that it is even
Count your taps from 1 to 8 a few times. If you keep landing together with the music, you have the beat.
- Measure it
Count your taps for 15 seconds on a watch and multiply by 4. 25 taps means about 100 BPM.
Check yourself
Does this change the tempo?
- A band plays its hit faster at the concert than on the album
- The singer holds one note for four beats
- You move the metronome from 80 to 100
- The drummer squeezes quick extra hits between the beats
- The chorus gets much louder
- The pianist gradually slows down for the ending
Show the answer
Tempo changes: A band plays its hit faster at the concert than on the album, You move the metronome from 80 to 100, The pianist gradually slows down for the ending
Tempo stays the same: The singer holds one note for four beats, The drummer squeezes quick extra hits between the beats, The chorus gets much louder
Check yourself
Nika wants to know the tempo of a song on the radio. She taps her foot along with the drums and, timing it on her phone, counts 22 taps in 15 seconds. What is the tempo?
- 22 BPM
- 88 BPM
- 44 BPM
- 37 BPM
Show the answer
88 BPM
Right. 15 seconds is a quarter of a minute, so a whole minute holds four times as many taps: 22 × 4 = 88 BPM. That is about the speed of a relaxed walk.
Lesson recap
- The beat is the steady, even pulse under the music; it keeps going through long notes and silences.
- Rhythm is the pattern of long and short sounds on top of the beat.
- Tempo is the speed of the beat, measured in BPM. A clock ticks at 60 BPM.
- To measure a tempo, count taps for 15 seconds and multiply by 4.
- Holding a tempo steady is a skill; a metronome is how you train it.