Rhythm Reading in Six-Eight

In this video, we will read 9 different rhythms in 6/8 time. For a lot of us, 6/8 is probably the hardest of the common time signatures. It’s tricky because it works on many levels- it can seem confusing. For example, it’s 6/8- which means there are 6 eighth notes in each measure- but then we don’t really treat each of those eighth notes in the same way we treat 4 quarter notes in 4/4. Instead, we typically think of just the 1st and 4th eighth notes in 6/8, which also means the doted quarter note gets the beat. Sound confusing? It does to me, but the moment you hear the music it all makes sense. Before I go, one quick note on the numbers and letters above the color bars- when musicians (at least me) count in 6/8, it’s comfortable to count it as “One and ah, Two and ah“ -so I wrote it as “1 & A, 2 & A“. So if you want a extra challenge, see if you can count speak these rhythms with that system instead of ta ti-ti ta.