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Rhythm Sight Reading Trainer

A new rhythm on a one-line staff every time you press the button, in the time signature, length and level you choose. Tap along after a count-in, on the screen or the keyboard, and see every note marked on time, early, late or missed. Free, no login.

More settings

Measure the delay

Speakers, headphones and screens add a delay between a click and the moment you hear or tap it: Bluetooth headphones 100 to 300 ms. Tap with eight clicks, the way you will tap the rhythms, and we take the delay off every tap. Measure again when you change headphones or speakers.

How to practise with it

  1. Pick a time signature and a level. Each level adds one thing to the levels before it: rests, eighths, ties, syncopation, sixteenths, triplets. Start where the rhythm feels easy.
  2. Read the rhythm through before you tap and count it in your head. Find the ties: a tied note is held, not tapped again.
  3. Press Play to hear it, with a count-in and the metronome if you like.
  4. Tap the pad under the rhythm to start. After a count-in of one measure (two in 2/4 and 6/8), tap every note: on the pad, with Space or any other key. The metronome keeps the beat; switch it off when you feel steady.
  5. Read the marks under the notes, try again, then go up a level or set a faster tempo.

Questions

Is it free?

Yes. No account, no login, no ads.

Does it listen to me?

No. It never uses the microphone. You answer by tapping, and it compares the time of each tap with the time of its note.

How does it judge my taps?

With Strictness on Normal, a tap is on time within about an eighth of a beat of its note: 90 ms at 80 beats per minute, never more than 100 ms and never less than 50 ms, less only between very fast notes. Further off, it is early or late, up to half a beat away or halfway to the next note. A note without a tap is missed. Taps on rests or in the middle of a long note count as extra taps. Set Strictness to Relaxed for about a sixth of a beat (70 to 130 ms) or to Strict for about a twelfth (35 to 70 ms).

Why do all my taps come late?

Bluetooth headphones and some speakers play a sound up to a third of a second after the computer sends it, and screens and keyboards add a little more. Measure the delay once, under the pad, and we take it off every tap. Measure again when you change headphones or speakers.

Can I tap on a MIDI keyboard?

In Chrome, Edge and Firefox, yes: press Use a MIDI keyboard, allow it, and play any key. Safari does not support MIDI on websites; there you tap on the screen or the computer keyboard.

What does each level add?

Level 1 has quarter, half and whole notes. Level 2 adds rests, 3 eighth notes, 4 dotted half notes and ties, 5 dotted quarters and eighth rests, 6 syncopation, 7 sixteenth notes, 8 dotted eighths, 9 triplets and 10 sixteenth rests and quarter-note triplets. In 6/8, 9/8 and 12/8 the beat is a dotted quarter: the levels start with dotted quarters and quarter-eighth pairs, and level 9 brings two dotted eighths against the beat.

Can I send a rhythm to someone?

Yes. The address holds the settings and the exercise's number, so Copy link gives you a link that opens exactly this rhythm, for a student or for yourself next week.

Can I print it or put it on my website?

Yes. Print and Download PDF lay the rhythm out on pages, black on white, on US Letter or A4 paper as your browser suggests. Embed gives you a short piece of HTML: your students see the rhythm with Play on your page and can tap along here. Nothing is uploaded or stored with us; the exercise lives in the link.

Who makes it?

PhonicScore in Vienna, the team that maintains OpenSheetMusicDisplay, which draws and plays the rhythms. For melodies, try the sight reading generator.