Red River Valley

3. Let's try something still more complicated,Red River Valley.

The first step

(a) At the smallest level (beating all the shortest notes), the feet will beat quite fast.
     Start on either foot to see if you end on the right foot.

Once you have found on which foot to start, check by looking at theAnimation
- we see that this small level starts on the right foot.

Notice that,
     on 4 notes, the feet struck twice (Right-Left), and
     on the last note the feet struck six times (Right-Left-Right-Left-Right-Left)
          all normal subdivisions, but that
     on the note in the middle, the feet struck five times (Left-Right-Left-Right-Left)
          sign of a syncopation.
     These note values are all proportionally longer than the shortest ones.

Since this level starts on the right foot, it will not produce a pick-up.

The second step

(b) At the next larger level, the feet will beat twice as slowly.

Once you have found on which foot to start, check by looking at theAnimation
- we see that this level starts on the left foot.
We might be tempted to think that we have foundLevel 0,
     but that is not the case because the last note of the melody is longer than the beats of this level.

Notice that, on the last note, the feet were Right-Left-Right, a normal subdivision.

Since this level starts on the left foot,
     the 2 notes in the first Off-Beat will produce a pick-up at the next larger level.

The third step

(c) At the next larger level, the feet will beat twice as slowly again,
     with 2 notes (the Off-beat of the previous level) acting as pick-up before the feet
          (do not start moving too soon).

Once you have found on which foot to start, check by looking at theAnimation
- we see that this level starts on the right foot.
Still notLevel 0.

Notice that, on the last note, the feet were Right-Left, a normal subdivision.

Since this level started on the right foot, it will not produce an additional pick-up at the next larger level.

The fourth step

(d) At the next larger level, the feet will beat twice as slowly again.
     We will still have 2 notes pick-up before the feet (do not start moving too soon).

Once you have found on which foot to start, check by looking at theAnimation
- we see that this level starts on the left foot.
We have finally foundLevel 0which starts on an Off-Beat and ends on a Beat.
     The longest note of the melody is not longer than the beats of this level.

We now know that the smallest levels wereLevel -3,Level -2andLevel - 1.

SinceLevel 0starts on the left foot,
     the 6 notes in the first Off-Beat will produce an additional pick-up at the next larger level (Level +1).

The fifth step

(e) At the next larger level (Level +1), the feet will beat twice as slowly again,
     with 8 notes (the original pick-up, 2 notes, and the off-beat ofLevel 0, 6 notes)
          acting as pick-up before the left foot ofLevel +1
               (do not start moving too soon).

Try it yourself and then, check by looking at theAnimation
- we know that all large levels start on the left foot.

We have reached the largest level (+1) of the section we sang,
     where the Off-Beat is 16 times the length of the shortest note
     and the pick-up almost half of the whole section.

In these three songs, notice thatLevel -1
always starts on the right foot.

Those on a guided Tour should click onin the Navigation Bar below.

Those browsing now have the choice of
1 - seeing some more elaborateFootsies
or
2 - putting into application what you learned about findingLevel 0on
The Level 0 Test.