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How to Measure the Beats in Music

When you tap your foot to your favorite tune, you are counting beats and measuring tempo. The rate at which you tap your foot is called tempo. Musicians and composers use tempo to affect the way listeners perceive their creations. Fast songs energize you while slower ones help you relax. Every song you hear has a specific tempo. You can measure a song's beats per minute by simply tapping your foot.

Things You'll Need

  • Watch or clock (with a second hand)
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Instructions

    • 1

      Start a song you like. Tap your foot to the beat as the song plays. As you tap, you are keeping time with the song's tempo.

    • 2

      Stop the music after 15 seconds. This practice session gets you ready to calculate the song's beats per minute.

    • 3

      Stop the song and get a watch or clock. You need a clock or watch that shows seconds. A digital read-out works best. Stopwatches work even better.

    • 4

      Start the song and note the beginning time. For example, the song might start at 11:20:31 (which is 31 seconds after 11:20).

    • 5

      Tap your foot to the beat as the song plays and count each beat. Imagine that you are a drummer pushing a bass drum petal on every beat. The more accurate you are in tapping your foot to the beat, the greater your BMP calculation will be.

    • 6

      Watch the clock or watch as the song plays.Stop counting after 30 seconds. Write down the beats you counted. Subtract one from that number if you counted the first beat at the same moment you started the timer. The result is the total number of beats per 30 seconds.

    • 7

      Multiply that value by two to obtain the song's beats per minute.

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