I had this idea the other day that I thought might help visual learners with understanding rhythm — the lengths of notes, how they combine into measures, and so on. Understanding rhythm can help a dulcimer player with selecting hammering patterns. And for any musician, a good sense of rhythm is essential for musicality — smooth, expressive playing.

I’ll need to add some dotted notes, too, and trim everything to fit more precisely.

The board currently only has room for two measures; if I want to show a pick-up measure, I could put it above the two full measures. Or, to analyze a pick-up measure, I could put it in the first measure-box, and use rests to fill in before the pick-up note(s). Guess I’ll need to make some rests, too! Since dulcimer has no real control of when a note ends, rests are not as frequently important as they are for other instruments.