Learning to count rhythms is one of the most important skills any musician must have. Rhythm is the foundation of Music. Without Rhythm there is no Music.
OBJECT OF THE GAME
Common Time is a card game for two, three or four players where the deck of cards is custom made with musical symbols instead of numbers and the ordinary suits. It consists of making tricks of cards that complete a 4/4 measure (in the intermediate and advanced versions you also need to complete 3/4 measures). After the decks of cards has been played an interesting counting of points takes place where strategy and tactics will determine scoring. The game is played until one of the players reach the chosen goal (usually 21 points)
The rules and scoring procedure in "Common Time" make the players learn their notes values, addition and subtraction of notes in an intuitive way, without realizing they are actually practicing really hard.
The beginner's deck includes: the whole, half, dotted half, quarter, dotted quarter notes and their respective rests. (Total of 40 cards)
The intermediate and advanced decks consists of the same first 40 cards of the beginners' deck plus 48 more cards with eight, sixteenth notes and several combinations of rhythms. (Total of 88 cards). The rules for "Common Time" in intermediate and advanced version are more complex than the beginner's version and the calculation of values are more challenging.
