Music Note

N Va
alues

The
T whole noote is represe
ented by a ho ollow note he
ead (white ce
enter, black frame) and noo
stem
m or flags. Th he whole note
e is equal to four beats inn 4/4 time (ssee time signnature below
w). Most otheer note values
are ffractions of the
t whole no
ote. The whole rest, notatted to the ri ght of the immage above, is symbolize ed by a black
recta
angle that hangs below th he fourth line
e of the staff (lines and sspaces are co
ounted from tthe bottom tto the top). It
indicates silence for
f four beats
s, the same duration
d as a whole note.

The half notte is named a as such because it is equa

al in length to
o half a whole e
note. It is represe ented by a ho ollow note heead with a steem (the line tthat extends from the notte head). In 4/4 time, the e
half nnote is equal to two beats s. The half rest is represen
nted by a bla
ack rectangle that sits on ttop of the thiird line of the
e
staff.. It indicates silence for tw
wo beats, thee same duratiion as the haalf note.

The
T quarter note
n is one-qquarter the vaalue of a whoole note or onne-half the vaalue of a half
note. It is represe
ented by a black note hea ad with a stemm. In 4/4 tim
me, it is equal to one beat.. In the image above, the
symbbol for the quuarter rest is pictured to th
he right of th
he quarter noote. It indicate
es silence forr one beat, th
he same
durattion as the quuarter note.

The eighth note isi – you gues ssed it – one--eighth the value of a whoole note or onne-half the
value
e of a quarterr note. It is represented by
b a black notte head with a stem and a flag (the ta ail-like figure that extends
from the stem). In 4/4 time, it is equal to half of one be eat. The symmbol for the eighth rest is pictured to thhe right of
the e
eighth note and is equal to o half a beat of silence.

The six
xteenth note is
i one-sixteen nth the valuee of a whole n note, one-quarter the valu
ue of a
quartter note and one-half the value of an eighth
e note. It
I is represennted by a black note head d with a stem and two
flags extending frrom the stemm. The sixteennth rest, pictu
ured to the riight of the six
xteenth note, looks very s
similar to the
e
eightth rest. Howe
ever, it has tw
wo hooks insttead of one. For every add ditional flag o
or hook, you halve the va
alue of the
note or rest. For example,
e thre
ee flags indic
cates a 32nd note and fou ur flags indica ates a 64th note.
 A beam is a horizontal
h or diagonal line
e used to connect multiple e consecutive notes,
indicating a rhyth
hmic groupingg. The numbeer of beams is the same a as the numbe er of flags on a note. In th
he image
showwn above, theere are two eighth notes grouped
g togetther, which iss equal in value to one quuarter note. IIt is common
to se
ee as many as four eighth notes grouped together.

When you see a dot after any note value,, it means yo ou need to addd one-half thhe value of
that note’s duration. Take a lo
ook at the half note follow
wed by a dot i n the image above. This iis called a do
otted half
note. A half note is worth two beats. The dot
d indicates youy add half the value of the note. Ha
alf the value o
of a half note
e
is one beat. There
efore, the len
ngth of a dottted half note is three beatts: 2+1=3.

Time Signatu
ure
Timee signatures define
d the muusic’s meter, which is the rhythmic struucture and thhe pattern off strong and w weak beats in
n
the m
music. Sheet music is mad de up of sections, called measures
m or b
bars (discusssed in furtherr detail below
w), which
consist of the sam
me number off beats in eacch, as indicatted by the tim
me signature.. The top num mber of the time signaturee
indicates how many beats are in a measure e and the botttom numberr indicates the note value that gets a b beat. The
time signature apppears at the beginning off a piece of music.
m

Exam
mple 1 Examp
ple 2

  In Exxample 1 abo ove, there are

e 4 beats in a measure (inndicated by the top
numbber) and the quarter note e gets the beaat (indicated by the bottomm number). TThis time signature is use
ed very
frequ
uently and is sometimes referred to as s Common Tim me. It can alsso be denote
ed by a ‘C’, as
s in Example 2. This will
often
n be one of th
he first time signatures
s lea
arned by beg ginners.

Simp
ple Mete
er
The music’s mete er is often described
d as simple or coompound, wh hich is defined by how tthe beats are subdivided.
Simpple meter is a meter in whhich each of the beats of the measure
e can easily b
be divided intto two equal parts. A time
e
signa
ature in simple meter will always have a 2, 3 or 4 as
a the top nu mber.

Example
E 3
In Ex
xample 3, the time signa ature indicate
es that there are 2 beatss in a measure and that the quarter note gets the e
beat.. As you learned earlier, and
a as you ca
an see in the example abo ove, the seco
ond beat of th
he measure iis divided into
o

two e
eighth notes, which is equ
uivalent to on
ne quarter no
ote.

Exam
mple 4

In Ex
xample 4, the
e time signatture on the right, 2/2, ind
dicates that tthere are 2 b
beats in the m
measure and the half note
e
gets the beat. This is als so commonly y written as a shown to o the left, and is refferred to as s Cut Time e.

Exam
mple 5

Exam
mple 5 is an example
e of simple meter because
b the half
h note is e
easily divided into two qua
arter notes.

Compo
ound Me
eter

Example
E 6

In co
ompound metter, the beat divides naturally into three equal partts. Take a loo ok at the tim
me signature iin Example 6.
6
From
m what we lea arned earlier,, this time signature indic
cates that theere are six be
eats in a measure and th he eighth notee
gets a beat. Howwever, unless s the tempo of the music c is very slo w, it is common to grou up these note es into larger
beatss. As you cann see from th
he example, there are tw wo groups of three notes, with the firs st and fourth
h eighth notes
getting the pulse.. Examples off compound meter
m time signatures incclude 3/8, 6/88, 9/8, 12/8, etc.

Triplets

Triplet

Simp
ple meter doe es not have to be limited to beats easiily divided by y two. It is po
ossible to wriite and play tthree notes in
n
a bea
at in simple meter. This is called a trriplet. A tripleet is a rhythmm in which tthree notes a are played in the space of o
two. The most co ommon exam mple is the eighth
e note triplet,
t picturred above. A An eighth note triplet rhy ythm is three e
evenly-spaced no otes played inn the space of
o one beat (or ( two eightth notes). It is written with a single b beam and the e
numbber three abo ove or below the beam. You
Y will only see this notaation in simplle meter. In compound m meter the beat
naturally divides into three equal parts, so it is not neceessary to wri te the ‘3’ abo
ove the groupping.
 Su
uper Triplet

A quarter note trriplet, commo

only called a super triplet, is three ev
venly spaced
d notes over the space of two quarter
notes
s, or two bea
ats.

Duplets
D

Duplet

A duplet is a rhythm found in compound meter

m in which
h two evenly--spaced notees are played in the space of three. The e
duple
et pictured above is equa al in length to
t one beat in compound meter, or th hree eighth nnotes. It is w
written with a
single beam and thet number 2 above or be elow the beam. You would d not see thiss notation in simple meter because the e
beatss naturally divide into two
o equal parts..

Ba
ar Liness
We’vve been doing a lot of talk
k about beats s per measurre. So what d does that actu
ually mean? Music notatio
on is made up p
of a sequence of measures, also
a called baars. Dividing music into mmeasures is hhelpful becau
use they provvide referencee
pointts throughout the piece and,
a by grou uping the mu usical symbo ls into mana ageable segmments, it makkes the shee et
music much easie er to follow. Typically,
T a piece
p of musicc consists of several bars of the same length, whic
ch is indicated
d
by th
he time signature at the beginning of the
t piece.

Bar Line

Bars are separate

e by bar lines
s, a thin vertic
cal line that extends
e from
m the bottom line to the to
op line of the staff.

There
e are several different typ
pes of bar line
es, which giv
ve various mu
usical cues.

Dou
uble Bar Line

In so
ome music, often
o longer more
m elabora
ate pieces, yo
ou may see a double bar line as show
wn above. This type of bar
line s
separates twwo different sections of th
he music. It may
m precede
e a key change. For exam
mple, music p
preceding thee
doubble bar line may
m be in 4/4 and after the
e double bar line it may b
be in 2/2.
 Final Double
D Bar Lin
ne

A double bar line in which the

e right line is
s bold represe
ents the end of a piece o
of music. It is
s referred to as the “final”
doub
ble bar line.

Repeat
R Sign

A fin
nal double baar line with two
t dots tells the musiciian to repeatt the music from the be
eginning, or tto repeat the
e
section of music in between twwo repeat signs.

When n you practic

ce counting rhythm,
r it is very importa
ant to keep a steady beaat. The best wway to do th
his is to use a
metrronome. A metronome
m is a device that produc ces regular beats, settaable in beatts per minu ute. Purchase e
a me
etronome or download
d one
e of the many y apps that are
a available ffor smart pho
ones or table
ets.

In tra
aditional rhytthm countingg, each beat of the measuure will be co
ounted with a number. An ny subdivisionns of the beat
will b
be counted with
w a word orr sound. For example,
e quaarter notes in
n Common Tiime will be coounted “1, 2,, 3, 4”. Eighth
h
note subdivisions will be counted “1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and”. Sixtee enth note sub
bdivisions will be counted “1 ee and uh h
2 ee and uh, etc.””. Look at the
e examples below
b for morre details.

Example
E 7

Practtice clapping and counting aloud the rhythm in Exxample 7 abo ove. When reeading musicc, the first tw
wo things you u
should do is look k at the key signature an
nd time signa
ature. This e
example is in 4/4 or Com
mmon Time. Note that the e
whole note gets four full beatts, so you will
w clap your hands on be eat 1 and no
ot again untill the first half note of the
e
seconnd measure. In the second measure, you will clap p your handss on beats 1 and 3. In th he third mea asure, clap onn
each beat.

Example
E 8

In Exxample 8, there are only 2 beats per measure. Th he first note o

of each beam med grouping g is on beatss 1 and 2. For
the eeighth note subdivisions
s of
o each beat you say the word “and”. For the sixte eenth note subdivisions y you say “e&a”
prono ounced “ee and
a uh”. Notice how the “and”
“ in the sixteenth noote subdivisioons falls on w
what would b be the second
d
eightth note of thee measure. The
T “ee” and “uh” sounds are the subd divisions of the eighth no
otes. Practice counting this
meas sure with you ur metronomme set at 60 beats per minute. Don’t have a metrronome yet? That’s ok! Y You can use a
seconnd hand on a watch or clo ock to keep time.
t Remem mber the quarrter note getss the beat, so in the first measure you u
will c
clap two note
es per beat annd in the fourrth measure you will clap four notes p per beat. The first note of each beamedd
grouping should line
l up with the click of the
t metronomme. Try to gi ve a slightly accented claap on beats 1 and 2 since e
they get the pulse e.
 Example
E 9

Exammple 9 shows s how to coun nt in compou und meter. Remember in compound m meter, the be eat has three subdivisions
s.
That’’s why the do otted quarterr note is gettting the beat in the first m
measure, insttead of a quaarter note. W
When you clap
p
the rrhythm above e, clap on be
eats 1 and 2 in the first measure.
m In tthe second m
measure, the beat is subdiivided so that
you wwill clap three notes per beat.
b Give the first note of
o each group ping an accen
nted clap to show that they are on the e
beat..

Bas
sic tempo
o markin
ngs

 Adagio – slowly with great

g expresssion[8] (66–76
6 bpm)
 Andante – at a walkin ng pace (76–108 bpm)
 Lento – slowly
s (45–600 bpm)
 Moderatoo – at a mode erate speed (108–120
( bpm)
 Presto – very,
v very fas
st (168–200 bpm)
 A tempo – resume pre evious tempoo
 Poco – a little
 Acceleranndo – speediing up (abbre eviation: acce el.)
 Rallentan
ndo – a gradu ual slowing down
d (abbrev
viation: rall.)
 Ritardand
do – slowing down gradua ally

Dynamicss
In music, dynamiics indicate thhe varying le
evels of volum
me of sound tthat are hearrd throughou
ut a piece. In sheet music
c,
musical symbols tell the perfo ormer how sooft or loud a passage is to
o be played. The symbolss below are listed in order
from softest to lo
oudest. Dynam mic symbols will most oftten be located
d beneath th
he staff, meanning that the
e music abovee
is to be played at the indicated
d dynamic.

Pia
anissimo
o
Pianissim
mo is an Italiaan word for ve
ery soft. Whe
en a musical ppassage is to b
be played verry softly, it wiill be 
indicated by pp ass shown on th he left. 

Piano
P
Piano is an Italian wo
ord for soft. W
When p appeaars in a musicaal passage, it indicates thaat the music sshould be 
playeed softly. 

Mez
zzo-Pian
no
Mezzo iss an Italian term meaning medium or m
moderate. In m
music, mezzo
o‐piano is indicated by mp,, which tells 
performer to play moderattely‐soft. 
the p
 Mez
zzo-Fortte
Forte is aan Italian word for loud. TTherefore, me
ezzo‐forte (mff) in a musicaal passage meeans that it sh
hould be 
playeed moderately‐loud. 

Forte
F
When yo musical passaage is to be pllayed forte, oor loudly. 
ou see f, the m

Forrtissimo
o
Fortissim
mo is an Italian word for ve
ery loud. Whe passage, it is to be played very loudly.
en you see ff in a musical p

Cre
escendo
o
Crescen
ndo, abbreviaated cresc., iss an Italian terrm that transslates as “grow
wing”. In mussic, this 
mean ns the music should gradually get loudeer. A crescend do will either r be indicated
d in a musical passage as crresc. or by 
the ssymbol to thee left. The cresscendo symbol will be the entire lengthh of the musiccal passage th hat is to gradually get 
loudeer. 

Dec
crescendo/Dim
minuend
do
Decrescendo, abbre eviated decressc., or diminuuendo, abbrevviated dim., aare both Italiaan terms for 
“grad
dually gettingg softer”. Thiss will be indicaated in a mussical passage  as decresc., ddim., or by the symbol to tthe left. The 
decreescendo symbol will be the entire lengtth of the mussical passage tthat is to grad dually get soffter. 

Artic
A ulations
Articulation markings help add
d character to
o a piece of music.
m They i ndicate the le
ength or emp
phasis a note
e should have
e.
Here are the mosst common on nes.

Sttaccato

Staccato is the Italian word for detached. In mu sical notation
n, it signifies aa note of shortened 
durattion. When performed, a sstaccato note
e will be separated from thhe following n
note by a brieef space of silence.

Accent
A

There aree many different types of aaccent markss in music. The one shown to the left is the most 
commmon. It indicaates that the nnote should b
be played with a moderateely sharp attaack, creating aa greater emp phasis on the 
begin
nning of the nnote than the e notes without the accentt mark would  have. Don’t cconfuse this wwith playing lloudly. An 
accen
nted note sho ould still be p
played within the indicated ng. 
d dynamic, jusst with a sharrper beginnin

Tenuto
T

The line aabove the notte indicates that it should  be played tenuto. The mo ost common ddefinition of 

tenutto is to hold tthe note for itts full value. IIt is the opposite of a stacccato; there sh
hould be no sspace betweeen the tenuto
note and the note e that followss. 

Fe
ermata

A fermata is a symbol tthat indicatess the note shoould be prolonged beyondd its normal duration. They y 
occur through
can o hout a piece o
of music, but are most commmonly seen  at the end. In n the example to the rightt, the whole 
note may be playe
ed for the equivalent of eight beats insttead of four.