Music Notes: How Pitch & Duration Are Determined

Notes are the musical notation representing a fixedHalf notes (or minim notes) are half of a whole note, or
pitch. While the word strictly refers to the physicaltwo beats. They are written as a hollow note with a
notation of a pitch, it's more commonly used to refer tostem that points up when placed below the middle of
both the pitch and the notation.the staff, up when placed above it.
Notes are named after the first seven letters in theQuarter notes (or crochet notes) represent a quarter
alphabet -- A, B, C, D, E, F, and G -- and keep theof a whole note, or one beat in 4/4 time. They are the
same letter value as they are repeated up or downmost recognizable note: a solid black note with a stem.
the keyboard or other musical instrument.Eighth notes (or quaver notes) are one-eighth of a
But since there are twelve notes in a diatonic scale,whole note and are written exactly like a quarter note,
the seven notes can be altered. To get the extra fivebut with a flag attached to the stem. When more than
notes,we sharp notes(raise by a half-step) and flatone eighth note is placed side by side, a solid beam
notes (lower by a half-step); the sharped and flattedconnects the adjacent notes.
notes are the black keys on a piano. All notes can beSixteenth notes (or demi-quaver notes) are
altered this way, but a C flat is enharmonic with B, aone-sixteenth of a whole note and represented as an
white key, and B sharp is enharmonic with C -- a whiteeighth note with two flags or two solid beams.
key.Likewise E sharp is enharmonic with F -- also aThirty-second (demi-semi-quaver) and sixty-fourth
white key, and of course F flat is enharmonic with E, anotes (hemi-demi-semi-quaver) represent the section
white key.of a whole note indicated by their names; they are
The types of notes and their values are based on thedrawn as eighth or sixteenth notes with an additional
amount of time they take up in a song and are namedflags.
in a hierarchy of values:It's also important to mention that the value of a note
Brevecan be changed by adding a dot. Dotted notes
Minimrepresent the value of the original note, plus one half.
CrochetFor instance, dotted half notes are held for three
Quaverbeats, dotted quarter notes for a beat and one half,
Demi-quaverand so on.
Demi-semi-quaverIn addition to musical notes, there are also musical
Hemi-demi-semi-quaverrests which are signs of silence. They have the same
Whole notes (or breve notes) are four beats long (intime values as their corresponding notes, and when
common time, also known as 4/4 time), which is equalinterspersed with notes of varying time values create
to one measure in 4/4 time. They are represented bydifferent kinds of rhythms.
a hollow, oval note with no stem.All together, they spell music.