...This directly follows from my initial post above. I originally intended them to be the same post, but decided to split them up to make reading easier.
Note Duration and Rhythm
(Note that the following is always true, regardless of time signature and tempo)
Each note has an English name and an American name. I have provided both (in that order).
Semibreve or Whole Note:
This is a hollow note without a stem. This is the longest note you are likely to come across. It lasts for two minims (half notes), or four crotchets (quarter notes), or eight quavers (eighth notes).
Minim or Half Note:
This is a hollow note with a stem. This is worth a half the value of a semibreve (whole note). It also lasts for two crotchets (quarter notes), or four quavers (eighth notes).
Crotchet or Quarter Note:
This is a filled-in note with a stem. This is worth a quarter the value of a semibreve (whole note), or a half the value of a minim (half note). It also lasts for two quavers (eighth notes), or four semiquavers (sixteenth notes).
Quaver or Eighth Note:
This is a filled-in note with a stem and one tail coming off the stem. This is worth an eighth the value of a semibreve (whole note), or a quarter the value of a minim (half note), or a half the value of a crotchet (quarter note). It also lasts for two semiquavers (sixteenth notes), or four demisemiquavers (thirty-second notes).
Semiquaver or Sixteenth Note:
This is a filled-in note with a stem and two tails coming off the stem. This is worth an eighth the value of a minim (half note), or a quarter the value of a crotchet (quarter note), or a half the value of a quaver (eighth note). It also lasts for two demisemiquavers (thirty-second notes).
Demisemiquaver or Thirty-Second Note:
This is a filled-in note with a stem and three tails coming off the stem. This is worth an eighth the value of a crotchet (quarter note), or a quarter the value of a quaver (eighth note), or a half the value of semiquaver (sixteenth note).
And you can get even smaller-value notes too. Each smaller note is always worth two of the note immediately before it. So, to put it another way:
One Semibreve = Two Minims = Four Crotchets = Eight Quavers = Sixteen Semiquavers.
Or;
One Semiquaver = 1/2 Quaver = 1/4 Crotchet = 1/8 Minim = 1/16 Semibreve.
This is further illustrated as follows:
(Although please excuse the crudity; the connecting lines proved fiddly to draw, so they're not to scale)
The filled-in or hollow part of the note is called the note-head. This is always oval in shape. Notice the note-heads of semibreves (whole notes) are shaded slightly on the right and left sides, whereas the note-heads of minims (half notes) are shaded more on the top and bottom. The size of the note-heads of minims (half notes) are usually slightly wider than that of crotchets (quarter note), and the note-heads of semibreves (whole notes) are usually slightly wider still.
The tails of all quavers (including semiquavers etc.) always come from the right side of the stem.
Rests
Rests are where you don't play anything. In other words, the notation of a period of silence. Just as with notes, there are different durations of rests which are named the same as the notes. For example, a crotchet (quarter note) rest lasts for a quarter the value of a semibreve (whole note), or a half the value of a minim (half note). It also lasts for two quavers (eighth notes), or four semiquavers (sixteenth notes). The different rests are notated as follows:
The top line shows rests of equivalent duration to the notes in the bottom line. From left to right we have a semibreve rest, minim rest, crotchet rest, quaver rest, semiquaver rest and 2 demisemiquaver rests (to make up the bar). Notice that the semibreve rest hangs below a line whereas the minim rest sits on a line (in both cases, usually the middle line of the stave). The number of tails on the various quaver rests is the same as the number of tails on the various quaver notes (these rests are normally placed in the middle of the stave). The symbol for crotchet (quarter note) rests varies in some manuscripts, but such other symbols tend to be less recognisable.
A whole bar's rest is normally written the same as a semibreve rest, even when a semibreve is too long to fit into such a bar (in time signatures less than 4/4 for example). (However, when more than one semibreve may fit into a bar, e.g. 4/2, you usually write the two semibreve rests).
Never use minim rests in 3/4 even if they fit (use crotchet rests instead). Minim rests should not generally be used in the middle of a bar either (e.g. between beats 2 and 3 in 4/4). Rests are always placed at the start of the beat they first apply to, not in the middle of the beats they affect (unless indicating an entire bar's rest).
Also with rests, the overall beat should always be clear. So generally this means, where necessary, you fill up (and complete) the nearest full beat first using the small rests adjacent to notes, then add longer rests as required. For example:
Here, the overall duration of rests is the same on both lines, but the top line is wrong - the beat is not clear. The bottom line is correct; you can see the beat at a glance.
The 'beat' as you might remember is given by the time signature. - Where the bottom number is 4, the beat is a crotchet (eighth note) beat. When the bottom number is 8, the beat is a dotted-crotchet (three quavers).
The above example is in 4/4, therefore there are 4 crotchet (quarter note) beats in the bar (this is indicated here by the short dashed lines between the staves). The first note is a quaver (eighth note), which is half a crotchet (quarter note). Therefore the first thing you need to do is add another quaver rest in order to make it up to a full beat. Similarly, the second crotchet beat actually starts in-between the first and second notes and needs to be clear. The third beat starts on the second note, which is a semiquaver (sixteenth note), which is a quarter the value of a crotchet (quarter note). The first thing you need to do is add rests to make the beat up to one whole crotchet. You do this by starting small and working up. So, the correct procedure is to add a semiquaver rest to make the total value up to one quaver (eighth note). After this, we can add a quaver rest to make the value up to a full crotchet. (Adding two more semiquaver rests instead is unnecessary, but better that the first line). The fourth and final beat begins a quaver before the final note, and again it needs to be clear when this starts.
Having said that, there are exceptions to this, when grouping rests unconventionally is acceptable. - For example in a score for a large ensemble where everything is doing the same rhythm. - In that case, grouping the rests according to the prevalent rhythm may make the part easier to read (which should always be the guiding principle).
Where you have more than one bars consecutive rest (for example in ensemble music), you can put one big thick line throughout one bar, and write the number of total bars rest above this. For example:
This indicates the player has 12 whole bars worth of rest. This method obviously looks better (and is easier to count) that having loads of single bars rest at once. However, where there is a change of tempo, time signature or key signature, a fermata, or some other significant change, this should be indicated in all parts even if it occurs during a long passage of rests.
Beaming of Quavers
In the above pictures for the duration of note values, I have shown what the different quavers look like on their own (with tails coming of the stem), and when joined together (with the tails forming a connecting line between the stems). - Note this connecting line between different quavers is called a beam. All forms of quaver (including semiquaver, demisemiquaver etc.) can be beamed in this way, and any number of them can be beamed into a single group. The angle of the beam will depend on the notes involved.
You can beam together a group of quavers, or a group of semiquavers, but you can also beam mixed groups, involving both quavers and semiquavers for example. In this case, the value of the note is given by how many lines off-shoot from its stem.
Take the following example:
The top line shows how the quavers would probably be beamed. The line below shows what the quavers would look like if they weren't beamed together. Look closely at the stems (and tails) of each note.
The first note is a quaver (eighth note), the next two are semiquavers (sixteenth notes), the next two are demisemiquavers (thirty-second notes), the sixth note is another semiquaver (sixteenth note), and the final four are all demisemiquavers (thirty-second notes).
Notice how the first three notes are all beamed together. The second and third notes have a total of two interconnecting lines (indicating semiquavers), whereas the first note only has the one beam (indicating a quaver).
Now look at the second group. The first two notes both have three interconnecting lines (indicating demisemiquavers), the next note however only has two interconnecting lines (indicating it is a semiquaver).
Beaming quavers should always be done to keep the overall beat clear. - That means, the quavers should be grouped together when they form a single beat, and they should not generally be beamed across a beat unless they are all the same value. Thus, in the above example there are two distinct groups, corresponding to two separate beats. - Beaming them all together would be hard to read (unless they were all quavers, in which case you could beam them all together - but in 4/4, never beam quavers between the 2nd and 3rd beats)
In a time signature where the bottom note is 4, the beat is a crotchet, so quavers should be beamed so the total value is one crotchet (two quavers, four semiquavers etc.)
In a time signature where the bottom note is 8, the beat is usually a dotted-crotchet (three quavers), so the quavers should be beamed so the total value is one dotted-crotchet (three quavers, six semiquavers etc.) (In time signatures where the bottom number is 8 but the top number is not a multiple of 3, obviously some of the quavers cannot be beamed in threes. - The exact groupings may vary, but if in doubt, group them in threes as far as possible, but at the end of the bars, they may be grouped in twos to make up the bar. For example, 8/8 is often 3+3+2, 10/8 is often 3+3+2+2, but there are exceptions).
Because a beam can usually only go between notes where the stems are all in the same direction, sometimes when beaming quavers, you may have to adjust the step direction of one (or more) of the notes to make the beam possible. In such a case, all the stems should go according to the note furthest away from the middle line of the stave. (So the note closest to the middle line has it's stem direction modified). This may result in unusually long and/or unusually short stems.
Occasionally you can beam groups of quavers over (through) a rest. - You can do this if and only if the beam would be allowed if the rest was a note of the same duration. For example, if the second note in the above example were a semiquaver (sixteenth note) rest instead of a note, you could still beam together the first and third notes in the same manner. (Although it is not compulsory to do so).
For example:
Notice the beam across the rest in the first group, and the unusual stems that result from beaming the quavers at the end of that bar. - Note, the four quavers at the end of the bar could all be beamed together, with the beam above the stave. (But if they occurred between the 2nd and 3rd beat, this would not be possible).
Ties
A 'tie' joins two adjacent notes of the same pitch so that they form one continuous sound. - The second note is not played separately, instead the two notes are performed as one unbroken note. Ties are used over the bar-line when a note of the desired duration cannot fit into the remainder of one bar, however you can also have them within a single bar. Any number of notes can belong to the same tie (as long as they are all of the same pitch). - All notes within the tie are always played as a single note. The tie goes from the head of the first note to the head of the next, but doesn't actually touch either note. When the stems are going downwards, the tie goes above the note-heads. When the stems are going upwards, the tie goes below the note-heads. In the rare case where the stem direction might change, the tie is placed above the note-heads. Not to be confused with slurs or phrase marks, which look similar (to be dealt with later).
Consider you have the following rhythm:
But you want to fit it into 4/4 (4 crotchet beats per bar). - It can't be done at the moment (unless you change time signature), so we use a tie:
These two examples would sound the same. - That is, the two crotchets (quarter notes) which are tied together are performed as though they were a single note (a minim).
Dots
A dot adds half the value to the thing immediately before it (to its left). - You can have dotted notes, dotted rests, or even a dot after another dot ('doubly dotted'). The dot comes immediately after (to the right of) the note-head. If the note-head is in a space, the dot goes in the same space. If the note-head is on a line, the dot usually goes in the space above that line. Not to be confused with staccato (where the dot goes above the note-head, to be dealt with later).
For example, a dotted crotchet (quarter note), is the same as the value of one crotchet plus half the value of a crotchet. - So a total of one and a half crotchets. A dotted quaver (eighth note) is the same value as one and a half quavers, etc.
As we learnt before, note values are always a half (or double) the value of the nearest note values. (Minim = 2 crotchets, crotchet = 2 quavers, etc.) Therefore, you can think of a dot as adding the value of the next smallest-note-value onto the original note. (Thus, a dotted crotchet (quarter note) becomes a crotchet plus a quaver (eighth note), a dotted quaver becomes a quaver plus a semiquaver etc.)
For example:
The top line shows a dotted-crotchet (quarter note). This would sound exactly the same as the bottom line, which shows a crotchet tied to a quaver (eighth note).
When you have 2 dots, the second dot still adds half the value of the previous dot. This will therefore be a quarter the value of the thing before the first dot. - A doubly-dotted crotchet then is equal to one crotchet, plus half a crotchet (a quaver), plus a quarter of a crotchet (half a quaver = a semiquaver). Double-dots aren't particularly common though, ties are usually better instead.
Triplets
These mean 'three in the time of two'. - So, you play three notes which together have the same value as two of those notes would do normally. This is indicated by a little '3' above or below the notes (depending on the direction of the stems).
For example, with triplet crotchets (quarter notes), you play three crotchets in the time of two crotchets. Two crotchets is the same value as one minim (half note) remember, so each note of the triplet is therefore one third the value of a minim.
Similarly with triplet quavers (eighth notes), you play three quavers in the time of two quavers. Two quavers = one crotchet, therefore each note is one third the value of a crotchet (quarter note).
In this example, the top line begins with triplet crotchets (quarter notes). - Notice that these take the same amount of time as the minim (half note) below it. Therefore, the start of the final minims in both lines coincide exactly. (Each line starts playing at the same time at the same speed, and they play simultaneously. We will deal with the combination of parts in a later lesson).
Notice in the above example the '3' is enclosed within a bracket around the notes. This is not usually necessary with quavers because the beam is sufficient to indicate the grouping. Note that any note in the triplet can be replaced by a rest.
Ok, that's more than enough for now I think. I will expand upon these ideas, provide more detail, and introduce new concepts in future posts, whenever I get around to doing them. - If there is a specific area you would like me to cover, let me know and I'll do that first.
