MUSC 101 Music Fundamentals - Spring 2012

Unit 3a Notation 1

[Overview] [Syllabus]

Note Elements

Every note consists of three distinct elements:

1. head
2. stem
3. flag or beam

Note Heads

Note heads are oval in shape and are either open (white) or closed (black). The head of the whole note is slightly larger than the heads of the quarter note and half note.

The whole note is drawn on a horizontal axis. The quarter and half note heads are drawn on an oblique axis.

Stems

All notes except the whole note have stems attached to the note head. The stem can be drawn up or down depending on the note's position on the staff. Up stems connect to the right side of the note head. Down stems connect to the left side of the note head.

Stem Direction

For single line melodies, notes above the third line have stems down. Notes below the third line have stems up. Notes on the third line can go either way.

Sometimes a single staff contains more than one voice. In choral music the soprano and alto voices are drawn in the treble clef; soprano with stems up, alto with stems down. The tenor and bass voices are drawn in the bass clef; tenor with stems up and bass with stems down. The four individual voices can be seen clearly in this style.

Stem Length

Stems are generally one octave (three and a half spaces) in length.

An exception to this rule occurs when notes are drawn two or more ledgers above or below staff. In this case the stem is drawn to meet the third line of the staff.

Notice how much easier it is to read the second measure in the following example.

Note Symbols and Pitch

The vertical position of the note head on the staff indicates pitch. The higher on the staff, the higher the pitch. The lower on the staff, the lower the pitch.

Note Symbols and Duration

The the type of note head and the type of flag or beam attached to the stem represents the duration of the note. The duration is relative, not absolute. The note symbol only tells you how long one note lasts compared to other notes in the piece. The note's duration is also relative to the tempo. The same note symbol might last two seconds at a slow tempo, but only last half a second at a fast tempo.

Rest Symbols

A rest indicates silence. For every note symbol there is a corresponding rest symbol. Since rests are silent, there is no need to indicate a pitch in notation. However, the rest symbol does indicate how long the silence lasts.

Note and Rest Table

This table shows the names for each of the note and rest symbols used in music.

Note	Rest	Name
		Whole
		Half
		Quarter
		Eighth
		Sixteenth
		Thirty second
		Sixty fourth
		One hundred twenty eighth

In the above table, each note or rest is twice as long as the note below it, and half as long as the note above it. The concept of note durations being half as long or twice as long is central to the understanding of musical rhythm. The notes get their names from their fractional value of a whole note.

In the following figure, notes are represented as a tree. You can clearly see that

• One whole notes = two half notes
• One half note = two quarter notes
• One whole note = four quarter notes
• One half note = four eighth notes
• etc.

In this figure, rests are represented as a tree. You can clearly see that

• One whole rest = two half rests
• One quarter rest = two eighth rests
• One eighth rest = half a quarter rest
• One quarter rest = four sixteenth rests
• etc.

In the note and rest trees above, the values ranged from a whole note to a sixteenth note. If 32nd, 64th, and 128th notes and rests had been included, the tree would be much larger.

Beat Unit

The note value that gets one beat is called the beat unit. If the beat unit is assigned to the quarter note, then all other notes get a proportion of the quarter note.

Note	Rest	Name	Number notes equivalent in duration to one whole note	Number of beats using the quarter note as the beat unit
		Whole	1	4
		Half	2	2
		Quarter	4	1
		Eighth	8	1/2
		Sixteenth	16	1/4
		Thirty second	32	1/8
		Sixty fourth	64	1/16
		One hundred twenty eighth	128	1/32

Any note value can be assigned to the beat unit and all other notes will be proportional to that value.

Note	Rest	Name	Half Note as beat unit	Quarter Note as beat unit	Eighth Note as beat unit
		Whole	2	4	8
		Half	1 (beat unit)	2	4
		Quarter	1/2	1 (beat unit)	2
		Eighth	1/4	1/2	1 (beat unit)
		Sixteenth	1/8	1/4	1/2
		Thirty second	1/16	1/8	1/4
		Sixty fourth	1/32	1/16	1/8
		One hundred twenty eighth	1/64	1/32	1/16

Flags

Flags are attached to the note stem to indicate the duration of the note. All note values from the eighth note to the one hundred and twenty eighth note have one or more flags.

Flag Direction

Flags always point to the right regardless of stem direction.

Beams

Beams are used to group multiple flag notes into groups.

The following two measures are identical except that the notes in the first measure are not beamed. Each measure contains four beat units. Notice how much easier it is see the four beat units in the the second measure of this example.

Primary and Secondary Beams

Primary beams are unbroken and connect an entire musical unit. Secondary beams are used to subdivide the primary beam. The stem connects to the primary beam and passes through all secondary beams.

Broken Beams

A broken beam is sometimes necessary within a secondary beam group.

Broken beams are always placed inside the primary beam group.

Dotted Notes

A dot following a note or rest increases its duration by half. The following examples assume the quarter note is the beat unit.

Name	Symbol	Equals	Equivalent	Beats
Dotted Half Note				3
Dotted Quarter Note				1 1/2
Dotted Eighth Note				3/4

Dotted Rests

Name	Symbol	Equals	Equivalent	Beats
Dotted Half Rest				3
Dotted Quarter Rest				1 1/2
Dotted Eighth Rest				3/4

Augmentation dots are always placed in the space to right of note head. If the note head is on a line, the dot is placed in the space above the line. If note has a flag, the dot is placed to right of flag.

Single, double (rare), or even triple (very rare) augmentation dots can be used. The first dot increases the note's duration by one half. The second dot increases the note's duration by one quarter. The third dot increases the note's duration by one eighth.

Performing Dotted Notes

When performing dotted note rhythms, it is helpful to think of the short note following the dotted note as anticipating the next beat, rather than thinking of holding the dotted note for extra time.

Listen

[Overview] [Syllabus]

Revised by John Ellinger, Spring 2012.