Hemidemisemiquaver (128th note)

What it means

The hemidemisemiquaver, or 128th note, has the value of one 128th of a whole note. It is notated with a notehead, a stem, and five flags, or with five beams for several consecutive notes. It is one of the shortest note values notated in practice at all.

In the notation

Each additional flag halves the note value compared with the previous step: from the eighth note with one flag, via sixteenth, thirty-second, and sixty-fourth notes, one finally reaches the 128th note with five flags. In a group the flags are joined into continuous beams.

Musical use

128th notes occur rarely and mostly only at very fast tempos or as short, ornamental figures, for instance in virtuosic piano music or in written-out trill resolutions. At a moderate tempo they would produce a barely imaginable speed, which is why they almost always occur in the context of a fast basic tempo or a brief ornamental moment.

The 128th note should be distinguished from the 64th note with four flags, which is twice as long, and from notated trills or runs, which often achieve the same sonic effect more simply with a wavy line or the word “gliss.”

Performance practice

When practising such values, count the higher-level beat unit, such as the sixteenth note, and mentally subdivide it further rather than counting each single note separately. Play the group as a single rapid gesture running toward the following main note.