Note

What it means

The note is the written sign for a pitch. It carries two pieces of information at once: its position on the staff determines the pitch, its shape the duration. It is thus the basic building block of musical notation — everything else, from accidentals to articulation signs, is added to it and modifies it. The note as a sign is to be distinguished from the pitch as a sounding event: the note stands on the paper, the pitch sounds.

In the notation

Three components are possible: head, stem, and flag. The whole note consists only of an open head, the half note of an open head and a stem, the quarter note of a filled head and a stem; every further flag halves the value — eighth, sixteenth, thirty-second. When several flagged notes stand next to one another, the flags are combined into beams. The stem stands to the right of the head when it points upward, to the left when it points downward. A dot to the right of the head extends the value by half. Every note value has a corresponding rest of equal value.

Musical use

This system is purely proportional: it says how the durations relate to one another, not how long they are in seconds. Only the time signature and the tempo marking connect it with real time — a quarter note at ♩ = 60 lasts one second, at ♩ = 120 half a second. Likewise, the position on the staff gives only the degree; which note is meant is decided by the clef, and whether it is raised or lowered is stated by the key signature and accidentals.

A note consists of a head, a stem, and, where applicable, a flag or beam.

Performance practice

Always read both at once: pitch and duration. Beginners usually grasp the pitch first and start guessing at the duration — it is therefore worth first tapping or speaking the rhythm of a passage without pitches and only then playing it. With densely set notes, watch the stem direction, in order to recognize which notes belong to which voice.