How to Write Rhythm and Meter: Musical Note Values
Be sure to review this music theory lesson, where I explain the most basic elements of musical time. This series of lessons is a continuation, where we will learn about
- Note Values
- Simple Time Signatures
- Compound Time signatures
- How to Notate Rhythm Clearly
- Irregular Beat Divisions and Complex Meters
Notating pitch is fairly standard: there are five lines, four spaces and a handful of clefs. Notating rhythm, on the other hand, can get extremely complex because of the multitude of possibilities. When you’re new at learning to read music, it can get confusing because there are several ways to notate the same rhythm, and one is not necessarily more correct than another. Often, it is a matter of the prevailing tradition and the personal preference of the composer or arranger. The goal of notating rhythm, however, is to communicate the music as clearly and concisely as possible.
Note Values
A note value refers to a note’s duration, or how long it is to be held. The table below shows the most common note values from longest to shortest. Each successive value is half as long as the one before it. The symbol is the note itself; a rest indicates silence for the duration of the given note value:
A dot to the right side of the note increases its value by one-half. For example, a dotted quarter note has the duration of a quarter note plus an eighth note:
We also can make note values longer by using a tie to connect two notes:
Next, we’ll learn how to organize the note values on the staff using meter.
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