Basic note values and rests

Almost all music features a series of attacks and durations that are organized in some way. Rhythm is the term we use to describe the musical organization of these attacks and durations in time. Different symbols are used in musical notation to indicate durations in relationship to one another. Figure 2‑1 shows the names and symbols for each of the most commonly used durations in Western musical notation.

The duration of one whole note is equivalent to the duration of two half notes, or four quarter notes, eight eighth notes, and so forth. These symbols can be put in different orders to create rhythmic patterns.

The symbols shown in Figure 2‑1 contain up to three parts:

• a notehead, which can be filled in (as in quarter, eighth, sixteenth, and thirty-second notes) or open (as in half and whole notes)
• a stem, which is a straight vertical line that appears to one side of the notehead: if the stem extends below the notehead, it is placed on the left side (as in Figure 2-1), and if it extends above the notehead, it is placed on the right side (as in Figure 2-3)
• a flag, which is used for the shorter durations (eighths, sixteenths, and thirty-seconds) and is always attached to the right side of the stem

Figure 2‑2 illustrates the terms described above in a visual format.

Rests. When composers wish to have measured moments of silence in a particular voice or instrument, they use symbols called rests. Each symbol representing a note value has an equivalent symbol denoting rest, shown in Figure 2‑3. Rests have duration, like note values, but they have no attack.

Simple meters

In order to make sense of different rhythmic patterns, most Western music uses meter, which is a periodic measure for organizing rhythmic durations. In musical notation, patterns of durations are partitioned by bar lines, which are vertical lines placed periodically through a piece of music to divide it into measures. In Western musical notation, the organization of rhythmic durations in a particular piece of music is indicated by a time signature, which consists of two numbers at the beginning of the piece of music. For now, we will understand meter as consisting of two levels: (1) the level of the measure (concerning the number of beats per bar), and (2) the level of the beat (concerning the number of divisions within each beat).

For now, we will focus on simple meters, which feature “2,” “3,” or “4” as the top number of the time signature. For simple meters, the top number of the time signature indicates the number of beats per measure. In most cases, the primary level of meter is the beat—the recurring, measured periodic series of pulses that is fundamental to the experience of meter. In order to determine the durational value of the beat for simple meters, we look at the bottom number of the time signature. A “2” for the bottom number would indicate, for example, that the half note is the value of the beat. A “4” would indicate the quarter note, an “8” the eighth note, and so forth.

The examples in Figure 2-4 will demonstrate the process of interpreting a time signature in simple meter. In Figure 2‑4a, the top number tells us that there are three beats per measure, and the bottom number tells us that the beat value is the quarter note, so each measure will have durations equivalent to three quarter notes. Figure 2‑4b shows us that there are two beats per measure and that the value of the beat is the eighth note. Figure 2‑4c indicates that there are four beats per measure and each beat is a half note. Figure 2-4d has three beats per measure, like Figure 2-4a, but the value of the beat is different: the sixteenth note, not the quarter.

Beats in simple meters divide into two equal divisions, hereafter referred to as the division level. Notes that ordinarily have flags are joined together with beams within each beat group. The division level in Figure 2‑4 uses beams instead of flags when possible. It is preferable to beam together notes with values smaller than the beat level so that beat groups are more visually identifiable.