Note value

Parts of a note

In music notation, a note value is the amount of time of a note. A note value is relative: it depends on the tempo (speed) of the music. For example, a quarter note (crotchet) at 80 BPM is the same as a half note (minimum) at 160 beats per minute.

Note value is shown by the shape of the note, including the notehead, stem, and flags. Simple note values are fractional powers of two, for example: one, one half, one fourth, etc.

A rest means a silence (no sound) of an equal amount of time.

List

Note	Rest	American name	British name	Relative value	Dotted value	Double dotted value	Triple dotted value
		large, duplex long, or maxima (occasionally octuple note, octuple whole note, or octuple entire musical note)		8	$8+4$ $=12$	$8+4+2$ $=14$	$8+4+2+1$ $=15$
		long or longa (occasionally quadruple note or quadruple whole note)		4	$4+2$ $=6$	$4+2+1$ $=7$	$4+2+1+\overline{2}$ $=7+\frac{1}{2}$
		double whole note, double note	breve	2	$2+1$ $=3$	$2+1+\overline{2}$ $=3+\frac{1}{2}$	$2+1+\overline{2}+\overline{4}$ $=3+\frac{3}{4}$
		whole note	semibreve	1	$1+\overline{2}$ $=1+\frac{1}{2}$	$1+\overline{2}+\overline{4}$ $=1+\frac{3}{4}$	$1+\overline{2}+\overline{4}+\overline{8}$ $=1+\frac{7}{8}$
		half note	minim	$\overline{2}$	$\overline{2}+\overline{4}$ $=\frac{3}{4}$	$\overline{2}+\overline{4}+\overline{8}$ $=\frac{7}{8}$	$\overline{2}+\overline{4}+\overline{8}+\overline{16}$ $=\frac{15}{16}$
	or	quarter note	crotchet	$\overline{4}$	$\overline{4}+\overline{8}$ $=\frac{3}{8}$	$\overline{4}+\overline{8}+\overline{16}$ $=\frac{7}{16}$	$\overline{4}+\overline{8}+\overline{16}+\overline{32}$ $=\frac{15}{32}$
		eighth note	quaver	$\overline{8}$	$\overline{8}+\overline{16}$ $=\frac{3}{16}$	$\overline{8}+\overline{16}+\overline{32}$ $=\frac{7}{32}$	$\overline{8}+\overline{16}+\overline{32}+\overline{64}$ $=\frac{15}{64}$
		sixteenth note	semiquaver	$\overline{16}$	$\overline{16}+\overline{32}$ $=\frac{3}{32}$	$\overline{16}+\overline{32}+\overline{64}$ $=\frac{7}{64}$	$\overline{16}+\overline{32}+\overline{64}+\overline{128}$ $=\frac{15}{128}$
		thirty-second note	demisemiquaver	$\overline{32}$	$\overline{32}+\overline{64}$ $=\frac{3}{64}$	$\overline{32}+\overline{64}+\overline{128}$ $=\frac{7}{128}$	$\overline{32}+\overline{64}+\overline{128}+\overline{256}$ $=\frac{15}{256}$
		sixty-fourth note	hemidemisemiquaver	$\overline{64}$	$\overline{64}+\overline{128}$ $=\frac{3}{128}$	$\overline{64}+\overline{128}+\overline{256}$ $=\frac{7}{256}$	$\overline{64}+\overline{128}+\overline{256}+\overline{512}$ $=\frac{15}{512}$
		hundred twenty-eighth note	semihemidemisemiquaver (rare)	$\overline{128}$	$\overline{128}+\overline{256}$ $=\frac{3}{256}$	$\overline{128}+\overline{256}+\overline{512}$ $=\frac{7}{512}$	$\overline{128}+\overline{256}+\overline{512}+\overline{1024}$ $=\frac{15}{1024}$
		two hundred fifty-sixth note	demisemihemidemisemiquaver (rare)	$\overline{256}$	$\overline{256}+\overline{512}$ $=\frac{3}{512}$	$\overline{256}+\overline{512}+\overline{1024}$ $=\frac{7}{1024}$	$\overline{256}+\overline{512}+\overline{1024}+\overline{2048}$ $=\frac{15}{2048}$

Shorter notes can be created theoretically ad infinitum by adding further flags, but are very rare.

Variations

Sometimes the longa or breve is used to show a very long note of indefinite amount of time, as at the end of a piece (e.g. at the end of Mozart's Mass KV 192).

Beamed notes

A single eighth note, or any faster note, is always stemmed with flags, while two or more are usually beamed in groups. When a stem is present, it can go either up (from the right side of the note head) or down (from the left side), except in the cases of the longa or maxima which are nearly always written with downward stems. In most cases, the stem goes down if the notehead is on the center line or above, and up otherwise. Any flags always go to the right of the stem.

Modifiers

A note value may be made longer by adding a dot after it. This dot adds the next briefer note value, making it one and a half times its original length of time. A number of dots (n) lengthen the note value by $\frac{2^n-1}{2^n}$ its value, so two dots add two lower note values, making a total of one and three quarters times its original length of time. The rare three dots make it one and seven eighths the length of time, and so on.

Tie across the beat, followed by the same rhythm written without a tie

Two notes of the same pitch can be combined into one note with a tie.

Examples of tuplets: quarter note triplet, eighth note triplet, sixteenth note quintuplet

To divide a note value to three equal parts, or some other value than two, tuplets may be used. For example, an eighth note triplet has three notes in the space of two eighth notes, so each note has a length of 1/12. An sixteenth note quintuplet has five notes in the space of four sixteenth notes, so each note has a length of 1/20.