QUARTER NOTE, EIGHT NOTE, SIXTEENTH NOTE

Below are three important ways of representing a note depending on its duration in time. The quarter note, which often represents the beat of the metronome, the eighth note, two eighth notes make one quarter note, and the sixteenth note, four sixteenth notes make one quarter note.

QUARTER NOTE (ONE-BEAT NOTE)

A beat, such as the one given by a metronome, is often represented by the quarter note (a crotchet). This note is identified by a black (filled-in) head and a stem. At the beginning of the staff, we see the time signature (see article on time signatures), written as two numbers stacked vertically: when the bottom number is 4, it indicates that the beat corresponds to the quarter note. Consequently, in many cases (though not always), the quarter note matches the metronome beat.

EIGHT NOTE (TWO NOTES PER BEAT)

The eighth note looks like a quarter note with a curl on top, called a flag or tail. If the beat corresponds to a quarter note, the eighth note will have a duration equal to half the beat and therefore doubles the number of musical events. Practically, within the space of one quarter note beat, there are two eighth notes: one eighth note sounding on the beat and another sounding between one beat and the next. This eighth note, acting as a bridge between beats, is often represented by an “&”, while the beats themselves are represented by numbers: 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &.

If the beat is represented by a half note, the quarter note divides the beat in two, while the eighth note divides it into four. Additionally, the eighth note itself can represent the beat in certain cases, such as in compound time signatures.

SIXTEENTH NOTE (FOUR NOTES PER BEAT)

The sixteenth note looks like an eighth note but with two flags. It represents a quarter of a quarter note or half of an eighth note. This means that when using a metronome where the beat is represented by a quarter note, each beat contains four sixteenth notes. To facilitate rhythmic reading, nearby sixteenth notes are connected by a double beam — two parallel horizontal lines.

In odd time signatures or in the presence of irregular groupings (such as triplets, quadruplets, quintuplets, etc.) — the sixteenth note can also divide the beat into three or more parts instead of two, and in some cases it can coincide with the main beat.