Note value 1636323 222270612 2008-06-28T12:52:18Z Jmpunit 7388268 /* Gregorian chant */ [[Image:parts of a note.svg|right|150px|thumb|Parts of a note]] In [[music notation]], a '''note value''' indicates the relative [[duration]] of a [[note (music)|note]], using the color or shape of the ''[[note head]]'', the presence or absence of a ''[[stem (music)|stem]]'', and the presence or absence of ''flags''. A [[Rest (music)|rest]] indicates a silence of an equivalent duration. {| class="wikitable" |- !Note !Rest !American name !British name |- |[[Image:4-1 note longa (music).svg|30px]] || [[Image:longa rest.svg]] || [[longa (music)|long]] (or longa) || longa |- |[[Image:2-1 note breve (music).svg|30px]] || [[Image:Breve rest.svg]] || [[double whole note|breve]] (or double whole note) || Breve |- |[[Image:1-1 note semibreve.svg|30px]] || [[Image:whole rest.svg]] || [[whole note]] || Semibreve |- |[[Image:1-2 note minim (music).svg|30px]] || [[Image:half rest.svg]] || [[half note]] || Minim |- |[[Image:1-4 note crotchet (music).svg|30px]] || [[Image:quarter rest.svg]] || [[quarter note]] || Crotchet |- |[[Image:1-8 note quaver (music).svg|30px]] || [[Image:eighth rest.svg]] || [[eighth note]] || Quaver |- |[[Image:1-16 note semiquaver (music).svg|30px]] || [[Image:16th rest.svg]] || [[sixteenth note]] || Semiquaver |- |[[Image:1-32 note demisemiquaver (music).svg|30px]] || [[Image:32nd rest.svg]] || [[thirty-second note]] || Demisemiquaver |- |[[Image:1-64 note hemidemisemiquaver (music).svg|30px]] || [[Image:64th rest.svg]] || [[sixty-fourth note]] || Hemidemisemiquaver |- |[[Image:1-128 note quarter demisemiquaver (music).svg|30px]] || [[Image:128th rest.svg]] || [[hundred twenty-eighth note]] || Quasihemidemisemiquaver/ Semihemidemisemiquaver |- |} ===Variations=== [[Image:Breve notation.png|right|frame|Variants of the breve]] The breve appears in several different versions, as shown at right. Sometimes the longa is used to indicate a very long note of indefinite duration, as at the end of a piece. 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 case of the ''longa''). 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. [[Image:beamed notes.svg|right|frame|Beamed notes]] When two or more notes which would normally have flags ([[eighth note]]s or shorter) appear successively, the flags may be replaced by ''[[beam (music)|beams]]'', as shown at right. Notes are typically beamed only if they appear in the same beat within the [[Bar (music)|bar]]. Beams also imply that the notes should be slightly more connected than non-beamed notes. ===Modifiers=== A note value may be [[augmentation (music)|augmented]] by adding a dot after it. This [[Dotted note|dot]] adds the next lower note value, making it one and a half times its original duration. [[Dotted note|Two dots]] add two lower note values, making a total of one and three quarters times its original duration. The rare [[Dotted note|three dots]] make it one and seven eights the duration, and so on. To divide a note value into three equal parts, or some other value than two, [[tuplet]]s may be used. However, see [[swung note]] and [[notes inégales]]. ==History== ===Gregorian chant=== Although note heads of various shapes, and notes with and without stems appear in early [[Gregorian chant]] manuscripts, most scholars agree that these symbols do not indicate different durations, although the dot is used for augmentation. See [[neume]]. In the [[13th century]], chant was sometimes performed according to [[rhythmic modes]], roughly equivalent to [[Metre (music)|meters]]; however, the note shapes still did not indicate duration in the same way as modern note values. ===Mensural notation=== Around [[1250]], [[Franco of Cologne]] invented different symbols for different durations, although the relation between different note values could vary; three was the most common ratio. [[Philippe de Vitry]]'s treatise [[Ars nova (treatise)|Ars nova]] (1320) described a system in which the ratios of different note values could be 2:1 or 3:1, with a system of mensural [[time signature]]s to distinguish between them. This black [[mensural notation]] gave way to ''white mensural notation'' around 1450, in which all note values were written with white (outline) noteheads. In white notation the use of [[tuplet|triplets]] was indicated by ''coloration'', i.e. filling in the noteheads to make them black (or sometimes red). Both black and white notation periodically made use of [[Ligature (music)|ligatures]], a holdover from the ''clivis'' and ''porrectus'' [[neumes]] used in [[Gregorian chant|chant]]. Around 1600 the modern notational system was generally adopted, along with [[barline]]s and the practice of writing multipart music in scores rather than only individual parts. In the 17th century, however, old usages came up occasionally. <!-- Here's an example from 1692, by [[Marc-Antoine Charpentier]]: --> <!-- Deleted image removed: [[Image:charp white notation.gif|600px|Anachronistic use of white mensual notation in ''Te Deum'' by Marc-Antoine Charpentier (1643-1704)]] --> ==Origins== The British names go back at least to English renaissance music, and the terms of Latin origin had international currency at that time. Obviously, ''longa'' means 'long', and the rest mostly indicate relative shortness. ''Breve'' is from Latin ''brevis'', 'short', ''minim'' is from ''minimus'', 'very small', and ''quaver'' refers to the quivering effect of very fast notes. The elements ''semi-'', ''demi-'' and ''hemi-'' mean 'half' in Latin, French and Greek respectively, while ''quasi-'' means 'almost'. The chain semantic shift whereby notes which were originally perceived as short came progressively to be long notes is interesting both linguistically and musically. However, the ''crotchet'' is named after the shape of the note, from the Old French for a 'little hook', and it is possible to argue that the same is true of the ''minim'', since the word is also used in palaeography to mean a vertical stroke in mediaeval handwriting. The American names are [[loan translation]]s of the German terms: when American orchestras were first established in the 19th century they were populated to a significant degree by German emigrants. ==External links== * [http://www.philtulga.com/counter.html On-line activity that counts musical notes] {{Musical notation}} [[Category:Musical notation]] [[de:Notenwert]] [[et:Helivältus]] [[es:Figura musical]] [[fr:Représentation des durées en musique]] [[gl:Figura musical]] [[it:Durata di una nota musicale]] [[nl:Nootwaarde]] [[pt:Duração]] [[ru:Длительность нот]] [[sv:Notvärde]] [[uk:Тривалості (музика)]] [[zh:音符時值]]