Length of Notes

Our Time Signature for this page is 4/4 which means that there are four quarter beats in a measure. Here is an empty staff with one measure:

Empty Staff

What can we fill it with?

Whole Note:

Whole Note

Listen to this Example:

A whole note takes up four beats, or the entire measure. It has a hollow note head, and does not have a stem or any flags.

Half Note:

Half Note

Listen to this Example:

A nalf note takes up two beats, or half the measure. Because it takes two beats, we can put two in this measure. A half note has a hollow note head and a stem but no flags.

Quarter Note:

Quarter Note

Listen to this Example:

A quarter note takes up one beat, or a quarter of the measure. Because it takes one beat, we can put four of them into this measure. A half note has a solid note head and a stem, but no flags.

Eighth Note:

Eighth Note

Listen to this Example:

The eighth note takes up 1/2 of a beat, or an eighth of the measure. We can fit eight of them into this measure. An eighth note contains a solid note head, a steam and one flag. Since their are eight of them in this measure, the eight note gets "Beamed".

Beaming:

Notes that are an eighth note or smaller can have their flags beemed togeather in groups equal to a quarter note. In the Eighth note example above the eighth notes can be beamed in pairs of two:

Eighth Notes Beamed

Some composers will beam four eighth notes togeather, but two is the standard.

Sixteenth Note:

Sixteenth notes are half the value of a eighth note and look like eighth notes with an extra flag. They can be beamed in groups of four:

Sixteenth Notes

Four of these sets can be inserted into a measure.

Mix and Match:

Any combination of these notes can be inserted into a measure so long as they add up to four beats:

Example of four beats

Listen to this Example:

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