![]() ![]() We can now begin to construct a table of note values, in which each entry is one- half the value of the previous one: This succession begins with a note equal to two whole notes, called a DOUBLE WHOLE NOTE or BREVE. In music notation, there is a theoretically never-ending succession of note values achieved by taking one-half of each previous note. Rhythm Symbols - A System of Duple Proportions Yet these symbols remain fixed relative to one another one half note always equals two quarter notes, and so on. Its length is not absolute - the first time we used it, it was worth one beat, and the second time it was worth two beats. In other words, we can’t say exactly how long the half note (for example) should last, until we decide to let it, or one of the other symbols equal one beat. The values of those three symbols (and all the symbols we’ll learn below) are relative only to one another. So far, we have used the following three symbols: Note equal one beat, we are merely notating the exact same rhythms in two different ways. In first letting the half note equal one beat, and then letting the quarter It is crucial to recognize the fact that both versions - our earlier one with the half note as beat, and the one above with the quarter note as beat - are equally correct. However, the two-beats notes in measures 4 and 8 are now half notes - twice the duration of the quarter-note beat. This time, since the quarter note is equal to one beat, the one-beat notes are all quarter notes. ![]() The rhythmic grid symbols would correspond to something like this: Let’s now go back to the “Twinkle Twinkle” example we discussed in Unit 2. The following simple relationships then follow: One-half of a half note is called a QUARTER NOTE: We can continue to divide our rhythm symbols in half. In this way, there is no bar line before the first note, but one is needed at the very end of any excerpt that ends with a complete measure (which will end with a single bar line) and at the end of a complete piece of music (which will end with the thin- thick double bar, shown above). It’s also helpful to view each bar line as marking the end of a measure. In traditional music notation, vertical lines called BAR LINES are placed immediately before each primary pulse except the first, and therefore mark out each measure: The following simple relationships are then true: The half-note symbol may appear in either orientation, depending on various factors which will be discussed later. It does not necessarily equal 4 beats, or 1 beat, or one whole measure (although it may) it’s simply called a WHOLE NOTE.Ī symbol for one-half of that duration is called - quite logically - a HALF NOTE: Let’s begin our introduction to these symbols with the following, called a WHOLE NOTE: Instead, note symbols with varying shapes have been used for this purpose for over half a millennium. Traditional Western music notation doesn’t use horizontal lines to represent rhythms. ![]()
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