Music Notes and Rests

Dotted Rest

A dot that is placed after a note or rest indicates a change in its duration. The dot adds half of the value of the note or rest to itself.

Half Rest

A pause or interval of silence equal in duration to two quarter rests or one half of a whole rest.

Eighth Rest

A pause or rest in a composition having the time duration of one eighth of the time duration of a whole rest.

Beam

a horizontal or diagonal line used to connect multiple consecutive notes (and occasionally rests) in order to indicate rhythmic grouping. Only eighth notes (quavers) or shorter can be beamed.

Fermata

a mark over a note or rest that is to be lengthened by an unspecified amount.

Quarter Note

a musical note having the time value of a quarter of a whole note or half a half note, represented by a large solid dot with a plain stem.

Quarter Rest

a musical rest corresponding in time value to a quarter note.

Eighth Note

a note having the time value of an eighth of a whole note or half a quarter note, represented by a large dot with a hooked stem.

Whole Note

a note having the time value of two half notes or four quarter notes, represented by a ring with no stem. It is the longest note now in common use.

Half Note

a note having the time value of two quarter notes or half of a whole note, represented by a ring with a stem.

Dotted Note

a note with a small dot written after it. In modern practice the first dot increases the duration of the basic note by half of its original value.

Whole Rest

a pause or interval of silence equal in duration to two half rests or one half of a breve rest.

Accent

an emphasis placed on a particular note, either as a result of its context or specifically indicated by an accent mark.

Staccato

with each sound or note sharply detached or separated from the others.