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Musical Notes and Rests Explained

Notes and rests are used in music to indicate when to play or be silent. There are four main types - whole, half, quarter, and eighth - which differ in shape and duration. Whole notes and rests last 4 beats, halves last 2 beats, quarters 1 beat, and eighths half a beat. Each note and rest is half as long in duration as the next longer type. The document then proceeds to describe the symbols used to notate each type of note and rest.

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Meryl Baytec
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265 views2 pages

Musical Notes and Rests Explained

Notes and rests are used in music to indicate when to play or be silent. There are four main types - whole, half, quarter, and eighth - which differ in shape and duration. Whole notes and rests last 4 beats, halves last 2 beats, quarters 1 beat, and eighths half a beat. Each note and rest is half as long in duration as the next longer type. The document then proceeds to describe the symbols used to notate each type of note and rest.

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Meryl Baytec
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© All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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BAYTEC, Meryl Mae J.

FIT 3056 (BSA 2A)


MUSICAL NOTES AND REST
Notes are the words of the musical language. They tell us what note to play and for how long.
Rests tell us how long to play nothing, or have silence in the music. There four types of notes and rests:
whole, half, quarter, and eight. Notes and rests work in the same lengths with the same names, so there is
a whole note and a whole rest and they both are the same duration.
Whole Note and Rest
The whole note is represented by an oval and
has no stem. It lasts for four beats, and is the
longest note. The whole rest is a small square
that hangs down from a line on the staff. It
also lasts for four beats, and is the longest
rest.
Half Note and Rest
The half note is represented by a small oval
with a stem that either points up or down
based on its location on the staff. It lasts for 2
beats, so it’s half as long as the whole note.
The half rest is represented by a small square,
much like the whole rest. The half rest sits on
top of the staff line instead of hanging below.
It also lasts 2 beats, and is half as long as the
whole rest.
Quarter Note and Rest
The quarter note is represented by a filled in
oval with a stem that either points up or down
based on its location on the staff. You’ll
notice that the difference between the half
and quarter notes is that the quarter note is fully black whereas the half is empty or white in the middle. It
lasts for one beat, and is half as long as the half note. The quarter rest is represented by the fancy squiggle
above. When I write it by hand it looks more like a “Z” with a “C” attached to the bottom. It also lasts for
one beat, half as long as the half rest.
Eighth Note and Rest
The eighth note is represented by a quarter note with a flag. It also has a stem that either points up or
down based on its location on the staff. The eighth note lasts for half of a beat. This makes it half as long
as the quarter note. The eighth rest is represented by a simpler squiggle, this time looking more like a
lowercase “R”. It also lasts for half of a beat.
DOTTED NOTES AND REST

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