Explore Note Values & Rests with music dictionary guides to whole, half, quarter, eighth notes, silence, beats, and rhythm.
The double whole note (or breve) is a musical note value equivalent to two whole notes, originating in medieval mensural notation. Though rarely used today, it appears in early music and certain modern scores, carrying a distinctive notation and performance practice that every musician should understand.
Thirty-second notes, one of the shortest rhythmic values in music notation, demand precise counting and disciplined practice to execute fast passages cleanly. This guide covers their notation, performance techniques, historical context, and practical strategies to master them with confidence.
Silence in music is not mere emptiness but a structured, expressive tool. Composers distinguish between notational rests (measured durations), niente (a dynamic fading to nothing), and tacet (an entire movement omitted). Understanding these terms reveals how silence shapes rhythm, tension, and meaning across genres and eras.
The eighth note, also called a quaver, is a musical note value lasting half the duration of a quarter note and equal to one‑eighth of a whole note, written with a filled notehead, stem and a single flag or as a beamed group.
A thirty-second note is a musical note whose duration is one thirty‑second of a whole note. It is written with a solid notehead and three flags (or three beams) and is used for very fast rhythmic passages.
A half note, also called a minim, is a musical note value lasting two beats in common time. It is written as an open (hollow) notehead with a stem and is a fundamental unit of rhythm in Western notation.
A note stem is the vertical line attached to a notehead that, together with flags or beams, indicates the note’s rhythmic value and orientation on the staff.
A flag is the curved line attached to a note stem that indicates a duration shorter than a quarter note. Flags appear on eighth notes, sixteenth notes, and smaller values, and their number determines the exact rhythmic length.
A rest is a musical notation symbol that indicates a period of silence for a specific duration, mirroring note values and essential for rhythm in all styles of Western music.
A note head is the oval-shaped symbol placed on a staff that indicates a musical pitch and, together with stems and flags, defines a note’s duration. It is the fundamental visual element of written music.