Lesson 1: Note values, duration, and time signatures
About this video
A note shows both the pitch and the duration of a sound. This video introduces five note values (whole, half, quarter, eighth and sixteenth) and how they relate by halving, then explains how a 4/4 time signature groups beats into measures, ending with an example from Dvorak's New World Symphony.
You'll be able to
- name and recognize whole, half, quarter, eighth and sixteenth notes.
- say how many of one note value equal another (for example, four quarters equal one whole).
- explain what the top and bottom numbers of a 4/4 time signature mean.
- say how many beats whole, half and quarter notes get in 4/4.
Key words
- note
- A symbol that shows the pitch and duration of a musical sound.
- note value
- How long a note lasts, such as a whole, half or quarter note.
- time signature
- Two numbers at the start of music: the top says how many beats are in each measure, the bottom says which note gets one beat.
- beat
- A regular pulse in music that you could tap along to.
- measure (bar)
- A group of beats separated by bar lines; 'measure' and 'bar' mean the same thing.
- bar line
- A vertical line that marks the end of a measure.
Transcript
- [Instructor] A note represents the pitch and duration of a musical sound. Let's begin with duration or note value. Here are five note values. A whole note, which is a circle, a half note, which is a circle with a stem, so two half notes equal one whole note.
A quarter note is like a half note, but it's filled in. Two of these equal a half note. Four of these equal a whole note. An eighth note is like a quarter note, plus a flag. Two of these equal a quarter note. Four equal a half note, and eight equal a whole note.
A sixteenth note is like an eighth note, but with an extra flag. The pattern is the same, two sixteenths equal one eighth, four sixteenths equal one quarter, and so on. These flags can also be connected and the stems can go up or down without any change to the duration or length.
Now let's look at how these notes specifically apply to music. We first begin with a time signature. The one that I'm choosing is 4/4. The top number indicates how many regular pulses or beats are in each measure or bar. The lower number tells us what kind of note is equal to one beat.
Therefore, if we write four quarter notes in 4/4, the bar is over, and we add a bar line. If we do the same thing a second time, we have created two bars or two measures. The word measure and bar are used interchangeably. Let's use our five note values in 4/4.
The whole note gets four beats. If we find a whole note in music with a time signature of four-four, we would play or sing a single note and it would last the whole bar. A half note would get half of the whole, or two beats. Let's listen to the beginning of Dvorak's New World Symphony's slow Movement.
This brass choral has three measures, or three bars of half notes, and then one measure of a whole note. ("New World Symphony" by Dvorak)
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