Read music
Music note values explained
The shape of a note tells you how long to hold it. A hollow note with no stem lasts four beats, a hollow note with a stem lasts two, a filled note with a stem lasts one, and each flag added to the stem halves the length again. A dot after any note makes it half as long again, so a dotted one-beat note lasts a beat and a half.
Click any key to hear it. Your computer's A to K row works too.
What are the note lengths called?
In British usage: semibreve for four beats, minim for two, crotchet for one, quaver for a half and semiquaver for a quarter. In American usage they are whole, half, quarter, eighth and sixteenth notes, which describe the same things and are arguably clearer for a beginner because the fractions are in the names.
What does a dot after a note do?
It adds half of the note again. A two beat note with a dot lasts three. A one beat note with a dot lasts a beat and a half, which is the rhythm at the start of Silent Night and in bars four and eight of Ode to Joy. Dotted rhythms are the most common place beginners lose the pulse.
What are rests?
Rests are silences, and they have exactly the same lengths as notes. They are not optional gaps to be skipped over. A rest held properly is what gives music its shape, and rushing through them is one of the fastest ways to make playing sound anxious.
Why does rhythm matter as much as the notes?
Because right notes at the wrong moment is the single most common thing that makes self-taught playing sound self-taught. Most apps score only whether you hit the correct key. The practice room here scores rhythm separately for exactly this reason, so you can see which of the two is actually improving.
Keep going
Read next
Lines are E G B D F, spaces spell FACE. How to read the treble clef and find each note on Open → ♪ Bass clef notes: lines and spaces
Lines are G B D F A, spaces are A C E G. How to read the bass clef, and why it is not the Open → ♪ Time signatures explained
What 4/4 and 3/4 actually mean, how to count them, and why the top and bottom numbers do d Open → ♪ Key signatures on the piano
The sharps or flats at the start of a line tell you which notes to alter all the way throu Open →
Put it into practice in the practice room, or start at the beginning with the five minute walkthrough.
Questions
Common questions
How many beats is a whole note?
Four beats in the most common time signature, 4/4. It is written as a hollow oval with no stem.
What is the difference between a crotchet and a quarter note?
Nothing. They are the same one beat note, named differently in British and American usage.
What does a dotted quarter note mean?
One and a half beats. The dot adds half the value of the note it follows.