MI: LIBRARY: THEORY: BASICS: NOTES

Notes are the symbols that tell the length or duration of a sound.  Starting at the whole note, the others decline by half the previous note.

Whole note

Half notes

Quarter notes

Eighth notes

Sixteenth notes

32nd notes

64th notes

STEMS

As you can see all the notes (except the whole notes) have a line extending from the notes round bottoms.  These are called stems.  Stems are drawn down on the left if the note is above the middle line of the staff, and up to the right if it is below.  For those on the middle, the stem can go either way, but down is more usual.

DOTS

A dot after a note adds one half to the value of the note.

TIES & SLURS

A tie is a curved line between two notes with the same pitch.  Maintain that pitch for the duration of both notes.

A tie is needed if a note is held across multiple measures or beyond a bar line.

A curved line above or below a group of different notes, is called a slur.  It tells to smoothly play all notes with no breaks between.