Notes & Rests
In this next image we can see that the first measure has one note underneath each numbered beat. Since each note occurs on the quarter beat and is followed by another note, the note is also called a ‘quarter note’. In the second measure however, there are quarter notes each under quarter beats 1 and 2, a white note (called a half note) on beat 3 and nothing beneath beat 4. What is happening here is that the white note’s duration is actually 2 quarter beats therefore that note lasts for the duration of 2 beats.
To back up a little, since the time signature indicates that 4 quarter beats make up one measure, then it will take 4 quarter notes to fill the ‘whole’ measure. In the second measure however we see that there is a white note with a stem which is called a half note. The reason it is called a half note is because it lasts for ‘half’ the duration of the ‘whole’ measure. This means that it is possible to fill the whole measure by having any combination of quarter notes and half notes that would span the length of 4 quarter beats.
The half note could easily have been on the second beat instead which would have required a quarter note on the fourth beat instead, since the half note would have lasted over 2 beats, as shown here:
This doesn’t mean that there is silence on beat 3 but rather the note played on beat 2 lasts, or is heard, over beats 2 and 3. The note is ‘sustained’ for 2 beats.
Similarly, the half note could have been on the first beat instead, which would then require a quarter note on beats 3 and 4 to make up the whole pie/measure.
Since the half note lasts for 2 beats, you could also simply have a half note on beats 1 and 3 which would mathematically make the measure ‘whole’ since both notes last for 2 beats each, they would equal a total of 4 beats therefore making the measure whole. In this case, the pie is divided in half… and you would have 2 halves.
Since we have notes that last 2 beats and others that last 1 beat, you’ve probably already guessed that there are notes that last for 3 beats, 4 beats, and even smaller divisions such as 1/8 notes which last for half a beat, 1/16 notes which last for 1/4 of one beat, 1/32 notes which last 1/8 of a beat, and 1/64 notes which last 1/16 of a beat.
The examples above assume you want a sound to be heard throughout the whole measure however what if you wanted silence over any portion of a measure? For each note there is an equivalent symbol representing a ‘rest’ as well. The rest represents ‘silence’ and you would use the rest with the correct duration to complete the measure. If compared to a pie, if you divide a pie into 4 equal pieces (quarters) and you remove one of the quarters, the empty space would be indicated by a quarter rest. This would therefore instruct the musician to stop the previous note(s) and to play nothing during that beat.
The following rests and their equivalent notes are as follows:
The whole note and rest last for 4 beats. In a measure that has a 4/4 time signature, one whole note could be alone in the measure as the note or the silence lasts throughout the 4 beats.
A half note or rest would only occupy the space of 2 beats therefore they would looks as follows:
You may have noticed that there is a note and its equivalent rest for a 4 beat duration, 2 beats, and 1 beat however there isn’t one that lasts 3 beats. There are 2 ways to make a note last for 3 beats.
In figure A, you can see a half note with a dot next to it. This is simply called a ‘dotted half note’. The dot means that you need to add half of the duration of the note that is dotted to the duration of the note. In other words, the half note lasts for 2 beats. Half of that is 1 therefore a dotted half note lasts for 2 +1 beats, which is equal to 3 beats. The exact same thing applies to the dotted half rest or any other note. A dotted quarter note for example will last for a beat and a half since 1/8 which is half of 1/4 would be added to the 1/4.
In figure B we see a different way of notating a duration of 3 beats using what is called a ‘tie’. Whenever a note lasts beyond the duration of the measure, the note is simply tied to the next note since it would be incorrect to have notes within a measure that last longer than the number of beats within a measure. In this case, we have a half rest for the first 2 beats of the measure and a half note on beat 3 that is tied to the first note of the second measure. This note would last the same duration as a dotted half note as the tie means it is a continuous note and not to be played separately.
More about notes and their subdivisions :
The following diagrams show the duration of the various notes. I have not included the dotted notes here as the intention is simply to show how many of each of the shorter duration compare to the Whole Note or Rest.
A whole note can be alone in a measure as it lasts 4 beats however two half notes would be required to cover 4 beats. Four quarter notes are equivalent to one Whole Note but each quarter note is actually played on every beat. 8 eighth notes divided in groups of 2 (one couple for each quarter note) and 16 sixteenth notes divided in groups of 4 for each quarter note.
While quarter beats would be counted as 1 2 3 4 since there are 4 beats in a measure.
Eighth note beats however would be counted as 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & so that the second eighth over each beat can be included in the count. Sixteenth note beats would be counted as 1 e & a 2 e & a 3 e & a 4 e & a so that 4 sixteenth notes can also be counted over each beat. Note that the & of a sixteenth beat exists in the eighth note beat count as well. Both line up vertically as they both occur on the same part of the beat as follows:
The beat count is consistent and is implied regardless of whether there is a note or silence as the beat is like time. Whether a person is speaking or not, time is continuous, therefore a rest is not similar to clicking on a pause or stop button but rather like hitting the mute button (as on a phone for example) where the conversation continues except it is not heard. Rest simply means that a musician rests/mutes their instrument for a specified period while the count continues. The musician is expected to be aware of the count so that they can begin playing again when expected.
A measure with a time signature of 4/4 (4 beats per measure) would require the following rests (or combinations of various rests) to fill a measure.
Note however that there would be no purpose to using 2 half rests on their own to fill a measure while a whole rest exists for that same duration. The same applies to quarter, eighth, sixteenth, thirty-second, sixty-four rests. The reason these rests exist is that they can be used in combination with notes of smaller duration therefore you may have a half note and a half rest in the same measure for example as shown in measure 3 of the following image. Measures 4 to 7 show other examples of how notes can be combined with rests to complete the 4 beats of a measure.
