Music Theory De-mystified Blognote length

21. Note Values 2: Ties

This post is one of a 2-part series of free basic music theory lessons on my blog, musictheoryde-mystified.com. You can see the complete list here. Please feel welcome to make a comment or ask a question.

For convenience I will assume that a crotchet equals 1 beat. This is the case in time signatures of X/4, such as 2/4, 3/4, 4/4 etc. In these time signatures we have note values for 1/4, 1/2, 3/4, 1, 1 1/2, 2, 3 and 4 beats. Including double-dotted notes we can add 1 3/4 and 3 1/2 beats.

But what if we want to have a note longer than a bar? Or a note that’s 2 1/2 beats long? Or a note that’s starts before a barline but continues after it?

Ties

A tie is a curved line joining two consecutive notes of the same pitch, resulting in a continuous note of their combined length.

For instance, 2 minims joined by a tie sound like a semibreve.

If you want to join more than 2 notes together, such as when a note is several bars long, use a tie between each pair.

Here are a few examples:

For longer notes, the same length note may need to be broken up differently depending on the time signature. Here is a 9-beat long note in 4/4 and 3/4:

Ties are written opposite the stem.

If the stems go above the notehead, ties are written underneath the note.
If the stems go below the notehead, ties are written above the note.

NOTE: Tied notes must be of the same pitch!

Slurs Are Not Ties

You may have seen curved lines joining notes of different pitch, or encompassing several notes. These are not ties! They are called slurs and are used as an expression mark meaning legato, to play smoothly, without break or emphasis.

*Some common expression markings can be found in Beginner’s Tips (coming soon).

A tie can occur inside a slur.

Try These…

Write the following note lengths, using multiple note values and ties as necessary:

3 and a half beats
2 and a quarter beats
7 beats in 4/4
6 and a half beats in 4/4
6 and a half beats in 3/4
10 and three quarter beats in 4/4

Answers at the end of this post.

Beaming and the Time Signature Hierarchy

Short notes are beamed in groups of 1 beat (in X/4, quavers can also be beamed in groups of 1 strong beat). A beam always runs from the start of a beat to the end of that beat.

Beams never run across a beat. The idea is that, in a passage of short notes, you can see at a glance where the beats fall because of the way the notes are beamed.

If a note starts partway through one beat and carries over to the 2nd beat, it should be written as two shorter notes, one at the end of one beat and one at the start of the next beat, and joined with a tie.

This enables the reader to see where the beats fall, including when that’s part-way through a note. Wrongly beamed notes make the music very difficult to read!

Note:

Rhythms with notes that cross the beat, such as the previous example and those following, are not very easy to play compared to the rhythms we’ve already learnt.

When notes are split up correctly and joined with ties, we can see when a beat falls part-way through a note. This makes it possible to learn such new rhythms by zooming in and counting quavers. (If it’s still hard to play, we can zoom in twice and count each semiquaver as a beat, as explained in the previous lesson).

Playing notes that cross the beat is a form of syncopation. We’ll look at syncopation, including some basic exercises, in Part 2 of this course.

Longer Notes and Time Signatures

If a longer note starts before or after a beat, it, too, must be split up to show where the beats fall.

If we want a minim to start on, say, the 2nd semiquaver, we have to split it up into 3 parts to show where the beats fall. It may seem like a hassle but, as I mentioned earlier, indicating where the beats fall makes it so much easier to read and play.

Note: Due to common usage, a crotchet or dotted crotchet can start on any quaver but if it starts on the 2nd or 4th semiquaver (after a semiquaver or dotted quaver) you have to split it as above.

Try These…

Rewrite the following rhythms with correct beaming, splitting notes which fall across a beat and using ties where necessary:

Answers at the end of this post.

What’s Next?

This is the final lesson in Part 1 of my 2-part course in basic music theory.

Part 2 will commence later this year. In the meantime, here are a couple of suggestions for revision and follow-up.

Follow-up

Keep practising the musicianship exercises in this course (and similar exercises) until they are second nature. The abilities to sing or hum scales and intervals and to tap, clap or play rhythms are general skills useful for most instruments and genres.

These skills also help to connect notation and music theory to musical experience.

*Relevant lessons can be quickly found under the post category of Musicianship.

Visit the category Beginner’s Tips for extra posts on navigation signs, dynamics, tempo and expression markings.
Practise reading simple, well-known melodies in various keys in your preferred genre and clef.

Revision

Music Theory

Revisit the major musical concepts of modes, scales, and keys.
Become familiar with key signatures. Either learn them via a mnemonic or become quick at using key relationships to work them out.
Become familiar with key relationships: the cycle of 5ths (or at least how it works), relative major/minor and parallel major/minor.
Revisit major/minor/perfect interval names and how to name an interval.

Notation

Become familiar with the time signature hierarchy of 2/4, 3/4 and 4/4.
Practice reading and writing 1-beat rhythms (down to semiquavers).
Write key signatures in their correct sequence.

Coming Soon… Part 2 of this 2-part course in basic music theory.

This will include harmonic and melodic minor, augmented/diminished intervals, major/minor/modal chords, 7th chords, syncopation, compound time and more.

If you found this post helpful, please feel welcome to like, share or leave a comment. If you have any questions, leave them as a comment and I’ll respond as soon as I can. To stay up to date wth new posts, please subscribe.

Congratulations!

You have completed Part 1 of Music Theory De-mystified basic music theory course. I hope you have enjoyed it.

Part 2 includes augmented/diminished intervals, compound time signatures, plenty of basic rhythm exercises, melodic and harmonic minors, major and minor chords and more.

PART 2 CONTENTS: Basic Music Theory Course Contents

NEXT LESSON: B1. Syncopation Basics: Playing Off The Beat

PART 1 CONTENTS: Basic Music Theory Course Contents

Answers to Try These…

7. Rest Values, How To Count Rests

What Is A Rest?

A rest is a silent note. Imagine that you have to make room for an important, loud note played on another instrument.

Every note value has an equivalent symbol for a rest. Rests are named after the note values they replace. A rest that lasts for a crotchet (quarter note) is called a crotchet rest (or quarter note rest).

Here are the note values from 5. Note Values 1 with their matching rest values. As previously suggested, don’t worry about really short notes and rests to start with.

Just like note values, the length of a rest can be extended by half by placing a dot after it.

Counting Rests

You have to play a rest, just like you play a note.

For example, in 4/4 try counting crotchets and only playing the first and 3rd. It feels like counting minims, except that you cut the note short at a specific moment. Here, that’s the start of beat 2 or 4. You’ll hear a metronome ticking every beat.

You should think of the cutoff point as a deliberate act, as if someone else is playing an important note that needs to be heard. You cut the note off by “playing” the rest, as if you have to squash the note to stop it. Some players tap the beats with a foot while playing; this may help…

The importance of rests is more obvious when they’re on the strong beats rather than the weak beats.

Two Types Of Rests

Broadly speaking, rests fall into either of two categories depending on how they feel when we play them.

Off-beat rests are rests that feel like they just stop the note from being a longer note. They don’t change the overall character of the rhythm. For longer notes, these include rests on weak beats, as in our first example.
On-beat rests feel like they’ve displaced the next note, forcing the note off the beat (or strong beat). Compared to the time signature’s natural rhythm, they make the notes feel “against the grain”. NOTE: This isn’t a value judgement. In fact, on-beat rests often make the music feel more exciting.

NOTE: The following examples and exercises have a double bar with 2 dots at the end. This is the repeat sign and indicates that the piece should be played a second time. For more on repeat signs and other navigation symbols, please visit How To Navigate Music 1: Animated Tour.

Shorter rests have a more obvious effect on the rhythm, so here’s two examples using quavers. They’re also a great warm-up for getting used to counting and playing rests. Try playing and counting along.

The last example, playing off the beat (between the beats) after an on-beat rest, is known as syncopation. We’ll look at syncopation in part 2 of this course.

NOTE: If you find these too hard, visit 3. Beats, Tempo And Timing for some help on how to count and play.

Try These…

Here are a few exercises for reading rests. Try them on your instrument before you listen to them. If you find that hard, play along to them first, then play them by yourself.

NOTE: Many percussion instruments have no control over how long a note sounds. For such instruments, the difference between writing bar 2 of the first example as crotchets followed by crotchet rests or as minims is moot. It would make sense for such parts to we written as longer notes without rests. However, for on-beat rests, the presence of a rest helps players to capture the feeling of playing between the beats rather than on them.

This post is one of a growing series of free basic music theory lessons on my blog, musictheoryde-mystified.com. You can see the complete list here.

If you enjoyed reading my post, please give it a like and feel welcome to share it. Any questions, please leave a comment and I’ll answer it as soon as I can. If you’d like to be kept up to date on new posts, please subscribe.

NEXT LESSON: 8. What Is A Scale?

PART 1 CONTENTS: Basic Music Theory Course Contents

5. How Long Is A Note? Note Values 1

Note Length

In 3. Beats, Tempo And Timing we saw that the length of a note is counted in beats, and that the length of a beat is determined by the tempo. For instance, when the tempo is 60 bpm (beats per minute), 1 beat is 1 second long: for a tempo of 120 bpm, 1 beat is 1/2 second long. Notes can be any length, from a number of beats to a fraction of a beat.

Note Values

Although we count in beats, not all notes are a beat, or even a whole number of beats, in length. Some are longer, some shorter.

The symbols for note length are called note values. How we interpret these symbols depends on the time signature. Time signatures are a subject for a later post, but let me say for now that the most popular time signature, common time, as well as several others, use the crotchet (quarter note) to represent one beat. For the rest of this post I will refer to a crotchet as 1 beat.

Tempo markings often include the note value which represents 1 beat. When a crotchet = 1 beat, a tempo of 60 bpm is indicated as follows:

60 crotchet beats per minute

Funny Names

There is both an English and an American name for each note value. The American name is a fraction based on a whole note equaling the number 1 (1 = whole). The next shorter shorter note is half its length and is called a half note, etc. The “1” refers to 1 bar in the most common time signature of all, 4/4, which has 4 beats per bar.

The English names are old-fashioned names meaning various degrees of “short”, harking back to the original Medieval runes and the gradual evolution of note symbols since.

On the whole I will be using the English names to avoid confusion between a half note and half a beat, etc. However, I recommend learning the American names as well: note values as fractions are the key to interpreting time signatures. In the table below, I have listed both names.

Table of Note Values

The following table lists the most common note values from longest to shortest. The “Usual Length” column shows the length in beats in common time.

Regardless of time signature, the note values are always proportional to each other. Each note value in the table always equals two of the note value below it. A semibreve = 2 minims, a minim = 2 crotchets etc.

The longest note value is called a semibreve because originally there was an even longer note, the breve. The breve is seldom used these days because, at 8 beats long, most time signatures don’t have bars long enough to be able to fit a breve within a bar.

Don’t be daunted by all these symbols. Just focus on the note values that are 1 beat or longer to start with; the ones bordered in green. It’s much easier to add beats together to play longer notes than to divide a beat into halves or quarters. Later you can include quavers, and eventually, semiquavers. Demisemiquavers are much less common.

Stem direction

All but the longest note values have a stem. The stems in the above tables are shown as extending upward from the notehead.

In 2. Notes On a Stave: Pitch we saw that on a stave, the stem’s position and direction depends on where the notehead sits on the stave.

Notes which are on or above the middle line of the stave have their stems on the left of the notehead, extending down.
Notes below the middle line of the stave have their stems on the right of the notehead, extending up.

Tails and beams are always at the outer end of the stem.

Tails and Beams

Notes shorter than a crotchet have a tail. The shorter the note, the more lines make up the tail. When there are several short notes in succession, their tails are joined together to form a beam. Beams generally join the notes in 1-beat groups such as 2 quavers, 4 semiquavers etc. This allows us to see which notes are on the beats, making the music easier to follow. It’s also a cleaner, less cluttered look.

The exception is quavers/ eighth notes, which can be joined together in one-, two- or even three-beat groups.

Below is an example of the different note values, with the shorter notes beamed in groups. In this example the quavers are beamed in groups of 2 beats (4 quavers).

The vertical lines, called barlines, occur every 4 beats, as in the time signature 4/4. In 4/4, a semibreve lasts for 1 bar.

As you listen, you will hear a metronome tick at 80 bpm and repeated notes of the different note values played over it. The use of different note pitches is just for listening convenience.

Notice that the demisemiquavers have only their outer tail beamed in whole beats: the inner tails are beamed in half-beats. This is a popular convention for an even cleaner look but not necessary. Some publishers beam all demisemiquaver tails in whole beats.

Dotted Notes

A note can be any length. For example, we may want a note to last for 3 beats rather than 2 or 4 beats. One option is to use a dotted note.

Each note value can have a dot beside it, to the right. The dot adds half the length of the note value: the dotted note is one and a half times the length of the note without the dot. Effectively, the dot represents the note value directly below the note in the note value table above. For example, a dotted minim (3 beats) = a minim (2 beats) plus a crotchet (1 beat).

The best way to get used to note values is to try to play some written music; notation means nothing until you try to play what you see. Start with something simple such as a children’s song or a melody that you’re very familiar with. If that seems too difficult, please visit my earlier post, 3. Beats, Tempo and Timing, which has some simple timing exercises that might provide a good starting point.

For more, see 7. Rest Values, How To Count Rests. In upcoming posts I hope to provide more information on note length, time signatures and rhythm.

Please feel welcome to like, comment or to share this post. If you have any questions, pleased leave them as a comment and I will respond as soon as I can. If you enjoy my posts and would like to be kept up to date, please subscribe.

The movie is taken from Music Theory De-mystified, my upcoming music theory e-book, due to be released in 2023.

NEXT LESSON: 6. Time Signatures 1 – Simple Time

PART 1 CONTENTS: Basic Music Theory Course Contents

3. Beats, Tempo and Timing

Beats and note length

Music is made up of notes and rests of varying length. The musical unit of note length is the beat.

Beats

The duration of a note or rest isn’t written in absolute time: we don’t say a note is 3 seconds or half a second long. Instead, we say it is 3 beats long or half a beat long. We use symbols to indicate the length of a note as a number of beats or a fraction of a beat. For more on the symbols for note length, please see 5. How Long Is A Note? Note Values 1

Tempo

How long a beat lasts depends on the tempo. Think of a clock that doesn’t just tick every second, but that has a dial that lets you set the tick to any speed you like (this actually exists, both as a mechanical ticker and as an app: it’s called a metronome). The speed of the ticking is the tempo. Tempo is measured in beats per minute or bpm.

Each tick represents the start of one beat, so a note that is one beat long and starts on a tick will last until the next tick.

Timing

Notes can start on a beat or between beats. The relationship between the actual notes of a part and the tempo is called timing. Being able to accurately play the note lengths in relation to the tempo is called playing in time.

Timing is also the basis of how musicians can play together in a co-ordinated way. Large ensembles often use a conductor for this purpose. The conductor acts as a human metronome, using gestures to indicate the beats and thus control the tempo.

The tempo of a song is often constant, especially in many modern genres, but it is also possible for the tempo to change within a piece.

Counting the beat

The standard metronome has a range of 40-208 bpm, which roughly parallels the range of human heart rates. This represents our range of experience of what feels like a beat. For example, try counting “1, 2, 3, 4” or “1, 2, 3” along to metronome ticks of various tempi.

Slower than about 40 bpm we can’t “join the dots”; we don’t feel the link from one beat to the next clearly enough to be able to count steadily and we’re tempted to insert the word “and” between counts: of course, this effectively doubles our counting speed, even though we’re using a different word.

Faster than about 200 bpm it becomes hard to feel each count as a proper beat: more like a half-beat: and we want to count every 2nd beat instead.

Some music isn’t played in any set tempo, but a kind of flexi-time. This is formally called rubato but the English word freely can be used instead if you prefer. Rubato is prominent in operatic arias and other “story-telling” genres such as ballads.

Musicianship: the bridge between theory and practice

Often music is thought of as two subjects, theory and practical: the reading and understanding of musical language and learning to play an instrument. There is an important third element called musicianship. Think of musicianship as practical theory, general musical skills independent of the instrument you play.

One aspect of musicianship is timing. Aspiring musicians need to master some basic skills such as being able to play to an external beat, be it from a metronome or other players. Some people have a natural ability to feel the beat, while others need some exercises to develop this ability.

Basic timing practice

The following examples use two note symbols. The first is called a crotchet or quarter note: here it represents a length of 1 beat. The second is called a quaver or eighth note and represents half a beat. More on note length in a later post.

I have already mentioned the first step, the ability to count or play a note steadily to a beat at various tempi. Try counting “1, 2” first, then playing. You can play any note: often it’s easier to play two different notes, depending on your instrument.

If you had trouble counting to the beat as above, practice at a medium tempo such as 90bpm first as it’s neither too slow to feel nor too fast to play.

TIP: Listen to the metronome first before starting to count or play. Let yourself feel the tempo for as long as you like: it’ll be much easier to play in time.

A variation of the above exercise is to tap your foot at a set tempo and play together with your taps.

The next step is to be able to divide a beat into halves. It may help to use the word “and”, at least mentally, to mark the half beats. This makes it feel like you’re counting twice as often, which is certainly easier for slower tempi. The trick is to make sure the halves occur exactly halfway between the beats: at first, they may be uneven. Try playing along to the example below.

Gradually increase the tempo until you can play quite fast.

Once you can play steadily every half beat at a faster tempo such as 120bpm as above, try leaving out the “and”s in your count.

It may take a little while to be able to keep up the steady rhythm of even halves. The more you practice, the more stamina you develop and the longer you can keep the halves even. After a while you’ll wonder how it could ever have been difficult…

Other simple rhythms are also worth learning, such as alternating a whole beat and two half beats or playing only the off-beat halves (the “ands”). This latter is the basis of syncopation (more on this in another post). It’s also worth learning to divide a beat into uneven pairs, long then short, called swing or swung eighths. Effectively, the long note is 2/3 of a beat and the short note, 1/3 of a beat. Another good exercise is to divide the beat into thirds, 3 equal parts.

The above exercises form the basis of many common rhythms.

More timing practice

Playing in time is one of the critical skills required when playing in an ensemble, whether a duo, band, choir or orchestra. Complete musicianship teaching methods are available, covering timing, rhythm, pitching intervals and more.

In my upcoming music theory book, Music Theory De-mystified, I have included two chapters on musicianship. The timing exercises above are taken from one of these chapters. The other chapter is about learning to recognise intervals (the pitch relationship between two notes) by being able to sing or play them.

This post is one of a growing series of free basic music theory lessons on my blog, musictheoryde-mystified.com. You can see the complete list here.

Substantial parts of this post, including the movies above, are taken from Music Theory De-mystified, my upcoming music theory e-book, due to be released late 2023.

NEXT LESSON: 4. Bars, How To Count In Bars And Beats

PART 1 CONTENTS: Basic Music Theory Course Contents