Music notes: names, symbols and values
A music note is a symbol that tells you two things: how high or low to play (its pitch, named with the letters A to G) and how long to hold it (its value, such as a whole note or a quarter note). Its place on the staff shows the pitch, and its shape shows the length.
A music note is one sound written down. Every note on a page of sheet music answers two questions at once. The first is which sound: how high or low it is. The second is how long: how many beats it lasts. Learning to read notes means learning to answer both questions quickly, and this page covers each one: the note names, the note symbols and their values.
What are the names of the music notes?
Music uses only seven letter names: A, B, C, D, E, F and G. After G the pattern starts again at A, one octave higher. An octave is the distance from one note to the next note with the same letter name, and the two sound like the same note, one higher and one lower. Singers and pianists hear that sameness right away.
Between some of the letters there are extra notes called sharps and flats. A sharp (♯) raises a note by one half step, and a flat (♭) lowers it by one half step. Put together, the 12 different notes in one octave are C, C♯ (or D♭), D, D♯ (or E♭), E, F, F♯ (or G♭), G, G♯ (or A♭), A, A♯ (or B♭) and B. Then comes C again. You can read more on sharps and flats and on enharmonic notes, which are notes with two names.
How does the staff show which note to play?
Notes sit on the music staff, a set of five horizontal lines with four spaces between them. A note can sit on a line (the line goes through the notehead) or in a space. The higher the note sits, the higher the pitch. A symbol at the start of the staff, called a clef, tells you which letter name belongs to which line. The treble clef is used for higher notes, and the bass clef for lower ones.
When a melody goes higher or lower than the five lines can hold, short extra lines called ledger lines are added above or below the staff. The note called middle C is the best known example. It sits on its own little ledger line below the treble staff.
What are the parts of a note?
A written note can have up to four parts. The notehead is the oval. Its position gives the pitch. Open (hollow) and filled (solid) heads help to show the length. The stem is the vertical line attached to the head. Notes on or above the middle line of the staff usually have stems pointing down, and notes below the middle line have stems pointing up. The flag is the curly tail on single eighth notes and shorter. A beam is a thick bar that joins the stems of two or more short notes so they are easy to read as a group.
What are the note symbols and their values?
A note's shape tells you how long it lasts compared with the others. The values below assume the quarter note gets one beat, which is the most common case in 4/4 time. Each note is half as long as the one before it in the table. Outside the US the notes have other names: whole note (semibreve), half note (minim), quarter note (crotchet), eighth note (quaver) and sixteenth note (semiquaver).
| Note | Look | Beats (quarter note = 1) |
|---|---|---|
| Whole note | Open head, no stem | 4 |
| Half note | Open head, stem | 2 |
| Quarter note | Filled head, stem | 1 |
| Eighth note | Filled head, stem, one flag or beam | 1/2 |
| Sixteenth note | Filled head, stem, two flags or beams | 1/4 |
Each note value has its own page: whole note, half note, quarter note, eighth note and sixteenth note. For the full picture see note values. A dot after a note adds half of its value, so a dotted half note lasts three beats. Silence is written with rests, which have the same lengths as the notes.
How do I start reading notes?
- Look for the clef at the start of the staff, so you know which letters the lines and spaces stand for.
- Find one landmark note, such as middle C or the G that the treble clef curls around.
- Count lines and spaces up or down from the landmark to the note you want.
- Check the shape of the note to see how many beats it lasts.
- Say the name out loud and play or sing it.
Memory trick: The note names only run from A to G. If you reach G going up, the next note is A again. Going down, the note below A is G.
Reading becomes fast with practice, not with study. Ten minutes a day with the note trainer will do more than an hour once a week. When you are ready for the whole process, from clef to rhythm, see how to read sheet music.
Note values at a glance
| Note | Symbol | Rest | Beats in 4/4 | British name |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Whole note | 4 | semibreve | ||
| Half note | 2 | minim | ||
| Quarter note | 1 | crotchet | ||
| Eighth note | 1/2 | quaver | ||
| Sixteenth note | 1/4 | semiquaver |
Check yourself
1. How many different letter names do music notes use?
Answer: Seven. The letters are A, B, C, D, E, F and G. Twelve is the number of different notes in an octave when sharps and flats are counted.
2. How many beats does a half note get when the quarter note gets one beat?
Answer: 2. A half note lasts as long as two quarter notes.
3. What is this note?
Answer: E. On the treble staff the bottom line is E.
4. What do you call the oval part of a note?
Answer: The notehead. The head shows the pitch by its position on the staff. The stem and beam show rhythm.
5. A sharp sign does what to a note?
Answer: Raises it a half step. A sharp raises the pitch by one half step. A flat lowers it.