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A note represents the pitch and duration[br]of a musical sound.

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Let's begin with <i>duration</i>,[br]or note value.

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Here are five note values.

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A whole note, which is a circle.

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A half note, which is a circle with a stem[br]so two half notes equal one whole note.

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A quarter note is like a half note,[br]but it's filled in.

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Two of these equal a half note.

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Four of these equal a whole note.

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An eighth note is like a quarter note,[br]plus a flag.

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Two of these equal a quarter note.

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Four equal a half note,

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and eight equal a whole note.

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A sixteenth note is like an eighth note,[br]but with an extra flag.

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The pattern is the same;[br]two sixteenths equal one eighth,

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four sixteenths equal one quarter,[br]and so on.

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These flags can also be connected,

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and the stems can go up or down

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without any change[br]to the duration or length.

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Now let's look at how these notes[br]specifically apply to music.

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We first begin with a time signature.

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The one that I'm choosing is 4/4.

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The top number indicates how many[br]regular pulses or beats

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are in each measure or bar.

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The lower number tells us[br]what kind of note is equal to one beat.

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Therefore, if we write 4 quarter notes[br]in 4/4,

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the bar is over and we add a bar line.

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If we do the same thing a second time,[br]we have created 2 bars or 2 measures.

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The words <i>measure</i> and <i>bar</i>[br]are used interchangeably.

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Let's use our five-note values in 4/4.

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The whole note gets 4 beats.

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If we find a whole note in music[br]with a time signature of 4/4,

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we would play or sing a single note,[br]and it would last the whole bar.

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A half note would get half of the whole,[br]or 2 beats.

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Let's listen to the beginning of Dvořák's[br]<i>New World Symphony</i>'s <i>slow movement</i>.

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This brass chorale has 3 measures,[br]or 3 bars of half notes

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and then one measure of a whole note.

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[orchestra music]