Posts Tagged ‘count notes’

How To Count Music

Music is written with notes that indicate a sound of a given pitch and duration. Some note names are: whole note, half note, quarter note, eighth note, sixteenth note. The names of notes indicate the relative duration or length of the sounds they represent. For example, if a whole note has a duration of 2 seconds, then a half note has a duration of 1 second, and a quarter note has a duration of 1/2 second.

The absolute length of a note depends on the tempo of the music and the time signature. The time signature defines the beat and the tempo marking tells you how fast or slow the beats are. The tempo marking may be a metronome mark, or it could be words such as andante, allegro, adagio or largo, which are all Italian words. You could also see German or English words.

Quarter notes in 3/4 time

Quarter notes in 3/4 time


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