Rhythmic Notation

A photograph of musicians in traditional Manipuri wearing dhotis and dancing. Four musicians are carrying long drums and kicking in time, while two musicians playing colorfully decorated flat drums are in mid-air in what appears to be the first stage of a backflip.

A performance of the pung cholom, an acrobatic music and dance form which originated in Manipur, a state in northeast India.

(Ramesh Lalwani | CC BY-2.0)

Because musical works exist across spans of time, music notation must portray not only which pitches are being played but when they should be played and how long they should last.

Staff Notation

To show a note's duration, staff notation uses a system of symbols which has evolved from the European mensural notation of the 13th and 14th centuries, in which relative note length was shown by the length of a the horizontal stroke.

Detail from a facsimile of a musical manuscript written on vellum. Notes consisting of diamond-shaped noteheads, stems and flags are written in black ink on four staves consisting of five red staff lines. Lyrics, written in ornate calligraphy beneath the second and fourth staves, read `Deo gratias anglia redde pro victoria. Our kyng went forth to normundy wyth grace & myth of chyvalry. ther god for hym wrouth mervelowsly. Owerfore yngland may cal & cry. Deo gracias, (etc.)` — Figure 1: A manuscript of the Agincourt Carol, an English folk song written in the 15th century. As composers explored music which was not rhythmically tied to the lyrics, notation evolved to include specific direction regarding duration and timing.

The current system uses a set of noteheads, stems and flags to represent different note lengths. Within a piece, these note values have consistent durational relationships with one another, but absolute values are determined by the piece's tempo marking; a quarter note in one piece may be longer or shorter than a quarter note in different piece.

Figure 2: Notes used to show duration. Beginning with the double whole note, each successive note value represents a duration half as long as the preceding note value.

Augmentation Dots

When a dot is placed to the right of a notehead, it increases the durational value of the note by an additional 50%. Thus, while a quarter note is equivalent in length to two eighth notes, a dotted quarter not is equivalent to three eighth notes.

A diagram showing a quarter note with a bracket grouping two eighth notes. Nearby, a dotted quarter note, consisting of a quarter note with a small dot to the right of the notehead, has a similar bracket grouping three eighth notes. — Figure 4: A quarter note is equivalent in duration to two eighth notes, A dotted quarter note represents 50% more duration, meaning it is equivalent in duration to three eighth notes.

While uncommon, notes can have multiple dots; in this case, each successive dot adds half of the duration added by the previous dot.

A diagram showing a double-dotted quarter note, consisting of a quarter note with two dots to the right of the notehead, as being equal in duration to a quarter note plus an eighth note plus a sixteenth note. — Figure 5: Subsequent dots add 50% of the duration added by the previous dot. Thus, a double-dotted quarter note is equivalent in duration to a quarter note, eighth note and sixteenth note combined.

Ties

Two or more notes of the same pitch can be combined to form a single, longer note by connecting the noteheads with a tie, an arc placed between the two note heads.

A staff containing a dotted quarter note and a quarter note, with a shallow upward arc drawn between the two noteheads without touching either one. — Figure 6: When two notes are connected with a tie, they represent a single sound with a duration equal to the combination of the component notes.

When more than two notes are tied together, separate ties are used to connect each notehead.

Rests

In addition to indicating which notes to play or sing, music notation also indicates when a performer should pause, and for how long. Rests are symbols which indicate measured silence, and staff notation uses a set of rest symbols which correspond to each note value.

A diagram showing the symbols for each rest on the staff. The double whole rest is a solid black square filling the space between the second and third staff lines from the top, the whole rest is a solid black rectangle beneath the second staff line from the top, and the half rest is a solid black rectangle sitting atop the third staff line from the top. The quarter rest is a calligraphic wavy vertical stroke. The eighth note consists of an oblique line from bottom left to top right with a short stylized stroke protruding to the left from the top. The sixteenth, thirty-second, sixty-fourth and one-hundred-twenty-eighth rests look the same with each adding another protruding stroke. — Figure 7: Rests used to show durations of silence. Beginning with the double whole rest, each successive rest value represents a duration half as long as the preceding rest value.

Augmentation dots added to rests have the same affect as they do with notes, adding half of the duration.

Percussion Notation

In the context of staff notation, percussion instruments which have definite pitches — such as marimbas, vibraphones and timpani — use one or more five-line staves with traditional clefs. Unpitched instruments, however, use a variety of different staff configurations based on the individual instrument.

When using staff notation for unpitched instruments, standard clefs are not necessary, and are often replaced with a percussion clef consisting of two short, broad vertical lines.

One-line Staves

Instruments which normally produce a single tone, such as claves or triangle, will often be notated on a single line to ease legibility.

Four quarter notes on a single horizontal line, preceded by a percussion clef consisting of two thick vertical lines. — Figure 8: A single-line staff using a percussion clef.

Multiple-line Staves

Semi-pitched instruments — instruments which produce notes which differ in pitch with one another but do not align to a specific tonality — are generally notated on staves of two, three, four or five lines, with lines or spaces used to indicate relative pitches.

Two staves, one with three lines showing quarter notes on each line, and another with five lines showing quarter notes in each space. — Figure 9: Examples of notation for tri toms, left, and quad toms, right.

Drum Set Notation

Drum sets, which normally consist of several different drums and cymbals, are usually notated on a five-line staff with a percussion clef. While some details vary from piece to piece, the lowest space of the staff generally represents the bass drum, the second space from the top is the snare drum, and other lines and spaces on the staff show various toms. Cymbals are shown with X noteheads, with the hihat on the top line of the staff and other cymbals on spaces and ledger lines above it.

Figure 10: Drum set notation uses a five-line staff and places each component at a specific line or space. Drums usually use standard noteheads and cymbals use "X" noteheads.

(cowbell audio: Tim Gormly; drums & cymbals: PJ Cohen | Public Domain)

Braille Music Notation

In braille music notation, note lengths are indicated with the lower two dots in the braille cell, allowing a single cell to portray both pitch and duration.

A grid with rows labeled eighth note, quarter note, half note and whole note, and columns labeled C, D, E, F, G, A and B. Each cell shows the corresponding braille symbol; eighth notes do not use dots 3 and 6, quarter notes use only dot 6, half notes use only dot 3 and whole notes use both dots 3 and 6. — Figure 11: In braille music notation, a single symbol is used to show both pitch and duration.

Because two dots allow for only four variations, the same sequence of symbols are used for shorter note values; when the durations aren't clear through context, special symbols are used to clarify.

A staff showing various durations of the note G4 with the corresponding braille notation underneath: as a whole note (dots 12356), half note (dots 1235), quarter note (dots 1256), eighth note (dots 125), sixteenth note (dots 12356), thirty-second note (dots 1235), sixty-fourth note (dots 1256) and one-hundred-twenty-eighth note (dots 125). — Figure 12: Braille music notation uses identical symbols to show notes of different duration. Three-cell descriptors are used when durations are not clear from context.

Specific braille symbols are used for rests, dots and ties.

A diagram showing different musical symbols on the staff alongside their braille music counterparts: whole and sixteenth rests (dots 134), half and thirty-second rests (dots 136), quarter and sixty-fourth rests (dots 1236), and eighth and one-hundred-twenty-fourth rests (1346). Two short figures are also shown in staff notation and braille music notation: dotted quarter note G4 (dot 5, dots 1256, dot 3), eighth note A4 (dots 24) and half note B4 (dots 2345); and half note C5 (dots 46, dots 1345) tied (dot 4, dots 14) to a sixteenth note C5 (dots 13456). — Figure 12: Rests, dots and ties are each represented in braille music with one or more braille characters.

Rhythmic Notation: Summary

Staff notation indicates note duration using a system of different noteheads, stems, and flags.

Placing an augmentation dot to the right of a notehead indicates the note's duration should be extended by half of it's regular value.
Subsequent dots continue adding half the value added by the previous dot.
The value of multiple note durations can be combined by connecting the notes with a tie.
Rests indicate that the player should pause for a specific period of time.

Unpitched percussion instruments are notated using staff notation, often with staves containing fewer than five lines.

Drum set notation uses a five-line staff and displays each component of the drum set on a different line or space.

Braille music notation uses a single braille character to indicate pitch and duration.

The lower dots in the braille character indicate durations of whole, half, quarter or eighth notes.
Smaller note values use the same characters; when the duration is not clear through context, a three-character sequence is used to indicate large or small durations.
Rests, dots and ties are each represented with their own braille characters or character sequences.

Exercises

Exercise 1: Description of Exercise

Exercise 2: Description of Exercise

Next: Meter Notation