There’s More to Playing the Piano


Chapter 1 - Note Values

Loading video...

Most music has a steady beat. The beat can be fast or slow depending on the piece of music being played. We describe our notes in terms of the beat, rather than trying to measure them in fractions of a second.

There are five very common notes that you will see in your music. Each of these notes has a different duration.

Semibreve

Minim

Crotchet

Quaver

Semiquaver

4 beats

2 beats

1 beat

½ beat

¼ beat

The diagram above assumes that one crotchet is one beat. This is a simplification - it is not always the case in pieces of music.

Each note can have a note head, a stem and a tail. Quavers and semiquavers can be joined together with beams.

A crotchet is typically one beat – but it is also known as a quarter note. This is because there are often four crotchets in each bar. You will often hear musicians counting 1-2-3-4, 1-2-3-4, 1-2-3-4 etc.

Similarly, a minim is also known as a half note because there are often two minims in each bar.
A semibreve is known as a whole note because there is often one semibreve filling the whole bar.
Quavers are known as eighth notes.
Semiquavers are known as sixteenth notes.
British name Duration
(assuming q = 1)
American name Duration
(compared to whole note)
semibreve 4 beats whole note 1
minim 2 beats half note 1/2
crotchet 1 beat quarter note 1/4
quaver 1/2 beat eighth note 1/8
semiquaver 1/4 beat sixteenth note 1/16

There are also other less frequently used, longer and shorter note values:

Breves or double whole-notes - each breve is twice the length of a semibreve.
Demisemiquavers or thirty-second notes - Each demisemiquaver is half the length of a semiquaver.
Hemidemisemiquavers or sixty-fourth notes - each hemidemisemiquaver is half the length of a demisemiquaver.

At the piano

Stream some music or play some music on a CD or the radio. Play along in crotchets, then minims, then semibreves. Also, practise drawing these different notes.

Purchase options

Get full access to this content in addition to our growing library of over 1000 articles, videos and other resources for as little as £13.99 per month or £119.99 a year. Click here to sign-up or click here to find-out more.