1. You will need a pencil and something to write on.
Today you will be learning about
note values and time signatures!

2. Note Values Whole Note 4 beats Half Note 2 beats Quarter Note 1 beat
Eighth Note ½ beat
Sixteenth Note ¼ beat

3. Whole Note
A whole note is equal to 4 beats in the measure
Half Note
A half note is equal to 2 beats in the measure

4. Quarter note is equal to 1 beat in the measure
Eighth Note
An Eighth note is equal to ½ beat of a quarter note
Two eighth notes together equal 1 beat or a quarter note.

5. They are grouped in pairs (2), triplets (3), and in a set of 4
Eighth Notes
Eighth Notes can be drawn two different ways.
They can be drawn as a single note with a flag
Or they can be grouped with a beam
They are grouped in pairs (2), triplets (3), and in a set of 4

6. Notes and how they look A whole note has no stem and is NOT colored in
How a note looks determines it’s value. The following rules apply!
A whole note has no stem and is NOT colored in
A half note has a stem and is NOT colored in
A quarter note has a stem and IS colored in or
An eighth note has a stem, a flag or beam, and IS colored in

7. Notes and Stem Rules
Notes that are BELOW the 3rd line have stems that go UP on the RIGHT
Notes that are ON or ABOVE the 3rd line have stems that go DOWN on the LEFT

8. Measures and Time Signatures
Music is divided into measures using bar lines.
Within those measures is a time signature. A time signature tell you how many total number of beats you can have in any given measure.
The top total number tells you the total number of beats you can have in a measure
The bottom number tell you which note gets 1 beat.
In this case, the bottom 4 is equal to a quarter note.

9. Time Signatures
In a
Time signature you can use any combination of notes to equal 4 beats.
For example:
& & 4
Every measure ALWAYS begins with beat 1
When you have 8th notes, each note get a number (1,2,3,4) as well as an & (and). The number get half the beat and the & gets the other half.

10. Time Signatures
There are other time signatures used. Below are the most common.
2 =
In each time signature, the bottom number represents a different note.
4 =
8 =

11. = + 2 + 1 = 3 or Dotted Notes and their Value
The dot (.) raises the value of the note by half the value of the original note.
Dotted Half Note
Dotted Quarter Note
For example: A
is equal to 2 beats.
Take half of 2
equaling 1 and add that to the 2 beats = + or
= 3

12. Dotted Quarter notes and Eighth Notes
A dotted quarter note is equaled to 1½ beats. Therefore, to complete the beat it must half another ½ beat.
So, a dotted quarter note will typically have an eighth note (or rest) in the measure.
You can take two dotted quarter notes in a measure. 1½ + 1½ = 3

13. Note Values and Time Signatures
The following website can be used to help understand the basic of music reading.
Music Theory Website

14. There is a link available on my BHS webpage