Duration

Well now that we've had our own duration between posts (yeah I know that was awful), I'll tell you about musical duration.

Notation of Duration
The notation of duration is illustrated in the following chart:

The Tie
The tie is a curved line that connects two adjacent notes of the same pitch into a single sound with a duration equal to the sum of both note values. In other words, it will make the note sound longer.

The Dot

placed to the right of a note head, the dot lengthens the value of the note by half again its value. A second dot (yes they do that sometimes just to mess with us) lengthens the dotted value by half the length of the first dot. Dots may also be used with rests and affect them the same way.

Irregular Division of Notes

A note value may be divided and subdivided into any number or equal parts, as shown in the chart below. Those divisions and subdivisions that require added numbers are called irregular divisions and subdivisions. 

Rhythm

Rhythm is a general term used to describe the motion of music in time. The fundamental unit of rhythm is the pulse or beat. Even a person untrained in music generally senses the pulse and might tap their foot or clap their hands.

Meter Signatures

Meter can be defined as a regular, recurring pattern of strong and weak beats. This recurring pattern of durations is identified at the beginning of a composition by a meter signature (time signature). This may also change throughout a composition, and is identified at every change.

The upper number indicates the number of beats per measure, and the lower digit indicates which note gets the beat (2 signifies a half note, 4 refers to a quarter note, 8 for the an either note, etc.).

For instance: 

3 beats per measure, and quarter note gets the beat

Forgive my crooked pictures, I haven't perfected the art of scanning yet haha. I'll pick up next time with simple and compound meter, they require more room and attention that I really should force into this one entry.

Read this and other blog entries at my blog: http://watercolorhalfnotes.blogspot.com