SP Studio Systems SP-12 manual Appendix B Understanding Rhythmic Notation

APPENDIX

APPENDIX B: UNDERSTANDING RHYTHMIC NOTATION

This extremely brief overview is intended solely as a refresher and memory jogger; for a detailed description of rhythm notation, see any good book on music theory.

Measures: A piece of music is divided into measures, and each measure is divided into notes. The number of notes, and rhythmic value of the notes, depends both on the composition and the time signature (see Appendix C).

Note values: With a measure written in 14/11, there are four beats per measure, with each beat representing a quarter note. Thus, there are four-quarter notes per measure of 4/4 music.

There are two eighth notes per quarter note. Thus, there are eight eighth notes per measure of 4/4 music.

There are four sixteenth notes per quarter note. Thus, there are sixteen sixteenth notes per measure of 4/4 music.

There are eight thirty-second notes per quarter note. Thus, there are thirty-two thirty second notes per measure of 4/4 music.

There are also notes that span a greater number of beats than quarter notes. A half- note equals two quarter notes. Therefore, there are two half notes per measure of 4/4 music. A whole note equals four-quarter notes. Therefore, there is one whole note per measure of 4/4 music.

Triplets: The above notes divide measures by factors of 2. However, there are some cases where you want to divide a beat into thirds, giving three notes per beat. Dividing a quarter note by three results in eighth note triplets. The reason why we use the term “eighth note triplets” is because the eighth note is closest to the rhythmic value that we want. Dividing an eighth note by three results in sixteenth note triplets. Dividing a sixteenth note by three results in thirty-second note triplets.

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