Star Note Values Chart
How long every note lasts · whole to thirty-second, dotted & double-dotted, triplets & rests · tap any row to hear it in time
How to play
- Each row splits one 4/4 measure (4 beats) into equal notes. Reading down, every note is half as long as the one above: 1 whole = 2 half = 4 quarter = 8 eighth = 16 sixteenth.
- Tap a row's label to hear that whole row played in time; tap a single segment to hear just one note of that length. Change the tempo to speed it up or slow it down.
- The extra row shows dotted notes (a dot adds half the note's value, so a dotted half = 3 beats) and an eighth-note triplet (three in the time of two).
- Every note has a matching rest (a silence) of the same length — a quarter rest lasts one beat, and so on. Vol sets volume. Keyboard: Tab + Enter/Space.
The chart below is an interactive one that allows you to explore length of each common note value from slowest (a whole note) to fastest (thirty-second note). Simply navigate on your computer keyboard or use mouse to click on an element to hear sound produced. It also displays how notes divides up in a time bar which makes it easy to understand even complex timings.
Each row are broken up into different visual segments which represent notes and they is all laid out over a bar of four beats (in this case). On the far left of the row there is a label, and clicking it will play complete sequence in time. This means you get to hear how many note there are in each measure. If you want to hear only one note of this duration then simply click on the relevant segment.
How to Use the Interactive Chart
The whole note take up the full bar. Two half notes splits the bar in two. This continues as we read downwards through the chart. Each step reduces the note value by half; for example, four quarter notes divides the bar again, continuing down to thirty-second notes. This means that visual bars to the right of labels provide an exact picture of where these notes slot into the measure.
Below main tree, you can see that triplets and dotted notes has been added. Dotted notes adds half their own length when applied to a note. So a dotted half note is played over three beats rather than two. The widget illustrates this with triplet options too (three notes within time it would take to play two). You can click on each of these to experience the rhythmic effect in action.
In the same way, rests are periods of no sound or silence and there is symbols for these in the rest section at the bottom with an eighth, quarter, half, and whole rest. If you click on any rest then it will play out two small clicks separated by a space of silence. This represent exactly how long each rest would be. It is a handy method for learning when to pause and wait before playing next note.
The tempo slider (at the bottom), enables you to set speed at which it plays. Slide the bar right up and it goes from forty beats per minute up to two hundred. This means that the faster it is, the closer together your short notes will be; the slower, more time you have to feel out length of longer notes. You are able to adjust volume so that it’s not too loud or too quiet for you with the volume slider.
If you need reminding about how to calculate value of dotted notes then click on help button up top which will toggle a quick guide explaining what’s on chart. If you’d like a bigger view of note divisions with no distractions, then click on the fullscreen button which expands the widget to fill your whole screen.
It should of been easier than this. If you prefer using your keyboard, you can tab through the sliders and buttons to select one. Then Space (or Enter) will trigger playback of that selected note or button being pressed. This means you don’t need to reach for mouse when navigating around chart. The highlight around focus shows you what you are currently working with.
The way it divides the bar can be heard by playing one row of all half notes then the other row with all whole notes. Dragging the tempo slider alters the feel of each note length but not relationship between two durations. Try experimenting with dotted notes to hear how they stretch rhythm. The rests allow you to count your way through silence as well as sound. It’s an exercise in getting a feel for the time directly from listening.
To begin with set your interactive chart at a comfortabley slow speed and listen as the note values progresses through each row from top to bottom. Turn your volume up so that you can easily hear the clicks but not so loud they become annoying. Play around with triplets and dotted notes once you have grasped the simple divisions and you’ll discover how much easier it is to hear these values in actualy music.