Music Note Values Chart

This is a visual representation of what each note and rest sounds like and where they falls within a bar of music, which allows you to get a clearer idea of how they all slot into regular four-four time signature. Navigate through the controls on your computer keyboard or explore with the mouse. This is laid out as a tree of note values from whole note at the top dividing down to sixteenth notes at the bottom. Each row are a complete bar split up into equal sections.

Tap on the label on the left-hand side of each row to hear it all performed sequentialy. If you tap on single section within a row, you’ll only hear that specific note value isolated to understand how long it lasts. More buttons below the main tree indicates triplets and dotted notes. Triplets represent three notes filling the time space that would typically be filled by two. Dotted notes extends their normal duration by half of that value. Clicking on them will play through there effect on the pulse of the rhythm. This part enables you to identify some more complex rhythmic patterns found in written music that don’t conform to binary division we are familiar with.

How to Use the Music Widget

At the bottom is the rest symbols which indicate not sound but silence. The rest values matches exactly those of their corresponding notes up top. Clicking on a rest plays a brief tone followed by a silence of the correct length. Then, another tone sounds to frame the gap. This makes it easier to feel how long the pause is rather then just looking at symbol on paper.

The rhythm plays according to your setting in the tempo slider on the bottom left. Slide it to the right to quicken the beat. Slide it to the left to slow the pace for gentle practice. Beside that are volume controls. You can use them to turn the overall sound up or down as you wish, depending on whether it is too soft or loud by default on your system. In this way, you can customize play to suit yourself.

Without a mouse, use keyboard to play around with the widget. To move focus from one note to another, from row to row, from control to control, hit Tab. When something has focus, hit Space/Enter to activate it, which means playing sound of that note/note group. If you’d rather keep your fingers on the typing keys, this is also an accessibility feature that lets you systematicly work through the chart.

If you want a reminder of what you are looking at, press the button in the top right corner of the widget to expand the help section. Here is where you’ll find a brief summary of the relationship between note values as well as an explanation of how the dot provides additional time to a note value. There is also a full-screen button so that you can fill your device with the widget for a better look (especially useful on small screens).

All the information you need is available to you. When working on longer notes, such as whole and half notes, try slowing things down considerably so you have more time to get used to how four beats compare to one beat. Next, pick up the pace again and see if you can keep your feeling of timing while being pressed for time. Alternatively, try playing three eighth notes against a dotted quarter note to hear how they has a different structure but the same total length.

Toggle between note and rest to compare their duration. Sound out a quarter note; follow it with a quarter rest. Feel the silence (it’s as long as the note). By actively comparing notes and rests this way you create a stronger mental picture than passively reading about it. You could of experimented freely in the widget until what was abstract becomes intuitive: a space and a sound.