Time signature is found at the beginning of the piece next to the key
signature. It looks like a fraction without a dividing bar such as  or  . The number on the bottom tells what type of note (half,
quarter, eighth, etc…) gets a single beat, or count. The upper number tells how many
of those notes are in a measure.
 For example, a time signature of means there are three quarter notes per
measure. It also means that there are three beats in a measure and a quarter note gets one
beat.
Different music symbols represent the length of time that a note should
last. When a note is held for one measure with a time signature of , it is called a whole note and is shown
like this:  . If the
measure is split into two equal parts, a note that lasts for half of the measure is called
a half note and is represented like this:  . Finally, a measure divided into four equal parts is made
up of quarter notes shown like this: and so on to the power of two.
Name |
Note Symbol |
Fraction of measure |
# notes that fit in a measure |
Whole |
 |
1/1 |
1 = 20 |
Half |
 |
1/2 |
2 = 21 |
Quarter |
 |
1/4 |
4 = 22 |
Eighth |
 |
1/8 |
8 = 23 |
Sixteenth |
 |
1/16 |
16 = 24 |
A dot after any note increases the note's length by half. For example,
.
= + = dotted half note
= ½ + ( ½ of ½ )
= ½ + ¼ = 3/4 ( takes up ¾ of the measure )
=
+ = dotted quarter note
= ¼ + ( ½ of ¼ ) = ¼ + 1/8 = 3/8 ( takes up 3/8 of the measure )
What happens if you put a dot after the note?
It becomes 1 ½ times itself.
"Rest" is an interval of silence having a specified length.
Here is a rest table. It tells you the counts of varied rests.
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