Musicate Academy · Quick reference

Same note, two names

Depending on where your sheet music was printed, the same note wears a different name. American names are fractions of a whole note, so the maths is built right in. British names are older words that describe the note's character, and "quaver" comes from a word meaning to tremble. Neither is more correct. They are simply two labels for exactly the same sound.

Memory hook: if the name is a fraction, it's American. If it sounds like it belongs in a Jane Austen novel, it's British.

Notes

Beat values shown in 4/4 time

Semibreve

American Whole note

4 beats

Minim

American Half note

2 beats

Crotchet

American Quarter note

1 beat

Quaver

American Eighth note

1/2 beat

Semiquaver

American Sixteenth note

1/4 beat

Demisemiquaver

American Thirty-second note

1/8 beat

Rests

Silence follows the same pattern, so a quaver rest and an eighth rest are the same thing too

Semibreve rest

American Whole rest

4 beats

Minim rest

American Half rest

2 beats

Crotchet rest

American Quarter rest

1 beat

Quaver rest

American Eighth rest

1/2 beat

Semiquaver rest

American Sixteenth rest

1/4 beat

Demisemiquaver rest

American Thirty-second rest

1/8 beat