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Piano Module - Notes

Piano Module - Notes

A mini lesson on how to read piano music notes. 3 min read (~290 words)

The information provided in this blog post is for educational purposes only. Please review our Disclaimer.

Notes

A note is a 

  • pitch and 
  • the length of time it’s pressed on a piano key in your piece.

You push down on a piano key for a long or short period of time, indicating the length, or how many “beats” it has.

Above is an example of a piece of music with various notes, a time signature, a key, tempo etc. These notes hold different beats and pitches.

Notes are simple circles and lines that look like:

The image shows six types of notes: whole note (4 beats), half note (2 beats), quarter note (1 beat), eighth note (1/2 beat), sixteenth note (1/4 beat), and thirty-second note (1/8 beat). Each note is depicted with its corresponding symbol and the number of beats it represents in a musical measure. This image provides a comprehensive understanding of how notes are used to represent rhythm in music.

So when you see a whole note you know it’s pressed down on the piano key longer than a half, quarter etc.

Here is a chart to show the breakdown of some notes and their length (beats per note):

A musical notes chart displaying note symbols and their corresponding beat values. At the top of the chart is a whole note, which represents 4 beats in a musical measure. Below the whole note are half notes (2 beats each), quarter notes (1 beat each), eighth notes (1/2 beat each). The chart provides a visual representation of how notes are used to denote rhythm in music, with the beat value breakdown on one side for reference.

Basically, a whole note is the main note and the notes below it are smaller in length (which are notes pressed down for less time due to less number of beats).

Here’s a bigger chart to reference if needed!

A musical notes chart displaying note symbols and their corresponding beat values. At the top of the chart is a whole note, which represents 4 beats in a musical measure. Below the whole note are half notes (2 beats each), quarter notes (1 beat each), eighth notes (1/2 beat each), sixteenth notes (1/4 beat each), and thirty-second notes (1/8 beat each). The chart provides a visual representation of how notes are used to denote rhythm in music, with the beat value breakdown on one side for reference.

Good to know

Beams: notes can be connected by a bar which makes it easier to read in sheet music:

A comparison of beamed and non-beamed musical notes, starting with a whole note and progressing to a sixteenth note.

Dotted: notes can hold an extra half of their original beat, meaning they are played for their amount plus half of their amount:

A visual guide to dotted notes in music notation. The image shows various musical notes with dots next to them, indicating a dotted note. A dotted note extends the duration of the note by half of its original value. For example, a dotted half note receives 3 beats instead of 2, and a dotted quarter note receives 1.5 beats instead of 1.