Quarter note

A quart er not e (American) or crot chet (/ˈkrɒt ʃɪt / KROTCH-it)"Collins Dict ionary" (ht t ps://www.col
linsdict ionary.com/dict ionary/english/crot chet /) . (Brit ish) is a musical not e played for one
quart er of t he durat ion of a whole not e (or semibreve). Quart er not es are not at ed wit h a filled-in
oval not e head and a st raight , flagless st em. The st em usually point s upwards if it is below t he
middle line of t he st aff, and downwards if it is on or above t he middle line. An upward st em is
placed on t he right side of t he not ehead, a downward st em is placed on t he left (see image).

The Unicode symbol is U+2669 (♩).

A quarter note (crotchet) with stem pointing up, a quarter note with stem pointing down, and a quarter rest
Four quarter notes. Quarter notes are the smallest note value not beamed together.

Comparison of duple note values ( = 2× , etc.)

v t e (https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Template:Duple_note_values&action=edit)

v t e (https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Template:Duple_ note_ values_ audio&action=edit)

Drum pat t ern, s on bass and snare,

accompanied by ride pat t erns of various

duple lengt hs from t o 128t h (all at =60)

1 2 4 8

16 32 64 128

A quart er rest (or crot chet rest ) denot es a silence of t he same durat ion as a quart er not e. It
t ypically appears as t he symbol , or occasionally, as t he older symbol .[a][1]

History

The not e derives from t he semiminima ('half minim') of mensural not at ion. The word "crot chet "
comes from Old French crochet, meaning 'lit t le hook', diminut ive of croc, 'hook', because of t he
hook used on t he not e in black not at ion.

The quart er not e is played for half t he lengt h of a half not e and t wice t hat of an eight h not e. It
is one beat in a bar of 44.
The t erm "quart er not e" is a calque (loan t ranslat ion) of t he German t erm
Viertelnote. The names of t his not e (and rest ) in many ot her languages are calqued from t he
same source; Romance languages usually use a t erm derived from t he Lat in negra meaning
'black':

The Cat alan, French, Galician, and Spanish names for t he not e (all of t hem meaning 'black') derive
from t he fact t hat t he semiminima was t he longest not e t o be colored in mensural whit e
not at ion, which is t rue as well of t he modern form.

The Bulgarian, Chinese, Croat ian, Czech, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Russian, Serbian and
Slovak names mean "quart er" (for t he not e) and "quart er's pause" (for t he rest ).

See also

List of musical symbols

Notes

a. Examples of the older symbol are found in English music up to the late 19th century, e.g. W. A. Mozart
Requiem Mass, vocal score ed. W. T. Best, pub. London: Novello & Co. Ltd. 1879.

References

1. Rudiments and Theory of Music Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music, London 1958. I,33
and III,25. The former section shows both forms without distinction, the latter the "old" form only. The
book was the Official ABRSM theory manual in the UK up until at least 1975. The "old" form was taught
as a manuscript variant of the printed form.

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Last edit ed 28 days ago by Part icipant Observer