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Durations (rhythms)

Music Glossary: beam, duration, whole note, half note, quarter note, dotted note.

The duration of a note is specified by a number after the note name: ‘1’ for a whole note, ‘2’ for a half note, ‘4’ for a quarter note and so on. Beams are added automatically.

If you do not specify a duration, the previous duration is used for the next note. The duration of the first note defaults to a quarter note.

\relative {
  a'1
  a2 a4 a8 a
  a16 a a a a32 a a a a64 a a a a a a a a2
}

To create dotted notes, add a dot (‘.’) to the duration number. The duration of a dotted note must be stated explicitly (i.e., with a number).

\relative {
  a'4 a a4. a8
  a8. a16 a a8. a8 a4.
}