Music notes are a means of turning music, an aural art form, into something that can be written and preserved.
Drawing music notes is a fun and beneficial hobby for both children and adults. Here are some easy and simple designs that you can recreate!
The note-stem
The note-stem is the thin, vertical line that runs directly out of the right side of a music note head. The note-stem points up if the note is below the middle line of the musical staff (in the treble clef, it points to the center line; in the bass clef, it points to the bottom line) or down if the note is above or on the middle line.
Stems are usually attached to the note head with a curved stroke called a flag that starts at the top of the stem and curves to the left. If the stem is pointing down, the flag goes to the right, and if it’s pointing up, it goes to the left.
It’s important to understand that the direction of a stem doesn’t affect the value or sound of a music note. It’s only there to make the note easier to read.
When a group of notes are written together, the note stems have to go up or down to suggest their voice in polyphonic music on the same staff. To figure out which way each stem should go, follow the law of averages.
If most of the notes in a group are below the middle line, then all of their stems go up. If most of the notes in a group were above the middle line, then all of their stems would go down. This is a very basic rule to remember, but it can be helpful when trying to figure out which way to point a stem for a particular note.
Beaming, which is a common practice for chords, can also affect the direction of stems. When a note has two or more beams, the stem on the note farthest from the middle line will travel down.
This rule is useful when a note has a long beam or a short beam. It can be used to make the meter easier to read, as the notes and their beams are drawn in a consistent visual distance.
Another useful rule for note stems is that they should be an octave on the staff, either going to an octave higher or lower than the note head. If the note head is more than an octave away from the middle line of the staff, the stem should be elongated to reach the middle line. This is especially important in any polyphonic music where two parts are written on the same staff.
The note-head
The note-head, elliptical in shape, is used to indicate the pitch of a musical note. In western musical notation, pitches are drawn vertically on the staff (on the y-axis) and rhythms are drawn horizontally on the staff (on the x-axis). The note-head is also modified to indicate duration, usually by attaching a stem or beam to it.
The height of the note-head represents the pitch; higher notes appear above lower notes. This spatial metaphor is used across cultures and time periods. For example, in ancient Greece, the height of a C note was above the height of an E note.
In modern music, note values are proportional to the tempo of the piece. For instance, a half note is a quarter note at a slow tempo, and an eighth note is a sixteenth note at a fast tempo.
A sharp, denoted by a symbol in front of the note-head, indicates that the note is a semitone (or half-step) higher than the head to its right; a flat, denoted by a hashtag symbol in front of the note-head, denotes that the note is a semitone (or a half-step) lower than the head to its right.
There are many different ways to alter the note-head: some alter its size, some modify its shape, and some change the way it is attached to a stem. These are called “modes” and can be enabled by clicking on the Layout Settings icon in the document toolbar.
One mode that can be enabled is the “Boomwhackers color scheme,” which automatically colors note heads according to their pitch. The other mode is the “Fixed do,” which allows users to select which color/shape they want for each note value.
This mode can be enabled by clicking on the Layout settings icon in the document toolbar and opening the Notes heads settings. You can then select the desired mode and apply it to your sheet music.
Other modes include the “easy play” head, which has a letter name inside the note-head; the ‘bold x’ head, which indicates percussion; and the ‘cross stick’ head, which is used on drums. These modes are useful for first-year music students, who often have trouble correctly placing their notes on the staff.
The note-flag
The note-flag is a curvy line that comes off of the bottom or top of the note stem. Its purpose is to tell you how long a note should be held. Generally, a single flag shortens the duration of a note, while multiple flags can make it shorter still.
A note is drawn as an oval with a stem that extends up or down, depending on where it’s placed on the musical staff (see Figure 1). There are three types of notes: whole, half, and quarter. A quarter note is drawn as an opaque oval with a stem, and an eighth note is drawn the same but with a little flag-like shape at the top of the stem.
There are also different symbols for rests, which signify silence the length of a note. A rest for a whole note looks like a bar hanging upside down on the middle line, and a rest for a half note looks like an angled bar that points upwards.
Occasionally, a long silence is indicated with a double rest. This and the longer rests are called “multiple rests” and are used in long passages that are not separated into bars.
In instrumental music, sixteenth notes are labeled with an oval note head and a straight note stem that has two flags. A single sixteenth note is often flagged, while two or more are usually beamed in clusters.
A corresponding symbol is the sixteenth rest, which denotes silence for the same duration as the sixteenth note. The symbol can be used to connect a single sixteenth note with a similar note value, or it can be attached to a beam.
Sixty-fourth notes are labeled with an oval, filled-in note head and a straight note stem that is drawn to the left of the note head heading up, when it’s below or above the musical staff’s middle line. If the note head is in the middle line, it’s drawn to the right of the note head heading down.
The note-dot
The note-dot is one of the most important symbols in music notation, and it plays an essential role in the drawing of musical notes. It can be used to extend the length of a note, alter its rhythmic value, and indicate how long a rest should last.
When a dot is next to a note, it indicates that the note should last 1 and a half times its usual length. For example, if the note is a half note, adding a dot beside it will make it last 3 beats.
Dots can be used on any note or rest. They are most commonly found after quarter notes or half notes.
They can also be used after any rest that is not a note, such as a half rest.
A dot can be placed anywhere on a music staff to denote how long a note should last. This is important for playing staccato, a short, detached, and jumpy style of playing that can be tricky to master.
Another way to tell how long a note should last is by using the time signature. The most common time signature is 4/4, meaning that each bar has four quarter notes. Other time signatures can be 2/4, which means that each bar has two quarter notes, or 2/8, which means that each bar has two eighth notes.
Regardless of the time signature, the basic ratios will always remain the same for notes and rests. This is because the curved lines, called ties, add the note values together.
If you look at a double-dotted whole note, it’s a simple example of this. It’s worth 4 beats on its own, but by adding a second dot, it’s only worth 2. That’s why dotted whole notes are often written with a dot after them.
Dotted notes are often used as a way to represent multiple beats, especially in time signatures that have a number two as their bottom number. For example, a minimal note (half note) beats as its bottom number, while a dotted crotchet (quarter note) beats as its top number.
