Notes and rests

Welcome to Grade 1 theory

Music theory is the grammar of music: how to read and write what a piece asks you to play. The Grade 1 exam is taken online, in seven sections, and marked out of 75. This course follows the sections in order, one unit each, and ends with a full mock paper:

You do not need to know anything to start. We begin with the sounds themselves: how long each note lasts.

Five note values

Each kind of note lasts a different length of time. We count them in beats, using the crotchet as one beat.

Each one is half the one before

Every note value is half the one before it. So:

• one semibreve lasts as long as two minims, or four crotchets;
• one minim lasts as long as two crotchets;
• one crotchet lasts as long as two quavers, or four semiquavers;
• one quaver lasts as long as two semiquavers.

Rests

A rest is a silence. Every note value has a rest of the same length:

• a semibreve rest hangs below a line;
• a minim rest sits on top of a line;
• a crotchet rest is a zigzag;
• a quaver rest has one hook, a semiquaver rest two.

Tip: the semibreve rest hangs like something heavy, and the minim rest sits like a hat. A whole bar of silence always uses the semibreve rest, whatever the time signature.

Dotted notes

A dot after a note makes it half as long again:

• a dotted minim is 2 + 1 = 3 beats;
• a dotted crotchet is 1 + a half = 1 and a half beats;
• a dotted quaver is a half + a quarter = three quarters of a beat.