Quarter Note (Crotchet)
A quarter note is a filled notehead with a plain stem. Four quarter notes take the same written time as one whole note.
- filled notehead
- plain stem
- two eighths
What does a quarter note look like?
It has a dark notehead and a stem with no flag. In British terminology it is a crotchet. Its pitch comes from where the head sits on the staff; the dark head and stem tell you how long it lasts.
Is a quarter note always one beat?
It is one beat in a typical 4/4 bar, where the quarter is the beat unit. A bar of 4/4 can therefore hold four quarters. In 2/2, a half note receives the main beat and a quarter lasts half that beat. A metronome marking can also specify a different beat unit.
What is a crotchet rest?
A crotchet rest is the British name for a quarter rest. The rest is a separate jagged symbol, not a filled notehead. In 4/4 it usually means one beat of silence. Count that beat as carefully as a sounding one, then enter on the next written beat.
What changes with an eighth note?
Two eighth notes fit into one quarter-note duration. In a 4/4 count, put them on '1 and'; the next quarter still begins on 2. This changes the number of attacks inside the beat, not the speed of the beat itself.