note explained
theoryNOHT
A detailed guide to the fundamental unit of musical sound.
A note is a single pitched sound of a specific duration — the basic building block of melody and harmony. In Western music, notes are named using the first seven letters of the alphabet (A through G), modified by sharps and flats to produce the twelve pitches of the chromatic scale. Each note on the staff occupies a specific line or space, and its vertical position indicates pitch while its shape indicates duration: whole note, half note, quarter note, eighth note, and sixteenth note, each halving the duration of the previous. A rest is the equivalent silence. Notes combine horizontally to form melodies and vertically to form chords. The term note also refers informally to the written symbol itself (the notation) as distinct from the sound it represents. Ledger lines extend the staff to accommodate notes above or below its five lines.
The musical note names A through G were established by medieval monks who adapted the first seven letters of the Latin alphabet to label pitches in Gregorian chant.