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Music vocabulary · Notation and Reading Music

Eighth note

Meaning in music, with examples

nounCommon term

In music, eighth note means: A note value equal to half a quarter note, often written with a flag or joined by a beam.

In Turkish: sekizlik nota

How it is used

Basic notation term used in reading, counting, and rhythm exercises. In British usage, the equivalent term is quaver.

Example sentences

  1. The beginner kept missing the tied eighth note in bar four, so we clapped the rhythm before playing it on the recorder.

    Here, eighth note names a specific note length the learner must count correctly within the measure.

  2. In the score-reading class, the teacher grouped each eighth note by beat to help us see the meter more quickly.

    In this sentence, the term refers to notation units that become easier to read when visually organized by pulse.

Common collocations

  • eighth note rest
  • beamed eighth notes
  • count eighth notes
  • noteA single musical sound with a particular pitch and length, or the written symbol that shows it. In English, notes are named with the letters A to G.
  • barA short section of music that contains a fixed number of beats, shown on the page between two vertical lines called bar lines.

More terms: Notation and Reading Music

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