Okuzeka
Music vocabulary · Notation and Reading Music

Note

Meaning in music, with examples

/noʊt/nounCore term

In music, note means: A 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.

In Turkish: nota, ses

How it is used

The most basic word in any lesson or rehearsal. You play, sing, hit, hold or bend a note; teachers talk about wrong notes, long notes and high or low notes. Note lengths have names such as quarter note or crotchet.

Example sentences

  1. Hold the last note for four beats and let it ring.

  2. She can hit the high notes easily, even at the end of a long concert.

  3. The melody starts on the note E and climbs up to A.

Common collocations

  • play a note
  • hit a note
  • hold a note
  • wrong note
  • high note
  • pitchHow high or low a sound is. Pitch depends on the frequency of the sound wave: the faster the vibration, the higher the pitch.
  • sheet musicMusic written or printed in notation on paper or a screen, so that musicians can read and play it.
  • quarter noteA note that lasts a quarter of a whole note. In 4/4 time, one quarter note usually equals one beat.
  • scaleA set of notes played in order of pitch, going up or down, that follows a fixed pattern of steps. Scales are the building blocks of melodies and chords.
  • sharpThe symbol ♯ that raises a note by a semitone, or a note raised in this way. As an adjective, it also describes a note sung or played slightly too high.

More terms: Notation and Reading Music

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