"Crotchet" redirects here. For the needlework technique, see Crochet.
"Negra" redirects here. For other uses, see La Negra and Negro.
"♩" redirects here. For the general description of the symbol, see Musical note.
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Look up quarter note in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. |
A quarter note (American) or crotchet (British, from the sense 'hook') is a note played for one quarter of the duration of a whole note (or semibreve). Often, musicians will say that a crotchet is one beat, but this is not always correct, as the beat is indicated by the time signature of the music; a x quarter note may or may not be the beat. Quarter notes are notated with a filled-in oval note head and a straight, flagless stem. The stem usually points upwards if it is below the middle line of the stave or downwards if it is on or above the middle line. However, the stem direction may differentiate more than one part. The head of the note also reverses its orientation in relation to the stem. (See image.)
Overview
In Unicode, the symbol is U+2669 (♩).
A quarter note/crotchet with stem pointing up, a quarter note with stem pointing down, and a quarter rest
Four quarter notes. Quarter notes are the smallest note value not beamed together.
Comparison of duple note values (
= 2×
, etc.).
A related value is the quarter rest (or crotchet rest). It denotes a silence of the same duration as a quarter note. It typically appears as the symbol and occasionally as the older symbol .[1]
The note derives from the semiminima of mensural notation. The word crotchet comes from Old French crochet, meaning 'little hook', diminutive of croc, 'hook', because of the hook used on the note in black notation. However, because the hook appeared on the eighth note (or quaver) in the later white notation, the modern French term croche refers to an eighth note.[citation needed]
It is played for half the length of a minim (or "half note") and twice that of a quaver (an "eighth note"). It is one beat in a bar of 4/4. The term quarter note is a calque (loan translation) of the German term Viertelnote. The names of this note (and rest) in most languages are calqued from the same source:
| Language |
note name |
rest name |
| Bulgarian |
четвъртинка |
четвъртинка пауза |
| Catalan |
negra |
silenci de negra |
| Chinese |
四分音符 |
四分休止符 |
| Croatian |
četvrtinka |
četvrtinska pauza |
| Czech |
čtvrťová nota |
čtvrťová pauza |
| Danish |
fjerdedelsnode |
fjerdedelspause |
| Dutch |
kwartnoot |
kwartrust |
| Finnish |
neljäsosanuotti |
neljäsosatauko |
| French |
noire |
soupir |
| Japanese |
4分音符 |
4分休符 |
| Korean |
4분음표 |
4분쉼표 |
| Galego |
negra |
silencio de negra |
| German |
Viertelnote |
Viertelpause |
| Greek |
tetarto (τέταρτο) |
pausi tetartou (παύση τετάρτου) |
| Italian |
semiminima |
pausa di semiminima |
| Norwegian |
fjerdedelsnote |
fjerdedelspause |
| Polish |
ćwierćnuta |
pauza ćwierćnutowa |
| Portuguese |
semínima |
pausa de semínima |
| Russian |
четвертная нота |
четвертная пауза |
| Serbian |
četvrtin(k)a / четвртин(к)а |
četvrtinska pauza/ четвртинска пауза |
| Slovak |
štvrťová nota |
štvrťová pomlčka |
| Spanish |
negra |
silencio de negra |
| Swedish |
fjärdedelsnot |
fjärdedelspaus |
| Turkish |
dörtlük nota |
dörtlük es |
| Thai |
โน๊ตตัวดำ |
ตัวหยุดตัวดำ |
The Galician, Catalan, French and Spanish names for the note (all of them meaning "black") derive from the fact that the semiminima was the longest note to be colored in mensural white notation, which is true as well of the modern form.
The Bulgarian, Chinese, Croatian, Czech, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Russian, Serbian and Slovak names mean "quarter" (for the note) and "quarter's pause" (for the rest).
Notes
- ^ Examples of the older symbol are found in English music up to the early 20th century, e.g. W. A. Mozart Requiem Mass, vocal score ed. W. T. Best, pub. London: Novello & Co. Ltd. 1879
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Musical note values
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Note and rest
lengths |
- Maxima
- Longa
- Double whole note (breve)
- Whole note (semibreve)
- Half note (minim)
- Quarter note (crotchet)
- Eighth note (quaver)
- Sixteenth note (semiquaver)
- Thirty-second note (demisemiquaver)
- Sixty-fourth note (hemidemisemiquaver)
- Hundred twenty-eighth note
- Two hundred fifty-sixth note
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| Variations |
- Dotted note
- Grace note
- Swung note
- Tuplet
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