Sixty-fourth note
In
music notation, a sixty-fourth note (North American), or hemidemisemiquaver or semidemisemiquaver (British), sometimes called a half-thirty-second note,[1] is a note played for half the duration of a thirty-second note (or demisemiquaver), hence the name. It first occurs in the late 17th century and, apart from rare occurrences of hundred twenty-eighth notes (semihemidemisemiquavers) and two hundred fifty-sixth notes (demisemihemidemisemiquavers), it is the shortest value found in musical notation.[2]
Sixty-fourth notes are notated with a filled-in oval
staff. When the notehead is below the middle line the stem is drawn to the right of the notehead going upward. A single 64th note is always stemmed with flags, while two or more are usually beamed in groups.[3]
A similar, but rarely encountered symbol is the sixty-fourth rest (or hemidemisemiquaver rest, shown in figure 1) which denotes silence for the same duration as a sixty-fourth note.
Notes shorter than a sixty-fourth note are very rarely used, though the hundred twenty-eighth note—otherwise known as the semihemidemisemiquaver[4]—and even shorter notes, are occasionally found.
See also
References
- ^ Burrowes 1874, 42.
- ^ Morehen 2001.
- ^ Gerou and Lusk 1996, p. 211.
- ^ Haas 2011, 112.
Sources
- Burrowes, John Freckleton. 1874. Burrowes' Piano-forte Primer: Containing the Rudiments of Music Adapted for Either Private Tuition or Teaching in Classes Together with a Guide to Practice, new edition, revised and modernized, with important additions, by L. H. Southard. Boston and New York: Oliver Ditson.
- Gerou, Tom, and Linda Lusk. 1996. Essential Dictionary of Music Notation. Los Angeles: Alfred Publishing. ISBN 978-0-88284-730-6
- Haas, David. 2011. "Shostakovich’s Second Piano Sonata: A Composition Recital in Three Styles". In The Cambridge Companion to Shostakovich, edited by Pauline Fairclough and David Fanning, 95–114. . "The listener is right to suspect a Baroque reference when a double-dotted rhythmic gesture and semihemidemisemiquaver triplets appear to ornament the theme" (112).
- Morehen, John. 2001. "Hemidemisemiquaver". The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell. London: Macmillan.
Further reading
- Taylor, Eric. The Associated Board Guide to Music Theory (Part 1) (England: The Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music (Publishing) Ltd, 1989) Chapter 3 (Continuing with Rhythm), pp. 15–20.
