note

A note has two essential properties: pitch (how high or low it sounds) and duration (how long it lasts). In notation, the pitch is shown by the note's position on the staff, while the duration is shown by the note's shape — whole notes, half notes, quarter notes, eighth notes, and so on, each lasting half as long as the previous. The twelve notes of the chromatic scale — C, C♯/D♭, D, D♯/E♭, E, F, F♯/G♭, G, G♯/A♭, A, A♯/B♭, B — repeat in every octave across the entire range of human hearing. These twelve notes, arranged in different combinations of melody, harmony, and rhythm, are the raw material from which all Western music is built. The system is remarkably economical — just twelve building blocks produce infinite variety.