Eighth note

The eighth note, also known as the quaver in British English, is a fundamental symbol in Western musical notation representing a duration of one-eighth the length of a whole note, or equivalently, half the duration of a quarter note.^[1][2][3] It is visually depicted as a solid black note head (filled oval) attached to a vertical stem, with a single flag extending from the end of the stem opposite the note head; in sequences of multiple eighth notes, individual flags are replaced by horizontal beams connecting the stems for clarity and rhythmic grouping.^[4][5][6] In music theory, the eighth note serves as a primary subdivision of the beat in simple meters like 4/4, where two eighth notes fill one quarter-note beat, and it becomes the beat unit itself in compound meters such as 6/8, emphasizing triplet-like groupings of three per beat, with two such beats per measure.^[1][7][8] Beaming conventions for eighth notes typically align with metric beats—grouping two per beat in simple meters or three per beat in compound meters—to visually reinforce the underlying pulse and facilitate sight-reading across genres from classical to contemporary music.^[6][9][10] A dotted eighth note extends this value by an additional half, equaling three-eighths of a whole note, often paired with a sixteenth note to complete a beat in rhythmic patterns.^[4][11]

Terminology

Regional Variations

In American English, the eighth note is termed "eighth note," a designation that directly reflects its rhythmic value as one-eighth the duration of a whole note.^[12] In British English, the equivalent term is "quaver," derived from the Middle English verb "quaveren," meaning to tremble or quiver, evoking the note's brief, vibrating length.^[13] This terminological diversity extends to other languages, where the eighth note bears distinct names rooted in local musical traditions. In French, it is known as "croche," referring to the hooked flag on its stem; in German, "Achtelnote," literally meaning "eighth note"; in Italian, "croma," a modern term with historical precedents like "fusa"; in Spanish, "corchea"; and in Portuguese, "colcheia." These variations highlight how fractional descriptions, visual features, or onomatopoeic qualities shape nomenclature across cultures.^[14][12]

Historical and Etymological Terms

The term "eighth note," used primarily in American English, derives directly from its duration, which represents one-eighth of a whole note (semibreve) in the proportional division system of modern music notation that emerged in the 17th and 18th centuries.^[15] This fractional naming convention reflects a shift toward rational, arithmetic-based terminology in Anglo-American music theory, contrasting with more descriptive European terms.^[15] In British English, the equivalent term "quaver" dates to the 16th century and originates from the Middle English verb "quaveren," meaning to tremble or quiver, evoking the note's brief, fluttering quality in performance.^[13] This onomatopoeic etymology underscores the sensory perception of short durations in early modern music, where the quaver's rapid articulation mimicked a shaking or vibrating motion. The term persists in British regional variations, maintaining its historical roots amid evolving notation practices. During the medieval and Renaissance periods, from the 13th to 16th centuries, mensural notation employed the term "fusa" for a note value roughly equivalent to the modern eighth note, denoting an eighth of the semibrevis in proportional rhythmic systems.^[16] This diamond-shaped note, often filled and flagged, facilitated precise temporal measurement in polyphonic music, building on earlier proportional frameworks. Terms like "demisemiquaver," which designates the thirty-second note (half a semiquaver or sixteenth note), illustrate naming confusions in historical binary divisions, where prefixes such as "demi-" and "semi-" compounded to describe ever-shorter values beyond the eighth.^[17] Foundational concepts of musical proportion trace back to Boethius's De institutione musica (c. 510 AD), which explored arithmetic divisions of intervals and strings, laying theoretical groundwork for later mensural innovations that enabled note values like the fusa.^[18] These early references to proportional relationships in pitch and harmony indirectly influenced the rhythmic hierarchies that evolved into the eighth note's standardized role.^[19]

Definition and Duration

Core Definition

An eighth note is a musical note that lasts for one-eighth the duration of a whole note, which is the longest standard note value in common music notation.^[20] Equivalently, it endures for half the duration of a quarter note, making it a fundamental subdivision in rhythmic structures.^[21] This duration positions the eighth note as an essential building block for expressing precise timing in musical compositions. In music, the eighth note functions as a primary subdivision of the beat, allowing performers to articulate faster tempos and more complex rhythmic patterns.^[21] It plays a central role across genres, including Western classical music, popular music, and folk traditions, where it enables the creation of intricate grooves and melodic flows by dividing longer note values into manageable units.^[20] The eighth note assumes familiarity with longer durations such as the whole note and quarter note, serving as an intermediate value that bridges basic pulse with finer rhythmic detail. In British English terminology, it is referred to as a quaver, reflecting regional variations in naming conventions.^[22]

Relative Duration and Value

The eighth note has a duration equal to half that of a quarter note, serving as a primary subdivision of the beat in many musical contexts.^[4] In proportional terms, it represents one-fourth the value of a half note and twice the value of a sixteenth note.^[4] This relative positioning establishes the eighth note within the standard hierarchy of note values, where a whole note equates to eight eighth notes.^[4] To illustrate these relationships clearly, the following table outlines the equivalence in terms of eighth notes: ^[4] In common time (4/4 meter), where the quarter note typically receives one beat, the eighth note therefore spans half a beat.^[4] It functions primarily to divide the quarter note into two equal parts, enabling even rhythmic patterns.^[23] This subdivision is commonly articulated through counting methods such as "1-and-2-and-3-and-4-and," where the "and" denotes the off-beat position of the second eighth note within each beat.^[24] When further subdividing a beat into four equal parts—as with sixteenth notes—the eighth note aligns with the primary divisions, and the full sequence is often counted as "1 e & a 2 e & a," highlighting the eighth note's position on the "1" and "&."^[24]

Notation

Graphic Components

The eighth note in standard Western staff notation consists of a filled notehead, a stem, and a single flag, forming a compact symbol that denotes a specific rhythmic duration and pitch. The notehead is an ellipse filled in black, positioned on a line or in a space of the staff to indicate pitch; this solid oval differentiates it from longer notes like the half note, which uses an open (unfilled) head./04:_Rhythm/4.01:_Notation)^[25] The stem is a straight vertical line, roughly equivalent in length to one octave (spanning eight staff positions), attached directly to the notehead without additional space. Stems ascend from the right side of the notehead for notes on or below the staff's middle line, promoting visual balance and preventing overlap with adjacent notation; conversely, stems descend from the left side for notes on or above the middle line. Notes precisely on the middle line may use either direction, often determined by the surrounding musical context for optimal readability.^[26] A single flag, resembling a small curved hook, attaches to the stem's endpoint farthest from the notehead, indicating the note's subdivision into eighths. For ascending stems, the flag extends from the top and curves rightward; for descending stems, it extends from the bottom and curves leftward, ensuring the curve faces outward from the notehead while maintaining proportional elegance in the symbol.^[26][27] In digital representations, the isolated eighth note symbol is encoded in Unicode as U+266A (♪), facilitating its use in text and software across platforms.

Beaming and Flags

In music notation, an isolated eighth note is distinguished by a single curved flag attached to its stem, which visually indicates its duration as half of a quarter note. This flag replaces the beam used for grouped notes and is a standard element in Western staff notation, ensuring clarity for performers reading single short-duration notes. For notes shorter than an eighth, such as sixteenths, multiple flags are added (e.g., two for a sixteenth note), but the eighth note employs only one to maintain proportional simplicity.^[28][29] When two or more eighth notes appear consecutively, they are typically connected by a thick horizontal beam that replaces the individual flags, forming a beamed group to enhance readability. This beaming convention groups notes in ways that align with the underlying beat structure, such as pairing eighth notes per beat in 4/4 time (e.g., two eighths on beat one and two on beat two, avoiding beams across the bar's center or between weak beats). In compound meters like 3/8 or 6/8, where the beat is a dotted quarter note, eighth notes are often beamed in threes to reflect the division of the beat into three parts. Beams do not cross bar lines, and groups generally start and end on beat divisions to minimize ties and clarify rhythm.^[30][28][29] Variations in beaming include positioning the beam at the height of the stems for optimal clarity, with upward stems beaming above and downward stems below the noteheads. A common symbolic representation is the Unicode character U+266B (♫), which depicts a beamed pair of eighth notes and is used in digital scores and educational materials. These practices stem from 19th-century music engraving standards, where copper-plate and mosaic typesetting refined beaming for legibility in complex, fast passages, evolving from earlier mensural notations to modern conventions.^[30][31]

Corresponding Rest

The eighth rest, also known as the quaver rest in British terminology, is a symbol denoting silence equivalent in duration to an eighth note. It consists of a slanted diagonal line descending from upper left to lower right, terminating in a small curved hook or flag at the bottom, often resembling a stylized "7".^[32][33] This glyph is standardized in modern music fonts under the Unicode point U+E4E6 as part of the Standard Music Font Layout (SMuFL).^[34] In staff notation, the eighth rest is positioned at a height corresponding to its rhythmic placement within the measure, typically aligned to the middle of a space or on a line to clearly indicate timing without ambiguity; it is arranged to avoid the use of ledger lines whenever possible.^[33] In polyphonic textures with multiple voices, eighth rests for different parts are stacked vertically on the staff to maintain clarity and prevent overlap.^[32] The duration of the eighth rest represents a silence lasting one-eighth of a whole note (semibreve), or equivalently half the value of a quarter note (crotchet).^[33][35] This matches the temporal value of the eighth note itself.^[36] The eighth rest evolved from the mensural notation systems of the 13th century, where Franco of Cologne formalized rests as shapes mirroring note durations, such as the semibreve rest divided into smaller proportional silences.^[37] By the 14th century's Ars Nova period, further subdivisions refined these forms, transitioning from angular black-note styles to smoother white mensural variants in the 15th century.^[37][32] Modern standardization occurred in the 17th century with the advent of printed scores and engraving techniques, solidifying the hooked diagonal design used today.^[32]

Rhythmic Usage

In Simple Meters

In simple meters, such as 4/4 or 2/4 time signatures, the eighth note serves as the primary subdivision of the beat, representing half the duration of a quarter note. This even division allows for precise rhythmic layering, where each beat is split into two equal parts.^[38] A common method for counting eighth notes in these meters involves verbalizing the subdivisions as "1-and, 2-and, 3-and, 4-and" in 4/4 time, ensuring even spacing between each note to maintain a steady pulse. This counting technique helps performers internalize the rhythm, with the "and" falling on the off-beat. Pairs of eighth notes often create a steady, walking pulse, as seen in bass lines that outline chord progressions in jazz standards or blues tunes played in 4/4.^[23][39] In folk tunes like "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star," arranged in simple meter, alternating eighth notes contribute to the song's lilting flow, such as on syllables like "twin-kle" where two eighth notes fill a single beat. Performers emphasize even duration for these notes, executing them straight without swing unless the style—such as certain ballads—explicitly requires it, to build momentum and forward drive in the music.^[40][38][41] For example, a simple melody snippet in 4/4 might feature two eighth notes per beat, notated as:

This pattern, common in beginner exercises, demonstrates the eighth note's role in creating rhythmic continuity across beats.^[23]

In Compound Meters and Syncopation

In compound meters, such as 6/8, the eighth note functions as the primary subdivision, with each measure comprising six eighth notes organized into two principal beats, each equivalent to a dotted quarter note encompassing three eighth notes. This structure imparts a lilting, triple-based pulse distinct from simple meters, where the eighth note divides quarter-note beats evenly. For instance, in traditional Irish jigs like "The Irish Washerwoman," the melody relies on continuous streams of eighth notes grouped in threes, fostering the characteristic bouncy rhythm of double jigs in 6/8 time.^[42][43][44] Eighth notes in compound meters often appear in beaming groups of three to visually reinforce the triple subdivision, aligning with the meter’s inherent grouping. In 6/8 waltz patterns, common in certain folk and jazz contexts, the rhythm emphasizes the first and fourth eighth notes within the measure (e.g., strong-weak-weak, strong-weak-weak), creating a swaying, dance-like flow that evokes a waltz despite the compound signature. This usage highlights the eighth note's versatility in conveying motion through subdivided beats.^[42][45] Beyond compound meters, eighth notes are instrumental in syncopation, where they introduce accents on weak subdivisions or off-beats, disrupting expected rhythmic patterns to generate tension and forward momentum. In genres like jazz and rock, this often involves stressing the "and" of the beat—such as emphasizing "1-and-2" in a 4/4 measure—using pairs of eighth notes to shift focus from downbeats. For example, blues riffs frequently employ tied eighth notes across bar lines or beats, as in classic single-note patterns that prolong a note into an off-beat position, enhancing the genre's propulsive groove.^[46][47][48] A notable variation occurs in jazz, where "swing" eighth notes are notated as equal durations but performed with the second eighth note shortened relative to the first, approximating the feel of a triplet (e.g., long-short pairs) to produce the genre's signature laid-back propulsion; this inequality is conventionally indicated by a "swing" directive rather than altered notation.^[49]

Historical Development

Origins in Early Notation

The conceptual roots of the eighth note trace back to early medieval notational systems, particularly in the neumatic notation of plainchant from the 9th to 12th centuries. Neumes, initially developed to indicate melodic contour rather than precise pitch, began to incorporate elements of proportional duration, distinguishing between longer and shorter sounds through symbols like the long (pes or clivis) and short (podatus or scandicus) forms. These developments were influenced by ancient theoretical ideas, including Boethius's 6th-century treatise De institutione musica, which outlined numerical ratios for musical elements, including suggestions for rhythmic proportions such as 2:1 or 3:1 between long and short durations in poetic meter adapted to music.^[50] By the 11th century, these neumes in Aquitanian and other regional scripts allowed scribes to hint at rhythmic nuances in sacred monophony, laying groundwork for more measured approaches without full standardization. The transition to explicit mensural notation occurred in the 13th century, enabling polyphonic music to specify durations more accurately. Franco of Cologne's influential 1280 treatise Ars cantus mensurabilis formalized the system by assigning fixed proportional values to note shapes, such as the brevis (divisible into three or two semibreves) and introducing the minim as a subdivision, which approximated shorter durations essential for complex rhythms in emerging polyphony. This framework, known as Franconian notation, subdivided the brevis into smaller units, setting the stage for even finer divisions like the fusa, equivalent to one-eighth of the semibrevis in certain mensurations.^[51] These innovations arose primarily in European sacred music, particularly to notate intricate rhythms in motets, where multiple voices required precise temporal alignment beyond the rhythmic modes of earlier Notre Dame polyphony.^[52] In the 14th century, composers and theorists like Philippe de Vitry further refined mensural notation through the Ars Nova style, introducing the fusa as a standard breve subdivision to accommodate faster, more expressive passages in polyphonic works. Vitry's treatise Ars nova (c. 1322) advocated for these smaller values, including the semiminim and fusa, to expand rhythmic possibilities in motets and other forms, building on Franco's principles while allowing for duple and triple subdivisions in tempus and prolation. This period marked the eighth note's precursor as a practical tool in sacred polyphony, particularly in French and Italian motets that demanded nuanced rhythmic interplay.^[53][54]

Evolution to Modern Form

During the Baroque and Classical periods of the 17th and 18th centuries, the eighth note became firmly established in staff notation, evolving from earlier mensural forms like the fusa into a standardized symbol with an oval head, stem, and single flag for precision in rapid passages. Composers such as Johann Sebastian Bach frequently employed flagged eighth notes in their manuscripts and prints to denote quick rhythmic figures, as seen in works like the Well-Tempered Clavier, where individual flags distinguished these notes from longer durations amid complex polyphony.^[55] This adoption reflected a shift toward clearer rhythmic indication in ensemble music, with beaming occasionally used by copyists to group eighth notes for legibility, though flags remained predominant in original sources.^[56] In the 19th century, advancements in music printing significantly standardized the representation of eighth notes, particularly through beaming and flags in orchestral scores. Firms like Breitkopf & Härtel, established in 1719 and prominent by the mid-1800s, pioneered movable type for music that allowed consistent engraving of beams connecting groups of eighth notes, replacing inconsistent handwritten flags and improving reproducibility for large-scale publications.^[57] This innovation facilitated the dissemination of works by composers like Beethoven and Brahms, where beaming conventions aligned with metric beats—such as pairing eighth notes in simple time—became a de facto standard in printed editions across Europe.^[58] The 20th century saw the global spread of the eighth note's modern form through digital notation and international music education influenced by Western traditions. Unicode integration began with the eighth note symbol (U+266A ♪) in version 1.1 (1993), expanding in the Musical Symbols block (Unicode 3.1, 2001) to support computerized scores with precise beaming and flags, enabling uniform representation in software and online resources.^[59] This digital standardization ensured consistency in global pedagogy, from conservatories in Asia to American classrooms, where the symbol's form remained invariant despite cultural adaptations in performance. Contemporary influences, including notation software like Finale, further reinforce these conventions by defaulting to traditional beaming rules—such as grouping eighth notes by beat in common meters—while allowing minor adjustments that maintain printed uniformity. Handwritten variations persist in personal sketches, but professional print and digital outputs adhere strictly to established forms, preserving the eighth note's clarity across media.^[60]