Duration represents the relative duration between sounds.

Note duration, also known as note value or tone value, is used in musical notation to express the relative duration between notes. A perfect note is equal to two half notes; it is equal to four quarter notes, eight eighth notes; sixteen sixteenth notes, and thirty-two thirty-second notes. It's just a ratio of note durations.

In musical works, only by adding the time signature can we know which note is a beat. Now take the ÷ beat as an example (that is, a quarter note is one beat, and each measure 4 has a duration of two quarter notes). Example 1 Music theory textbooks tell us: "V" is a beat. It makes us understand that do is the first half of the first beat, re is the second half of the beat; mi is the first half of the second beat, and fa is the second half of the beat.

Staves:

Staves were introduced to China relatively early, probably in the middle and late Ming Dynasty with the spread of Western missionaries. The earliest detailed record of the staff is the sequel to "Lü Lu Zhengyi" in the Qing Dynasty, which describes the staff, scales, roll calls, etc. "Lv Lu Zhengyi" is a music encyclopedia compiled in the Qing Dynasty of my country with the main content of music rhythm.

This book was compiled by imperial decree from the Kangxi to Qianlong periods. It is divided into an upper part, a lower part and a sequel. Later, a later part was added. The fact that the relevant content of the staff can appear in such a classic compiled by the royal family also illustrates the use of the staff in China at that time. Later, with the further development and spread of Western music in China, staff notation became more and more popular in China.

At present, staff notation has become a common notation method in the music industry. Whether it is China or France, whether it is Brazil or Russia, a large number of music documents are recorded, published and disseminated using staffs. Therefore, even amateurs should learn some knowledge about the use of musical notation.

The note duration does not represent the absolute time length of a note, but is used to make people understand the relative time length between it and other notes. The duration of each note in the table below is twice as long as the next note.