Definition

Noun: A sixteenth note is a musical note with a duration equal to one-sixteenth of the length of a whole note. It is a very short note value, typically appearing in fast musical passages.

Usage

In musical notation, a sixteenth note is written as a filled-in oval note head with a straight stem and two flags. When multiple sixteenth notes are consecutive, their flags are often connected by two horizontal beams. * The rhythm in this bar consists of four sixteenth notes followed by a quarter note. * To play this passage correctly, you must count the sixteenth notes precisely.

Advanced Usage

• Dotted sixteenth note: A sixteenth note with a dot placed after it. The dot increases the note's duration by half of its original value, making it equal to a sixteenth note plus a thirty-second note.
  • The dotted sixteenth note is followed by a thirty-second note in that figure.
• In time signatures like 4/4, a single beat (quarter note) can be subdivided into four sixteenth notes.

Variants and Related Words

• Semiquaver: This is the British English term for a sixteenth note. The terms are interchangeable in meaning.
  • The semiquaver run is very technically demanding.
• Thirty-second note (or ): A note with half the duration of a sixteenth note.
• Eighth note (or ): A note with twice the duration of a sixteenth note.

Synonyms

• Semiquaver (UK)

Related Terms (Not Phrasal Verbs or Idioms)

• Note value: The relative duration of a note.
• Beam: The horizontal line that connects the stems of grouped short notes (like eighth or sixteenth notes) for easier reading.
• Flag: The curved stroke attached to the stem of a single eighth note, sixteenth note, thirty-second note, etc.

Noun

1. a musical note having the time value of a sixteenth of a whole note