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How to Make Music Notes

Musical notation features music notes that consist of two elements. Those elements are note heads and note stems. he various combinations of these heads and stems tell musicians the names of the notes to play, the octave to play those notes in, and the duration with which to play the notes. This information in conjunction with rests and other musical marking is the basis of the language of music. Learning to make music notes isn't difficult once you understand the basic structure.

Things You'll Need

  • Basic note reading book
  • Blank sheet music paper
  • Pencil
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Instructions

    • 1

      Purchase a basic instruction book that teaches reading music. You can find this same basic information online at no charge (see resources). It's a good idea to keep a reference by your side as you practice drawing your music notes. "Music Theory for Dummies" from the popular Dummies series is an excellent, easy-to-understand reference guide for beginners. The Datadragon "Introduction to Reading Music" is an excellent free online guide worth keeping handy.

    • 2

      Practice whole notes and half notes. These two notes are similar in appearance. A whole note, which lasts for an entire bar of music, is simply a note head (oval shaped) with no color. It stands for four beats in 4/4 music. Draw a whole note and add a straight line stem to the right side of the note.

    • 3

      Draw a whole note head and color it in, then add a straight line stem to the right side of the note head. This is a quarter note, which represents one beat of music in 4/4 time. Draw an eighth note by starting with a quarter note and adding a little tail to the tip of the stem. An eighth note represents half a beat in music. If you have two or more eighth notes together, you can draw them as quarter notes and connect them with a straight line across the tops of the notes, eliminating the need for the tail.

      Sixteenth and 32nd notes are drawn like eighth notes, except that a 16th note has two tails and a 32nd note as three. You can connect a group of these notes together in the same way you connect a group of eighth notes together.

    • 4

      Practice drawing the notes on blank music paper. Place the stem on the left side of the note head and pointing down for music notes on the third line of the music staff and above. Place notes on the right side of the note head and pointing up for notes on the second space of the music staff and lower. To execute a proper note, angle the oval note head with a slight downward slope. Many musicians prefer to scribble written notes in a way that fits their personality.

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