16th Notes

Rhythm Symbols and Terms

𝅘𝅥𝅯  16th Note Two 16th notes are equal in length to one eighth note. Four 16th notes is equal to a quarter note. A 16th note is ¼ the length of a quarter or ¼ beat in common time.

𝄿 16th Rest An 16th note length of silence. ¼ beat of silence in common time.

For a review of whole, half, quarter and eighth notes see Introducing Simple Rhythms and Eighth Notes.

Beaming 16th Notes

16th notes can be written with a flag 𝅘𝅥𝅯 or they can be beamed together .

16th notes are beamed together in groups of 4, when possible, in order to make the beats easier to see.

In vocal music 16th notes are not always beamed together. In some vocal music each syllable is kept separate and not beamed to any other syllables.

Counting 16th Notes

16th notes in simple meter divide the beat in quarters. As we learned in previous lessons the beats are counted using numbers and the middle of the beat is counted using "&". We then use "e" and "a" for the remaining subdivisions so that one beat of four 16th notes would be "1 e & a". Try counting the rhythm while playing it.

For Example:

Speaking 16th Notes

We learned to subdivide the beat using the syllable "ti". We can further subdivide the half beat by using the syllable "ki". So a beat of sixteenth notes will be "tikitiki". Try saying the rhythm while playing it.

Examples of 16th Rhythms

Below are a few examples of rhythms using 16ths.

Simple 16ths Rhythms

8th & 16th Combined in One Beat

Dotted 8th and 16th

To review Dotted Notes see Dotted Notes.

Rests

Ties

By adding ties we can come up with very complex rhythmic patterns. We will study those rhythms in Level 3

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