Reading the page

A notehead says how long

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    A notehead says how long

    The shape of the head tells you the length. An open head with no stem fills a whole bar of four; give it a stem and it lasts two beats; fill the head in and it lasts one. Here is the same note three ways — nothing changes but how long you hold it.

The What the marks mean names the marks themselves, and the Little tools are there when you want to try something out.