How do I learn how to distinguish between note values?

Question

I would like to be able to hear different notes to transcribe songs, but I don't know how to learn. What is the best way to learn how to do this?

Answer 1

Go to some where were you will be able to sit down at a piano, alot. Also, I would reccomend two books, The Complete Idiot's Guide to Music Theory by Michael Miller and byThe Complete Idiot's Guide to Music Composition also by Michael Miller. I got both of these books as a set off Amazon.com and they cost me about 30 bucks. These books go over the basics of music very clearly. They also have ear-training techniques and drills that will help with the transcribing that you want to do. Good luck!

Answer 2

You need a basic education in music notation so you can write down what you hear. You distinguish note values ( length) by counting with the tempo. You transcribe the songs using the skill of hearing intervals, or, the distance between notes. In a normal scale: do-re is a second, do-mi is a third, do-fa is a fourth, and so on. There are little tricks to use such as do-fa is "here comes the bride" and do-so is " Twinkle Twinkle Little Star". As with any language, the more you do practice listening to the rhythm and listening to the intervals, the easier it will become.

The best way to do this is with private instruction with a music teacher. You should specify what your interests are, and search for one that will offer you: Music Theory, Sight Singing ( for intervals) and dictation ( how to transcribe). It would help if you play an instrument, but it's not necessary.

Answer 3

Well, the first thing you need to be able to figure out is the "beat". The easiest way to do that is to tap your foot to the music. Chances are, in most popular music, you'll be tapping your foot in what feels like groups of four, with a strong tap then three weaker taps (the third tap is stronger than the second and fourth). That number four is very important, because chances each group of four can be considered its own special unit, called a "measure". So, now we have four beats per measure, and a lot of measures, but how "long" is each beat? Well, the easiest way to remember is that if you have four beats per measure, then each beat is one quarter of the measure long, or simply a quarter note. From there, you can start discovering other note lengths, so a note that is two beats long would be half a measure long or a half note, a note that is four beats long would take up a whole measure, so it'd be a whole note, and a note that's only half a beat long would be half of a quarter, or an eighth note. This will work for probably 90% of the music released in the past 6 decades.