## Eighth Note

An eighth note is a filled note head with a stem and one flag, and it lasts half a beat in common time. Two of them fill one quarter-note beat.

When several appear together their flags are joined into a beam, which is easier to read and tells you at a glance how they group. A beam is not a different note value; it is the same eighth notes tidied up.


## How To Spot Eighth Note

A filled note with a single flag, or joined to its neighbours by one thick beam.


## Find It In Thirty Seconds

Find a beamed group of eighth notes and count "one-and two-and" through it. Say the "and" out loud — the off-beat is where evenness is won or lost.

Open any piece of sheet music on this site and do it now. Reading is a recognition skill, and recognition is built by finding things, not by reading about them.