View source for Sixty-fourth note

{{short description|Musical note duration}}
In [[music notation]], a '''sixty-fourth note''' (North American), or '''hemidemisemiquaver''' or '''semidemisemiquaver''' (British), sometimes called a '''half-thirty-second note''',{{sfn|Burrowes|1874|loc=42}} is a [[Musical note|note]] played for half the duration of a [[thirty-second note]] (or demisemiquaver), hence the name. It first occurs in the late 17th century and, apart from rare occurrences of [[hundred twenty-eighth note]]s (semihemidemisemiquavers) and [[two hundred fifty-sixth note]]s (demisemihemidemisemiquavers), it is the shortest value found in musical notation.{{sfn|Morehen|2001}}

[[File:Hemidemisemiquaver.svg|frame|Figure 1]]
Sixty-fourth notes are notated with a filled-in oval [[notehead]] and a straight [[note stem]] with four flags. The stem is drawn to the left of the notehead going downward when the note is above or on the middle line of the [[musical staff|staff]]. When the notehead is below the middle line the stem is drawn to the right of the notehead going upward. A single 64th note is always stemmed with flags, while two or more are usually [[beam (music)|beamed]] in groups.{{sfn|Gerou and Lusk|1996|p=211}}

[[File:Semifusas unidas.svg|thumb|500px|centre|Figure 2: Sixty-fourth notes beamed together]]
A similar, but rarely encountered symbol is the '''sixty-fourth [[rest (music)|rest]]''' (or '''hemidemisemiquaver rest''', shown in figure 1) which denotes silence for the same duration as a sixty-fourth note.

Notes shorter than a sixty-fourth note are very rarely used, though the [[hundred twenty-eighth note]]—otherwise known as the ''semihemidemisemiquaver''{{sfn|Haas|2011|loc=112}}—and even shorter notes, are occasionally found.

== See also ==
* [[List of musical symbols]]

==References==
{{reflist|18em}}

'''Sources'''
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*{{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Burrowes|1874}}|reference=Burrowes, John Freckleton. 1874. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=TH1BAQAAMAAJ&q=Burrowes%27+Piano-forte+Primer:+Containing+the+Rudiments+of+Music+Adapted+for+Either+Private+Tuition+Or+Teaching+in+Classes+Together+with+a+Guide+to+Practice Burrowes' Piano-forte Primer: Containing the Rudiments of Music Adapted for Either Private Tuition or Teaching in Classes Together with a Guide to Practice]'', new edition, revised and modernized, with important additions, by L. H. Southard. Boston and New York: Oliver Ditson.}}
* {{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Gerou and Lusk|1996}}|reference=Gerou, Tom, and Linda Lusk. 1996. ''Essential Dictionary of Music Notation''. Los Angeles: Alfred Publishing. {{ISBN|978-0-88284-730-6}}}}
*{{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Haas|2011}}|reference=Haas, David. 2011. "Shostakovich’s Second Piano Sonata: A Composition Recital in Three Styles". In ''The Cambridge Companion to Shostakovich'', edited by Pauline Fairclough and David Fanning, 95–114. [[Cambridge Companions to Music]]. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press. {{ISBN|978-1-139-00195-3}}. {{doi|10.1017/CCOL9780521842204.006}}.}} "The listener is right to suspect a Baroque reference when a double-dotted rhythmic gesture and semihemidemisemiquaver triplets appear to ornament the theme" (112).
* {{wikicite|ref={{harvid|Morehen|2001}}|reference=Morehen, John. 2001. "Hemidemisemiquaver". ''[[The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians]]'', second edition, edited by [[Stanley Sadie]] and [[John Tyrrell (musicologist)|John Tyrrell]]. London: Macmillan.}}
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==Further reading==
*Taylor, Eric. The Associated Board Guide to Music Theory (Part 1) (England: The Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music ''(Publishing)'' Ltd, 1989) Chapter 3 (Continuing with Rhythm), pp.&nbsp;15–20.

{{Musical note values}}

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[[Category:Note values]]
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