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Quaver = 1 tail Semiquaver = 2 tails demisemiquaver = 3 tails hemidemisemiquaver = exactly 4 tails. A guy I know who is, among other things, a good composer, has a dog called Semiquaver, because it's nearly aways as pleased as a dog with two tails. Remember that, and you can do the count yourselves right down to hds-quaver. Hell, I knew all that music theory was going to have a payoff one day!  And now a question for everyone. Why are they called quavers anyway? Hey, Max - Quordleplennui. Were you really that bored? 
The idiot also known as Capfka ...
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Carpal Tunnel
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why quavers? quaver... "a note, equal in length to half a crotchet or one-eighth of a semibreve." but wait. let's give jazzo a chance to tell the story.... (please?)
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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And so, if you're composing on a small piece of paper, and consequently writing in tiny script, you end up with a
minihemidemisemiquaver
And if your hand shook as you held the paper, you would have a
quivering minihemidemisemiquaver
And if you dropped the paper, and it almost hit a puddle, but somebody caught it for you just in time, he would be a
quivering minihemidemisemiquaver saver
Whew.
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old hand
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old hand
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An 8th note has one flag, a 16th has 2, 32nd has 3 and 64th has 4. Therefore a 128th has 5, a 256 has 6, a 512th has 7 . . . etc.
Now who's up for some Charlie Parker?
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In reply to Max:
Why yes, the OED does have something to say!
(As usual, fonts with accents don't transfer to ASCII. I've tried to fix some of them.)
Hemi-:
[a. Gr. ™li-, combining element, from earlier *r‰li- = L. sUmi-, Skr. sQmi-, OTeut. *sâmi-, OE. sam-, all meaning ‘half-’. Several Gr. words containing this element were in use as technical terms in later L., e.g. hemicyclium, hemWna, hemisphærium, hemistichium. In the modern langs. they are very numerous, not only in terms adopted or adapted from Gr. (directly or through L.), but in new formations, scientific or technical, from Greek, or on Greek analogies. Words formed from Latin have the corresponding prefix semi-; but there are instances of hybridism in the use of both prefixes.]
(You know, the OED on CD-ROM has to be the best present I ever gave myself.)
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Carpal Tunnel
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Rouspeteur : the OED on CD-ROM has to be the best present I ever gave myself
Oh, lucky you ... all I have is the Shorter OED CD and I love it. I'm a great believer in presents for oneself. Who knows better what is wanted?
May I call on you if I get stumped?
wow
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Wow, of course you may. I'd be more than happy to help.
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addict
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addict
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Tswum wondered: why quavers? quaver... Thanks for bringing up the names of notes, since it has reminded me of something that bugged me for the longest time when I was learning music, and I'd like your opinions, both informed and uninformed. The names of notes in English in descending order according to note-value are: Semibreve (whole note) Minim (half-note) Crotchet (quarter-note) Quaver (1/8) Semiquaver (1/16) Demisemiquaver (1/32) Hemidemisemiquaver (1/64) The names of the same notes in Spanish are: Redonda (whole note, it means "round") Blanca (half-note, it means "white") Negra (quarter-note, it means "black") Corchea (1/8) Semicorchea (1/16) Fusa (1/32) Semifusa (1/64) (Since it is so seldom used, I have left out the Breve, that semibreve that looks like it's in jail. Also, I confess, I have forgotten the Spanish name for it, if I was ever taught it  ) It always appeared to me that there must be some kind of etymological connection between the terms "crotchet" and "corchea", and I cannot imagine how one came to refer to quarter-notes and the other to eighth-notes. Anyone have any ideas about this? Also, where did the "fusa/semifusa" words come from? It seems unfair that Spanish musicians are deprived of the fun of endlessly splitting quavers into ever-smaller units with ever-longer denominations! 
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Carpal Tunnel
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In reply to:
why quavers? quaver... "a note, equal in length to half a crotchet or one-eighth of a semibreve." but wait. let's give jazzo a chance to tell the story....
since jazzo ducked the chance to piffle this, I will tell you that a quaver is so-called because of the way it was originally sounded, with a tremble or quiver (i.e., the verb quaver was nouned!)
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Dear Marianna,
In US I was taught note-names as you noted as a "translation" for the fancier names in English
The names of notes in English in descending order according to note-value are:
Open no stem =whole note
Open note with stem = half-note
black note with stem= quarter-note
black note w/ stem and flag = eighth note (1/8)
black note with stem and two flags = sixteenth note (1/16)
" with three flags= thirty second note (1/32)
" with four flags= sixty-fouth note (1/64)
A dot after a note means to extend the note by half it's value.
Do musicians in Canada, Australia, New Zealand and former British colonial possessions use the hemi, semi, demi names?
wow
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