Filled notehead
A filled notehead is used for a quarter note and shorter values. The stem, flags or beams still determine the exact duration, while the head's staff position normally determines pitch.
- Notes and rests
- On the staff itself
- An oval or notehead
Do not confuse it with
An open notehead has a white centre and normally belongs to a half note or whole note.
What the sources say
- SMuFL — Individual notes
scoring applications should draw all notes by combining notehead glyphs — e.g. noteheadBlack for quarter notes (crotchets) and shorter notes
- Rhythmic values
filled noteheads always appear with a stem. Flags can be added to the stems of filled noteheads; each flag shortens the duration by half.
- Concise Introduction to Tonal Harmony — Rhythmic Durations
The basic unit of musical duration is a quarter note, written with a filled-in notehead and a stem.