> > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > From: David Kastrup <d...@gnu.org> > To: Christopher Heckman <christopher.heck...@asu.edu> > Cc: lilypond-devel@gnu.org > Bcc: > Date: Mon, 13 Jan 2025 01:42:20 +0100 > Subject: Re: Is "note value" unambiguous? > Christopher Heckman <christopher.heck...@asu.edu> writes: > > > On Sun, Jan 12, 2025 at 10:03 AM <lilypond-devel-requ...@gnu.org> wrote: > >> At 15:45 on 11 Jan 2025, Dan Eble wrote: > >> > >> Saul Tobin wrote at > >> https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/lilypond-devel/2024-12/msg00048.html > >> > >> > In English, I would also use the term "note value" > >> > ... > >> > to describe something like "dotted quarter." > >> > >> I have been surfing the web reading about duration and I find sources > >> pushing me in different directions about whether "note value" refers > >> strictly to a power-of-two fraction of a whole note or also includes a > >> number of dots. For example, the notes { c4 c4. } have different > >> durations; do they also have different note values? > >> > >> I can't tell whether people disagree about the meaning of the term or > >> it's just being misused in some cases. > > > > A note is not just a duration. It also consists of a pitch and volume > > (dynamic), as well as maybe a few other parameters I'm forgetting at > > the moment. > > > > So, to answer the question in the subject line: No. > > I've just did a switch to German, and "Notenwert" would be pretty much > the duration. I cannot rule out that for native English speakers, "note > value" has the right connotations. However, for "computer English" > speakers, "value" may have more of a specific meaning/connotation, > making the term more problematic for an international audience than a > native English one that is used to, well, compounding compound words. > > -- > David Kastrup >
>From my perspective as a Native English speaker, the clearest way to express this would be to talk about a note's "rhythmic value". The term duration is very natural, but technically I think "duration" implies a measurement of time, and what we are referring to is more abstract. We would also need to know the tempo in order to know the note's duration. So, what we currently define as duration is definitely not quite a full representation of duration. HTH, Elaine Alt 415 . 341 .4954 "*Confusion is highly underrated*" ela...@flaminghakama.com Producer ~ Composer ~ Instrumentalist ~ Educator -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
