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In music, a hundred twenty-eighth note (American) or semihemidemisemiquaver or quasihemidemisemiquaver (British) is a note played for 1/128 of the duration of a whole note (or semibreve). It lasts half as long as a sixty-fourth note (or hemidemisemiquaver). It has a total of five flags or beams.
Notes this short are very rare in printed music, but not unknown. They are principally used for brief, rapid sections in slow movements. For example, they occur in the first movement of Beethoven's Pathétique Piano Sonata (Op. 13), to notate rapid scales. Another example is in Mozart's Variations on Je suis lindor, where two of them are used in the slow eleventh variation.[1][2]
These five-beamed notes also appear occasionally where a passage is to be performed rapidly, but where the actual tempo is at the discretion of the performer rather than being a strict division of the beat. In such cases, the aggregate time of the notes may not add up exactly to a full measure, and the phrase may be marked with an odd time division to indicate this. Sometimes such notation is made using smaller notes, sized like grace notes.
Hundred twenty-eighth rests are also rare (but not unknown). They are most commonly used as replacements for breath marks.
The logical succession to a hundred twenty-eighth note would be a "two hundred fifty-sixth note," or a "demisemihemidemisemiquaver" in British/Classic terminology. However, these are exceptionally rare, if not non-existent, as no evidence exists to prove or disprove their existence. The speed required to play these notes is incredibly challenging even at extremely slow tempos, as roughly twenty-six notes per second would be played at just 25bpm.
Two hundred fifty-sixth notes and rests also exist, but they are rare and only exist in computer generated music. They would be incredibly difficult to play on a real instrument.
References
- ^ Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus. 12 Variations on 'Je suis lindor', K.354. p. 10, fourth system, last bar. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozarts Werke, Serie 21. Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel, 1877-1910. Plate W.A.M. 354. [1]
- ^ http://www.mail-archive.com/lilypond-devel@gnu.org/msg14425.html
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