demi semi quavers .vs. 32nd notes

[lewisn27]

on this forum i have seen a lot of people using "16th" notes or "8th" notes and hardly anyone using "semi quavers" or "demi semi quavers". i know that "16th notes" and whatnot is american and "semi quavers" are british but i have seen some british people using 16th notes ect.

why do some british people use the american version?
here is a website website which explains what i mean and there is a conversion chart thing on it ( you have it click on the little grainy picture)
http://www.answers.com/topic/note-value-1?cat=entertainment

[Mediocrefunkybeat]

Simply because it's quicker to type and probably easier to work around mentally.

I use the British versions most of the time, but that's how I was taught years ago.

[mikei]

I had never even heard of demi semi quavers! Does seem much more complicated.

I will say that the metric system is WAY better than what we use in the USA though.

So, seems like we are tied at one each!

[Bob Smith]

/yeah i;ve never heard of these demi sevi quivers they just sound alot more complicated and it looks like it would take a long time to type

[FourOnSix]

because the semi quaver shannanagins doesn't make any sense compared to the simple mathmatics involved in 8th and 16th notes. plus what the hell is a quaver anyway

[Wavelength]

I don't understand why someone coined up the hemi-semi-demi system in the first place. I mean, if you translate that into English, you get "half half half... half half eighth note". The system infers that you should do the division math yourself.

[k3ng]

Because the British want to bugger us up a little.

I personally prefer teaching drums using the 8ths and 16ths. It's just more systematic. 16 notes in a single measure. How hard can it be to understand that? And also the time signatures make more sense.

[gusty]

The one thing the Americans got right ;)
jokes, jokes.

I was (obviously) taught the british system, but prefer the American way.

[Deathmetalconga]

on this forum i have seen a lot of people using "16th" notes or "8th" notes and hardly anyone using "semi quavers" or "demi semi quavers". i know that "16th notes" and whatnot is american and "semi quavers" are british but i have seen some british people using 16th notes ect.

why do some british people use the american version?
here is a website website which explains what i mean and there is a conversion chart thing on it ( you have it click on the little grainy picture)
http://www.answers.com/topic/note-value-1?cat=entertainment

The British don't speak English very well. 8ths, 16ths, etc., is easier.

[foursticks]

The British don't speak English very well. 8ths, 16ths, etc., is easier.

Either way we still have the better accent ;-)

[mikei]

Either way we still have the better accent ;-)
Right you are foursticks.

My wife and many American ladies LOVE a man with an English accent. We just don't understand the whole "Tea" thing.

[Wile E. Coyote]

I had never even heard of demi semi quavers! Does seem much more complicated.

I will say that the metric system is WAY better than what we use in the USA though.

So, seems like we are tied at one each!
Do Brittish use metric system???? I'm not so sure...

[Deathmetalconga]

Do Brittish use metric system???? I'm not so sure...

Yes, everybody except the US and Lesotho use the metric system. Even the US military is metric. The U.S. monetary system is metric (based on multiples of 10) and has been since the US was founded. The metric system is sensible, based on water and the size of the Earth, but I think it works better for science and not as good for everyday use by average people.

I don't like the metric system and I hate using it. I am content to use inches, miles, pounds, ounces and Fahrenheit. There are a few advantages, as base-12 system is divisible by 1, 2, 3, 4, 6 and 12 while a 10-based system is divisible only by 1, 2, 5 and 10 and can't express as many numbers as fractions. Timekeeping is a base-12 system and it works very well. I am comfortable with fractions - and so is music notation.

[jonescrusher]

Do Brittish use metric system???? I'm not so sure...

As far as the EU demands. Temperatures and speeds are still imperial.

[Wile E. Coyote]

As far as the EU demands. Temperatures and speeds are still imperial.
I somehow recalled that something was different... (Britts........) ;-)

[NUTHA JASON]

i believe quaver terminology is dying out and i hope it does.

[Mediocrefunkybeat]

i believe quaver terminology is dying out and i hope it does.

Vive la difference... I like the old system. It doesn't confuse me in the slightest and never has done. It's probably of Italian derivation and so it'll probably remain in Italy for years

[Mediocrefunkybeat]

It IS a decimal system... hence base 10.

The original English monetary system (pre-decimalisation) was definitely not base 10. I don't know what it was!

[balboa]

hemi demi semi quaver

[thesilentnoise]

why argue on how to say it.

if in doubt you can always play it.

haha

[gusty]

i believe quaver terminology is dying out and i hope it does.

I don't. I mean, it's still easy to understand, even through i prefer the 'american way' on this one I wouldnt like to see the old way die out.

[mrchattr]

I think the 8th note way (American) is much better than the quaver way (British), because you can easily express pretty much any note value as a fraction. I think this helps understand the values, and teach them to students who are struggling.

For instance, we have terms such as Fives (meaning five even strokes in one beat), Sixtuplets (6 even strokes in one beat), Triplets (meaning three even strokes in one beat), and Drag Triplets (meaning three even strokes spread over two beats). However, all of these can be expressed as fraction-notation, to explain the thinking behind them:
Fives = 20th notes
Sixtuplets = 24th notes
Triplets = 12th notes
Drag Triplets = 6th notes.

When I teach, I use this method to explain stuff to students, especially ones who are struggling in getting the concept of a triplet VS 16th notes. It has always worked exceptionally well. It also works well in dealing with musicians who don't usually play a lot of fast notes, so don't understand terms like "Sixtuplet."

[P.S., in case there are those reading this who don't know where I got that...the note values are named after how many of them would fit into a single measure in common time, or 4/4. Thus a quarter note (a fourth note) is named because you fit four of them into one meausre of 4/4. An eighth note is named because y ou fit eight of them into one measure of common time, etc]

[drumbandit]

We use metric offically, but when describing height,weight and distance I still say feet,stones and miles.

With drums I use a hybrid of demi-semi as well as using 16ths etc.

Tom

[aydee]

When I see Demi Moore, I semi quaver.

[lochday]

It IS a decimal system... hence base 10.

The original English monetary system (pre-decimalisation) was definitely not base 10. I don't know what it was!
The British changed from the duodecimal system to the decimal system in 1971. Before that, we Frenchies, had a hard time dealing with the British money... As far as drums are concerned I no longer have any trouble understanding inches but I remember having used conversion tables in the past ... ,-)

[cantstandyourfunk]

When I see Demi Moore, I semi quaver.

hahahahahahahaha
ha ha ha hahaha ahahaha haha

*phew*

mppphhahahahahahahahahahah

that sure helped an almost anal-retentive starting post

[aydee]

hahahahahahahaha
ha ha ha hahaha ahahaha haha

*phew*

mppphhahahahahahahahahahah

that sure helped an almost anal-retentive starting post

( ki boli, ee shob lokgulo godhhob). When I was younger, I could quaver, but now I just semi-quaver.