Notation & Symbols

Flag

Definition

A flag is the curved tail at the end of a note's stem. One flag makes an eighth note, two a sixteenth note and three a thirty-second note: each extra flag halves the note's length.

A flag is the small curved tail at the end of a stem. Flags mark notes shorter than a quarter note, and each flag halves the length.

Four treble-clef bars in 2/4. Bar 1: four eighth notes alternating E and C, each with one flag. Bar 2: four sixteenth notes with two flags each, then a quarter rest. Bar 3: four thirty-second notes with three flags each, an eighth rest and a quarter rest. Bar 4: four sixteenth notes joined by a double beam and two eighth notes joined by a single beam. — Bar 1: eighth notes, one flag each. Bar 2: sixteenth notes, two flags. Bar 3: thirty-second notes, three flags. Each value is shown on E with an up-stem and on C with a down-stem, and every flag faces right, curling back toward the notehead. Bar 4: sixteenth and eighth notes joined by beams instead, two beams for the sixteenths and one for the eighths.

Counting flags

One flag: eighth note, half a quarter-note beat
Two flags: sixteenth note, a quarter of a beat
Three flags: thirty-second note, an eighth of a beat
Four flags: sixty-fourth note, a sixteenth of a beat

The matching rests follow the same pattern with little hooks: an eighth rest has one, a sixteenth rest two, and so on.

Which way does a flag face?

A flag always points to the right and curls back toward the notehead. On an up-stem it hangs down from the top of the stem; on a down-stem it rises from the bottom of the stem. Because a down-stem sits on the left of the notehead, its flag is still on the right-hand side of the stem.

Flags or beams?

When two or more flagged notes come in a row, they are usually joined by beams instead, one beam for each flag. Beams group the notes by beat, which makes rhythms much easier to read. Flags stay on single short notes, such as an eighth note between two quarter notes.

Two treble-clef bars in 4/4, each with the notes C, D, E, F as eighth notes and a half note G. In the first bar each eighth note has a separate flag; in the second the four eighth notes are joined by a beam. — The same rhythm twice: four eighth notes and a half note. In bar 1 each eighth note has its own flag. In bar 2 one beam joins the four eighth notes, which is how they are normally printed.

In older vocal music, and in some hymnals and choral editions today, each note sung to its own syllable keeps its own flag, and only notes sung to one syllable are beamed. Many modern vocal editions beam by the beat, as instrumental music does.

Learn the flagged values with The eighth note and The Sixteenth Note.

Common questions

How many flags does a sixteenth note have?

Two. An eighth note has one flag, a sixteenth note two and a thirty-second note three.

Why are some eighth notes flagged and others beamed?

Beams join short notes into groups that show the beat. A single eighth note with no neighbor in its beat keeps its flag.