[Peestie]

Originally Posted by David

According to my Harvard Dictionary of Music, published in 1960, "whole note," "half note," "quarter note," "eighth note," "sixteenth note" & "thirty-second note" are the correct American terms, whereas "semibreve," "minim," "crotchet," "quaver," "semiquaver" & "demisemiquaver" are the correct terms in English-speaking Europe.

My classical training in piano encompassed study with Barbara Edmundson of Juillard, Blanche Nissim (a student of Ralph Berkowitz & Josef Hoffmann) of the Curtis Institute, & Janet Vrudny of the Idyllwild School of Music & the Arts, an afiliate of the University of Southern California School of Music. The American terminology in my training was far more prevalent than the European terminology. I think it would be perfectly legitimate for us here in this country to regard "quarter note," "half note," "eighth note," etc., as the accurate, correct terminology--at least for us. Of course, we haven't switched over to metric yet, either.

Ah, thanks for clearing that up. I didn't realise that it was just a cultural difference. I'd assumed (wrongly in this case) that they were just simplifications. It was never really made clear to me, and having never encounter the American terms in my studies I didn't even know they existed until I saw them.