In music notation, symbols that represent durations shorter than a half note include:
- Quarter Note - represented as a filled-in note head with a stem.
- Eighth Note - represented as a filled-in note head with a stem and a single flag or beam.
- Sixteenth Note - represented as a filled-in note head with a stem and two flags or beams.
- Dotted Notes (like a dotted quarter note) - which modify the duration of a quarter note (or other notes) but are still shorter than a half note by themselves.
- Triplet Notes - which can also represent durations shorter than a half note depending on how they are notated.
Specifically, the quarter note, eighth note, and sixteenth note are standard notes that are definitively shorter than a half note.