After the time signature is figured out, different looking notes signify the division and length of each note. The longest note duration is a whole note; a whole note looks like a bold O on one of the lines. In four-four, a whole note would be held for a total of four beats. Whole notes will usually only be found in four-four as most musicians see it as four beats and not any other value. Another note duration value is a half note. A half note is half of a whole note, hence the name. A half note looks like a whole note with a stem on it. In four-four, there would be two beats to every whole note. The only time a half note is one beat is in the time signature where a two is on the bottom; that is why knowing the time signature is important. One of the most common note lengths in music is a quarter note. A quarter note is half of a half note or a quarter of a whole note; again, musical terms are pretty self-explanatory. A quarter note looks like a half note, only the circle is filled in. In four-four, a quarter note is the beat and lasts for one beat. Going further into divisions, the eighth note is the next value: it is a half of a quarter note, a fourth of a half note, and an eighth of a whole note. An eighth note looks like two quarter notes connected by one solid line. In four-four, an eighth note gets a half of a beat which means there are two in one beat. The next division of a note is a sixteenth note; in four-four, there are four sixteenths in a beat. A sixteenth note is half of a eighth, a quarter of a quarter, an eighth of a half, and a sixteenth of a whole. Sixteenth notes look like four quarter notes connected by two black lines. The division of notes continues like this up to 64th notes. 
There are also more complex note divisions; notes can also be divided into thirds. These notes are called triplets. Triplets can be divided into quarter, eighth, and sixteenth notes . A quarter note triplet doesn’t take three beats but two. This can be confusing as regularly three quarter notes take up three beats. Eighth note triplets take up one beat and three notes are played within that beat. A sixteenth note triplet also takes up one beat but it is usually broken into two groups in an eighth to have a better sense of time. Triplets can be more confusing to subdivide but they change the music to create a different sound of a melody. 
Divisions of notes are important in music because they give the listener something new and interesting to listen to. Different lengths of notes keep the audience sitting on the edge of their seats because the different divisions provide new insights into the composer's mind.
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