One of the problems found in musical notation of Japanese songs are the long voiceless consonants that lack vibration of the vocal-cords ('sokuon'). Rest symbols, quarter-notes or eighth-notes are used randomly.We examined the durations of 'sokuon' and their preceding vowels in speech and songs. The results revealed that the ratio of the durations of the preceding vowels and the following 'sokuon' is seven to three in 'warabeuta' and songs for school children. The values were similler to those of emphasyzed utterances with prolonged vowels. This may be necessary to produce the melody.
