6/15/2023 0 Comments 3 thirty second notes musicSomething similar happens when you use the word “quick.” The tone of the note, whether you’re playing an instrument or singing, will end up being less than ideal. “Short” will start to make people play the note in a pinched way. Staccato doesn’t truly change the note itself it alters the style of the note.Īs a style marking (also called articulation), it adds another layer of musicality and artistry to rhythm and melody.Ī lot of people use the words “short” or “quick” to describe staccato, but this is a mistake. Take care not to speed up or slow down this rhythm as you play it. Staccato is spaced and dry, making the note sound short. What Does A Dot Above A Note Mean?Ī dot on top of a note in music means the note should be played staccato. Dotted Rhythm Beat value in 4/4 meter Rhythm Addition Sentence Dotted whole note 6 Whole + half Dotted half note 3 Half + quarter Dotted quarter note 1.5 (1 1/2) Quarter + eighth Dotted eighth note 0.75 (3/4) Eighth + sixteenth Dotted sixteenth note 3/8 Sixteenth + thirty-second Dotted thirty-second note 3/16 Thirty-second + sixty-fourth With this in mind, here’s a chart describing most of the common dotted rhythms and how they keep their value in 4/4 time and also as a pair of rhythms. Hopefully, by now, we’ve got a basic idea of how the dots work. Related Reading: Check out what a C with a line through it means in music and how it’s related to 4/4 time. We add this to the original, so we get a dotted eighth note equaling an eighth note plus a sixteenth note. I’ll bet you never thought you’d have to do so much math in music, right?įor rhythm values, we look at half the eighth note or sixteenth note. So the dotted eighth note gets 3/4 of a beat (1/2 + 1/4 = 3/4). In 4/4 time, the eighth note gets 1/2 of a single beat. Now, we’re splitting hairs into smaller and smaller pieces. With dotted eighth notes, things start to get a little trickier. So a dotted half note also equals a half note plus a quarter note. Half of a half note (there’s a phrase, huh?) is a quarter note. Looking at the rhythm value, it shakes down like this: The dot adds half that (1 beat) to the first value, bringing us to a total of 3 beats for a dotted half note. In 4/4 time, the half note is worth 2 beats. The dotted half note is also quite common, though as a tuba player, I probably see it more than most. Half of a quarter note is an eighth note.Ī dotted quarter note is a quarter note plus an eighth note. This brings the dotted quarter note up to 1.5 beats.Īnother way to look at it is to think about pure rhythm ratios. In a typical 4/4 time, the quarter note is worth a beat, so the dots add a half of a beat on top of it. (Remember, these all apply to the rests as well.) Dotted Quarter Noteĭotted quarter notes are one of the most common rhythms you’ll see with dots. Here are a few examples of the most common dotted notes explained: It’s tough to base the value of the note based on beats as time signatures change which note gets the beat.īut if we assume the time signature is 4/4, the basic ratios will stay the same. You always take half of the original note and then add it to the original value. The rule for a dot after a note applies to both notes and rests across any time signature and any value. In 4/4 time, this would make it worth 1.5 beats. So a quarter becomes like a quarter note tied to an eighth note. When you see a dot after a note, you lengthen the rhythmic value of the note by half or 1.5.
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