Lesson 9: A Dotty Good Time

Reading sheet music is like reading a foreign language. There are rules and patterns that must be followed for the music to sound pleasing to the ear and so the musician can interpret the music correctly in order to perform it.

Before we get to the music, we must first know how to write it correctly, understand the notes, and know how to organize it.

To learn about how to correctly label a note, head to: http://nomusicbflat.blogspot.com/2012/09/what-is-c4.html

To learn about clefs, head to:
http://nomusicbflat.blogspot.com/2012/12/lesson-2-staffs-clefs-and-lines-oh-my.html

To learn about the major scale and whole and half steps, head to:
http://nomusicbflat.blogspot.com/2013/01/lesson-3-major-and-minor-scale.html

To learn about key signatures, head to:
http://nomusicbflat.blogspot.com/2013/01/lesson-4-key-signatures.html

To learn about notes and their rhythms in simple meter, head to:
http://nomusicbflat.blogspot.com/2013/01/lesson-5-notes-and-rhythm-part-i.html

To learn about simple time signatures, head to:
http://nomusicbflat.blogspot.com/2013/01/lesson-6-simple-time-signatures.html

To learn about rests in simple time, head to:
http://nomusicbflat.blogspot.com/2013/01/lesson-7-rests.html

To learn about ties and slurs, head to:
http://nomusicbflat.blogspot.com/2013/01/lesson-8-ties-and-slurs.html

Now we will learn about dotted notes and rests.

A dot in music is exactly what one would think it is: a dot. It's function is to extend the length of time that the note it is attached with is sounding by 50%.

If a quarter note sound for one beat, a dotted quarter note sounds for one and a half beats, or the equvalent of a tied quarter-eighth note.

1.5 beats=1+.5= 1+[1*1/2]

Here is another example:

If a half note sounds for two beats, adding a dot will increase it's duration by 50%.

2+[2*1/2]= 2+1=3 beats

Now it is very impotant that the dot come after  the note. Think of the dot as adding and additional half value to the end of the quantity that comes before it. The dot won't make sense until after you know what the original value is that you are modifying.

It is also possible to have more than one dot after a note. That second dot will add an additional half value of the dot before it.  The second dot in front of a dotted half note will add an additional [5*1/2]=1/4 of a beat to the note making it [1+.5+.25] = 1.75 beats long.

Here is a chart of various notes, and their dotted lengths.

So a dot adds half of the length of the symbol directly before it, whether it be a note or a dot, to the entire duration of the pitch.

Now that we understand ties [from lesson 8] and dots, we can now move onto the second form of time: compond time. [see lesson 10]

This concludes our lesson for today.