View source for Dotted note

{{Distinguish|text=[[staccato]]}}
{{short description|Musical note duration}}
[[File:dotted notes3.svg|frame|Dotted notes and their equivalent durations. The curved lines, called [[Tie (music)|ties]], add the note values together.]]

In Western [[musical notation]], a '''dotted note''' is a [[Musical note|note]] with a small dot written after it.{{efn|For dots placed above or below notes, see [[Staccato]] and [[Portato]].}} In modern practice, the first dot increases the [[duration (music)|duration]] of the original note by half of its [[note value|value]]. This makes a dotted note equivalent to the original note [[tie (music)|tie]]d to a note of half the value – for example, a dotted [[half note]] is equivalent to a half note tied to a [[quarter note]]. Subsequent dots add progressively halved value, as shown in the example to the right.{{sfn|Read|1969|loc=p. 114, ex. 8–11; p. 116, ex. 8–18; p. 117, ex. 8–20}}{{efn|If the base note is 1, then the ''x''th dot adds <math>1/2^x</math> the length (1/2, 1/4, 1/8, ...).}}

The use of dotted notes dates back at least to the 10th century, but the exact amount of lengthening a dot provides in early music contexts may vary. [[Mensural notation]] uses a '''dot of division''' to clarify ambiguities about its context-dependent interpretation of [[Note value|rhythmic values]], sometimes alongside the '''dot of [[augmentation (music)|augmentation]]''' as described above. In the [[gregorian chant]] editions of Solesmes, a dot is typically interpreted as a doubling of length (see also [[Neume]]).

Historical examples of music [[performance practice]]s using unequal rhythms include ''[[notes inégales]]'' and [[swing (jazz performance style)|swing]]. The precise performance of dotted rhythms can be a complex issue. Even in notation that employs dots, their performed values may be longer or shorter than the dot mathematically indicates, practices known as '''over-dotting''' or '''under-dotting'''.<ref>{{Cite Grove |last=Hefling |first=Stephen E. |title=Dotted rhythms}}</ref>

==Notation==
If dotted note is on a space, the dot is placed in that space. If the note is on a line, the dot is placed in the space above. This principle also applies to notes on ledger lines.<ref>Glen Rosencrans, ''Music Notation Primer''. New York: Passantino (1979): 29</ref>

:<score sound> {
    \relative c'' {
        \time 4/4
        c4. d8 b8. a16 g4
    }
}
</score>

The placement of dots need not follow this convention when space does not allow for it. For example, when dots apply to adjacent notes in a chord or notes in multiple voices.

:<score sound> {
    << \clef treble
        \relative c'' {
            \time 4/4
            \stemNeutral <b c>4. e8 <g, a b c d>4. b8
            \stemUp d4. c8 b8. c16 d c8.
        } \\ \relative c'' {
            s1
            g4. a8 b8. a16 g a8.
        }
    >>
}
</score>

Any note value can be dotted, as can [[rest (music)|rest]]s of any value. If the rest is in its normal vertical position near the middle of the staff, dots are placed in the third staff space.{{sfn|Read|1969|loc=p. 119; p. 120, ex. 8–28. The author points out the obvious fact "that it is impossible to tie rests"}} Dotted rests are conventional in compound meters but can sometimes be used in simple meters as well.

:<score> {
    \relative c'' {
        \time 6/8
        r2. r4. r8. r8.
    }
}
</score>

In Baroque music, dotted notation was sometimes used to indicate [[Tuplet|triplet]] rhythms when the context makes it obvious.

Dots have been used across [[bar (music)|barlines]], such as in [[H. C. Robbins Landon]]'s edition of [[Joseph Haydn]]'s [[Symphony No. 70 (Haydn)|Symphony No. 70 in D major]], but this usage is obsolete—a tie across the barline is used instead.{{sfn|Read|1969|loc=pp. 117–118. "Ranging from Renaissance madrigals to the keyboard works of Johannes Brahms, one often finds such a notation as the one at the left below." (The next page shows an example labeled "older notation" of two measures of music in {{music|time|4|4}} of which the second measure contains, in order: an augmentation dot, a quarter note and a half note.)}}

==Double dotting==
{{Image frame|content=<score sound> {
    \relative c'' {
        \set Staff.midiInstrument = #"violin"
        \key bes \major
        \time 2/4
        f8.. es32 d8-. d-. 
        d( es) c4
    }  }
</score>|width=330|caption=A fragment of the second movement of [[Joseph Haydn]]'s [[List of string quartets by Joseph Haydn|String Quartet, Op. 74, No. 2]], a [[variation (music)|theme and variations]]. The first note is double-dotted. Haydn's theme was adapted for piano by an unknown composer.[[File:Meditation -- Josef Haydn.mid|thumb|233px|center|(3.7&nbsp;[[Kilobyte|kB]] [[MIDI]] file)]]}}
A double-dotted note is a note with two small dots written after it, with a duration of {{frac|1|3|4}} times its basic [[note value]]. Double-dotted notes are much less common than single dotted notes. Typically, as in the example to the right, they are followed by a note whose duration is one-quarter the length of the basic note value, completing the next higher note value. Double dots were not used until the mid-18th century, before which a single dot could sometimes mean a double dot.<ref>{{cite book|last=Taylor|first=Eric|title=The AB Guide to Music Theory Part I|year=2011|publisher=[[ABRSM]]|isbn=978-1-85472-446-5|page=18}}</ref>

In a [[French overture]] (and sometimes other [[Baroque music]]), notes written as single dotted notes are often interpreted to mean double-dotted notes,<ref>[[Adam Carse]], ''18th Century Symphonies: A Short History of the Symphony in the 18th Century''. London: Augener (1951): 28. "Contemporary theorists made it clear that the dotted note should be sustained beyond its actual value (the double dot was not then in use), and that the short note or notes should be played as quickly as possible."</ref> and the following note is commensurately shortened (see [[Historically informed performance]]).

==Beyond two dots==
{{Redirect|Triple dot|the punctuation mark that usually indicates an intentional omission of a word or phrase from the original text|Ellipsis|other uses|Three dots (disambiguation)}}
{{Image frame|width=280|content=<score> { \relative c'' { \tempo 4 = 120 \time 4/4 f4... f32 f4... f32 e1 } }</score>|caption=
[[File:Triple-dotted note no dots.mid|90px|left]] (0 dots)<br /><br />
[[File:Triple-dotted note one dots.mid|90px|left]] (1 dot)<br /><br />
[[File:Triple-dotted note two dots.mid|90px|left]] (2 dots)<br /><br />
[[File:Triple-dotted note three dots.mid|90px|left]] (3 dots)
}}
Triple dotted notes are very uncommon, and quadruple dotted notes are extremely rare.<ref>[[Ludwig Bussler|Bussler, Ludwig]] (1890). ''Elements of Notation and Harmony'', p. 14. 2010 edition: {{ISBN|1-152-45236-3}}.</ref><ref name="CWMN">{{cite web |title=Extremes of Conventional Music Notation |url=https://homes.luddy.indiana.edu/donbyrd/CMNExtremes.htm |work=indiana.edu}}</ref> Triple-dotted notes are found in the music of [[Richard Wagner]] and [[Anton Bruckner]], especially in brass parts.{{Citation needed|date=October 2018}} Their duration is {{frac|1|7|8}} times the basic note value.

Triple-dotted notes also appear in [[Frédéric Chopin]]'s [[Preludes (Chopin)|Prelude in G major for piano, Op.&nbsp;28, No.&nbsp;3]]. The piece, in [[time signature|common time]] ({{music|time|4|4}}), contains running [[Sixteenth note|semiquavers]] (sixteenth notes) in the left hand. Several times during the piece the right hand plays a triple-dotted [[half note|minim]] (half note), lasting 15 semiquavers, simultaneously with the first left-hand semiquaver, then one semiquaver simultaneously with the last left-hand semiquaver.

Quadruple-dotted notes, with a duration of {{frac|1|15|16}} times its basic note value, are extremely rare.<ref name="CWMN" /> A quintuple dotted note would be {{frac|1|31|32}} times the original note's value.{{efn|[[Tempo]]s vary from ≤24 beats per minute to ≥200 bpm; at a slow [[larghetto]] tempo of quarter note {{=}} 60 (one quarter note per second; 60 bpm), the length of a quintuple dotted note is 0.03125 seconds longer than a quadruple dotted note and presumably below the [[just-noticeable difference]] for musical duration and too fast to allow proper [[counting (music)|counting]] and accuracy.}} This becomes impractical due to the increasingly small gradation of the length of such a note (notes shorter than sixty-fourth notes are rare and at the limits of what is practical<ref>Morehen, John. 2001. "Hemidemisemiquaver". ''[[The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians]]'', second edition, edited by [[Stanley Sadie]] and [[John Tyrrell (musicologist)|John Tyrrell]]. London: Macmillan.</ref>) and the fact that multiple dots obscure any intermediate divisions of the beat, making the rhythm more difficult to read.
:{| class="wikitable"
|+Base note duration = 1
|-
|
! Undotted
! 1 dot
! 2 dots
! 3 dots
! 4 dots
|-
! Lengthens
| N/A (<math>0</math>)
| {{frac|1|2}} <math> = 0.5</math>
| {{frac|1|4}} <math> = 0.25</math>
| {{frac|1|8}} <math> = 0.125</math>
| {{frac|1|16}} <math> = 0.0625</math>
|-
! Decimal result
| <math>1</math>
| <math>1.5</math>
| <math>1.75</math>
| <math>1.875</math>
| <math>1.9375</math>
|-
! Fractional result
| <math>1</math>
| <math>1</math>{{frac|1|2}}
| <math>1</math>{{frac|3|4}}
| <math>1</math>{{frac|7|8}}
| <math>1</math>{{frac|15|16}}
|}

==See also==
*[[Dotted rest]]
*[[Tuplet]]

==Notes and references==
'''Notes'''
{{notelist}}
'''References'''
{{reflist|30em}}
'''Sources'''
* {{cite book|last=Read|first=Gardner|author-link=Gardner Read|title=Music Notation: A Manual of Modern Practice|edition=2nd|location=Boston|publisher=Allyn & Bacon|year=1969}}

==External links==
*{{commons category-inline|Dotted notes}}
* [https://www.thenewdrummer.com/read-drum-music-pt6-dotted-notes/ "Learn to Read Drum Music – Part 6 – Dotted Notes Explained"], thenewdrummer.com

{{Musical note values}}
{{Musical notation}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dotted Note}}
[[Category:Note values]]