Dotted Notes

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Welcome back mate,

Remember what we've learned about the dotted half note in the previous piano lessons? We took a half note (which is worth two counts) and then we added a small dot after it.

The dot added a half as much again to the basic note's duration.

So if a half note lasted two counts, the half dotted lasts three counts.

Now when the note is written on a space the dot of the note will be written on the space as well.
And when the note is written on a line we'll see the note on the space above.

What I'm basically saying is that instead of writing a half note tied to a quarter (half of the value of a half note), we can simply add the dot instead.

In other words, when you see dotted notes... THE DOT INCREASES THE LENGTH OF A NOTE BY ONE HALF ITS VALUE.

The Dotted Quarter Note

Now let's take this one step further.
What happens when we add a dot to a quarter note?
We already know that when we add a dot we add a half as much again to the basic note's duration.

Two equal eight notes can be played instead of one quarter note.
So a dotted quarter note should last three eights. Instead of writing a quarter note tied to an eighth note we'll write a small dot after the note.

But how does a dotted quarter note sound?
Here's an example of nice and famous musical piece with dotted quarter note called Alouette.

When a dotted quarter note is stated at the beginning of a bar Count 1-and-2 or 3-and-4 if it's placed at the end. You get the point, right?

The DOTTED QUARTER NOTE is almost ALWAYS followed by an EIGHTH NOTE!

Try to clap and count according to these rhythmic patterns. This will improve your ability to play pieces with dotted quarter notes.

These Music Sheets on Dotted Notes can be downloaded with last version of Adobe Reader. Click here to download it for free.

Click here if you haven't signed to Piano Playground, our free E-zine yet. Make sure you do that in order to get the username and password codes for the Dotted Notes Piano Sheets I provide here under.

Here are two beautiful pieces with dotted quarter notes.

Bridal Song by Wagner Download

Sonata by Mozart Download

The Dotted Eighth Note

Basically the same goes for the dotted eighth notes. Take an eighth note and add a dot after it. Two sixteenth notes are played at the same time of an eighth note.

A dotted eighth note lasts three sixteenth then.

If we count One-a-And-e when playing sixteenth notes, the dotted sixteenth note could get the One-a-And. A new sixteenth note will often appear then.

Here's an example of a famous piece with a dotted eighth note.

Now try to clap and count these rhythmic patterns with me.

And now let's move on to some musical pieces with Dotted Eighth Notes...

Toreador (Dotted Eighth Notes) Download  

La Donna E Mobile

Download

Here's a summery of the dotted notes we've learned so far.

I have some great news for you! We're basically done with the beginners level.
Let's have a quick review at all the musical terms we learned until today in the musical terms summery