Music notation glossary · Note values
Dotted note
one and a half times as long
In the score
What it means
A dot to the right of the notehead adds half of the note's value. A half note becomes three quarters, a quarter note becomes a quarter plus an eighth. A second dot adds half of the first dot again.
Dotted notes
Two eighths become three. This is the dot you see most often: together with an eighth behind it, it fills two beats and gives the long-short pattern that every march and every other ballad has. Play it evenly and the walk turns into a stroll.
Related pages
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See AnotonaEvery note on this page is computed, not typed in — following the rule that also makes F# major spell its seventh degree E#, not F.