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14.4 · Dividing the Beat

The dot

A small dot after a note adds half the note's own length again. A half note (2) becomes a dotted half (3); a quarter (1) becomes a dotted quarter (1½). That off-center length is what makes rhythms skip instead of march. Say tam-tiand you've already got it.

Do the math

The dot is arithmetic, not decoration. Each demo plays the dotted value so you can feel the extra half.

2 + 1 = 3 beats. One note fills a waltz bar
1 + ½ = 1½ beats. The skip in a thousand melodies

tam-ti: the skip

The dotted quarter almost always travels with an eighth note: together they still fill two beats, but unevenly, long-short. Compare marching with skipping.

1 2 3 41 (2) & 3 4

You already know this sound

"Hap-py birth-day" opens with a dotted skip. The two pickup notes are long-short, not even. Claps first, then the reveal.

Quiz

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How many beats is this?

Score 100% on every quiz and game to complete this lesson.Read a bar →