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Music vocabulary · Notation and Reading Music

Dotted note

Meaning in music, with examples

nounCommon term

In music, dotted note means: A note with a dot after it, increasing its length by half of its original value.

In Turkish: noktalı nota

How it is used

Taught in basic rhythm reading. Dotted notes are common in melodies, marches, and compound meters, and they affect counting directly.

Example sentences

  1. Several beginners rushed the dotted note, cutting it short before the tied entrance of the clarinets in bar twelve.

    Here dotted note refers to a longer written value that must be held for its full extended duration.

  2. In the worksheet, the dotted note helped students hear the difference between a steady march rhythm and a plain even pulse.

    In this sentence, the dotted note creates a specific rhythmic shape, making the pattern sound different from equal note lengths.

Common collocations

  • dotted note value
  • hold a dotted note
  • dotted quarter note
  • noteA single musical sound with a particular pitch and length, or the written symbol that shows it. In English, notes are named with the letters A to G.
  • rhythmThe pattern of long and short sounds and silences in music, and how they are placed in time against the beat.

More terms: Notation and Reading Music

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