Dotted note
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In Western musical notation, a dotted note is a note with a small dot written after it; its duration is 1 1/2 times its basic note value. In a time signature where the main note is worth 2 beats, the corresponding dotted note is worth 3 beats.
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Dotted quarter, dotted half, dotted eighth
Any note value may be dotted.
The use of a dot for augmentation of a note dates back at least to the 10th century, although the exact amount of augmentation is disputed; see Neume.
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More than one dot may be added; each dot adds the next lower note value, as shown on the right.
Double dotting
A double-dotted note is a note with two small dots written after it. Its duration is 1 3/4 times its basic note value.
The double-dotted note is used less frequently than the dotted note. Typically, as in the example below, it is followed by a note whose duration is one-quarter the length of the basic note value, completing the next higher note value.
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This example is a fragment of the second movement of Joseph Haydn's String Quartet, Opus 74, No. 2, a theme and variations. The first note is double-dotted.
- Haydn's theme was adapted for piano by an unknown composer; the adapted version can be heard here (3.7 kB MIDI file).
In a French overture (and sometimes other Baroque music), notes written as dotted notes are often interpreted to mean double-dotted notes, and the following note is commensurately shortened; see authentic performance.
Triple dotting
A triple-dotted note is a note with three dots written after it; its duration is 1 7/8 times its basic note value. This note value occurs rarely.
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An example of the use of the triple-dotted note is the piano piece Prelude in G Major — Opus 28, Number 3 by Frédéric Chopin, which uses it several times, and also uses double-dotted notes. This is how it is used: the piece uses common time (4/4); all the measures except the last two contain 16 semiquavers in the bass clef; measure 7 starts with a triple-dotted minim in the treble clef which corresponds to (is simultaneous with) the first 15 semiquavers in the bass clef, and ends with one semiquaver which corresponds to the last (16th) semiquaver in the bass clef. This measure-filling pattern is repeated in measures 9, 21, 23 and 25.