The augmentation dot
A dot to the right of the notehead increases the duration of the note (or rest) by half its value.
- Dotted half note = 2 + 1 = 3 beats (a full bar of 3/4).
- Dotted quarter note = 1 + 1/2 = 1.5 beats (the beat of 6/8).
- Dotted eighth note = 1/2 + 1/4 = 3/4 of a beat: the figure “dotted eighth + sixteenth” is the dotted rhythm of marches and of classical “dotted rhythm”.
The double dot adds half + a quarter of the value: a double-dotted quarter note = 1 + 1/2 + 1/4 = 1.75. It is used in the “French style” rhythm of the Baroque overture (Lully, Handel) and in much Romantic writing.
Formula: dotted value = value × 1.5; double-dotted = value × 1.75.
In ms at tempo: at 120 BPM the dotted eighth note lasts 375 ms; it is the “dotted eighth” delay made famous by The Edge (U2, “Where the Streets Have No Name”).
Ties
Two similar-looking graphic signs with different meanings:
- Tie: joins two notes of the same pitch; you play a single note with the sum of the durations. It serves to cross the barline or to show the beat inside the bar. In MIDI it corresponds to a single long note.
- Slur (phrase or legato mark): joins notes of different pitches; it indicates legato (strings: same bow stroke; winds: a single breath; piano: without detaching). A long slur over a phrase indicates phrasing.
- Open tie (laissez vibrer, l.v.): a tie that doesn't reach any note: let it ring (cymbals, harp, piano with pedal).
- Portato: a slur with dots (see Articulations).
Irregular groups
An irregular group divides a value into a different number of parts from the natural one. It is written with a number (often with a square bracket) above the group.
- Triplet: 3 notes in the time of 2 (three eighth notes in the time of a quarter note). At 120 BPM the triplet eighth note lasts 166.7 ms.
- Sextuplet: 6 in the time of 4 (six sixteenth notes in the time of a quarter note).
- Duplet: 2 in the time of 3 (in compound meters: two eighth notes in the time of a dotted quarter note). Quadruplet: 4 in the time of 3.
- Quintuplet, septuplet: 5 or 7 in the time of 4; typical of virtuosic passages (Chopin) and of modern drum fills.
- Quarter-note triplet: 3 quarter notes in the time of a half note; the slow “triplet feel” of R&B vocal phrases and of many trap hi-hats.
In Italian solfège a distinction is made between groups “by excess” (more notes than normal: triplet in simple time) and “by defect” (fewer notes: duplet in compound time).
Swing and triplets
Jazz swing is written in plain eighth notes with the marking “swing” (or the formula “two eighth notes = quarter note + eighth note in a triplet”): the first eighth note lasts about 2/3 and the second 1/3 of the beat (about 66%; in real practice the ratio varies with tempo). FL Studio's Step sequencer swing shifts the even sixteenth notes toward the triplet.
Examples in real pieces
- Eighth-note triplets are the basis of the triplet flow popularized by Migos (e.g. “Versace”, 2013) and of triplet trap hi-hats.
- The dotted eighth + sixteenth is the heart of marches (e.g. the “Radetzky March” by Johann Strauss Sr.) and of the written shuffle.
- The double dot can be heard in the overture of Handel's “Messiah”.
Common mistakes
- Confusing tie and slur: importing into a DAW two identical notes joined by a slur, they will be re-struck; with a tie they won't.
- Writing triplets without the number: the reader doesn't understand the subdivision.
- Using dots that hide the beat: in 4/4 a dotted quarter note starting on beat 2 should be written as a quarter note tied to an eighth note.
Exercise
- In FL Studio program a bar of hi-hats in sixteenth notes (snap “1/4 beat”), then in eighth-note triplets (snap “1/3 beat”), then in sextuplets (snap “1/6 beat”): listen to how the energy changes.
- Set a dotted-eighth delay (375 ms at 120 BPM) on a guitar playing eighth notes: you'll hear the “ghost” sixteenth notes generated by the repeats.
- Transcribe the rhythm of a rap phrase in triplets.
Links
Note Values and Rests; Simple and Compound Meter; Articulations; Flow and Rhythmic Writing in Rap; Groove, Swing, and Microtiming.