A dotted note is lengthened by half the value of the original note – therefore a dotted minim is 2 beats + ½(2 beats) = 2 beats + 1 beat = total of 3 beats. In Western musical notation, a dotted note is a note with a small dot written after it.
Notes can be lengthened by placing a dot beside them. Hopefully you can see below how the music notes are used for timing of beats and how long you play the notes for.
A quaver lasts for half a crotchet beat - so there are. Count 1-2 for a half note, and 1-2-3 for a dotted 1/2 note (dotted minim). Finally, the last bar as a crotchet and a minim again totalling 3 beats. You can think of a dotted half note as equal to the length of one half note tied to a quarter note, or as three quarter notes tied together. The second bar has 2 quavers, each a half beat each, and we have 2 crotchets, therefore we get 2 half notes + 2 whole notes = 3 beats. The first bar has a minim, which is 2 beats and a crotchet which is 1 beat = total of 3 beats. Firstly we notice that the time signature is 3:4 time, so there are 3 beats in the bar. An Example of how time signatures and note durations / types are measuredĪs you can see from the diagram below we use the music notes and symbols we learned above. Pauls voice quavered while giving his presentation to the class because he was very nervous. This Deborah Smith Music video tutorial teaches the Dotted Quaver in Simple Time from Section 9, of the Musicianship & Aural Training for the Secondary School, Level 3, 2nd Edition.