Dotted note
A dot just after a note makes it half as long again. A dotted half note lasts as long as three quarter notes; a dotted quarter note as long as three eighth notes.
Easily confused with
How to read it
The dot adds half the note’s own value. A second dot adds half as much as the first, so a double-dotted note lasts seven-quarters of its plain length. Rests take dots in the same way. A tie can give the same length: a half note tied to a quarter note lasts as long as a dotted half note.
Look-alikes
Where the dot sits changes what it means. After a note, it lengthens it. Above or below the head, it is a Staccato mark, and the note is played short and detached.
The pricked note
Stainer and Barrett’s dictionary (1898) records that the dot was once called the point of addition (punctus), and a dotted note a “pricked note”.
More music symbols
Sources
- Music Notation and Terminology, Karl W. Gehrkens, 1914, A. S. Barnes Company (Project Gutenberg), Chapter V, §49–50, §54
- Primer of Facts about Music, M. G. Evans, 1909, Theodore Presser Co. (Internet Archive, University of Toronto), Q. 19
- Music Theory for the 21st-Century Classroom: Dots and Ties, Robert Hutchinson, section 4.3, University of Puget Sound, Section 4.3
- Elson's Music Dictionary, Louis C. Elson, 1905, Oliver Ditson Company (Internet Archive, Cornell University Library), Signs
- Stainer and Barrett's Dictionary of Musical Terms, John Stainer and W. A. Barrett, new and revised edition, 1898, Novello (Internet Archive, Cornell University Library), Dot
Last reviewed September 26, 2026 by Rory Hansen. How we research