Reading Music Lesson #38: Dotted Half Notes
Dotted half notes look just like what they are called…a half note with a dot beside it. In order to fully understand them, we need to first learn about the dot rule.
Need help reading music? This is the place to go for extra help understanding music theory.
Dotted half notes look just like what they are called…a half note with a dot beside it. In order to fully understand them, we need to first learn about the dot rule.
The 2/4 time signature is very similar to the 3/4 time signature and the 4/4 time signature. The main difference is having only two beats in a measure instead of three or four.
The 3/4 time signature uses all of the same principles discussed in the 4/4 time signature lesson. The only difference is one less beat in each measure.
The time signature is found right after the clef sign at the very beginning of your music. The term meter is used interchangeably with time signature and they both mean the same thing.
Double bar lines are found at the end of a section of music or at the very end of a song. Just as bar lines divide the music staff into smaller sections, double bar lines organize the music into larger sections.
Bar lines divide the music staff into equal sections. These single vertical lines help us to organize the notes and rests in a way that make it easier to read.
Quarter rests are those crazy little squiggly-looking symbols that are worth 1 beat of silence. They are the quiet counterpart to quarter notes.
Half rests look similar to whole rests, but with one difference. The upside down hat of a whole rest is turned right side up to create a half rest.
Whole rests contain 4 beats of absolute silence. It looks like an upside down hat or a hole in the ground. If you can imagine a flower growing up from the rest, then you know it’s a whole rest.
Quarter notes have a stem just like half notes, but the notehead is completely filled in. The value of a quarter note is 1 beat.