Reading Music Lesson #39: Dotted Half Rests

reading music lessonThe dotted half rests are the silent partner of the dotted half notes.

dotted half rest

You can apply the dot rule just the same.

Here’s How:

1) We know that a half rest equals 2 beats.  Now, let’s divide it in half.  We should get only 1 beat or a quarter rest.

dotted half rests

This tells us the dot equals a quarter rest.

dotted quarter rest

2)  Add the quarter rest back to the half rest.

dotted half rests

Did you get 3 beats?  Good.

A dotted half rest is equal to 3 beats total.

Let’s Count It

If we truly want to know we are allowing 3 beats of silence to go by, then we need to count “1-2-3” every time it appears in our music.

Dotted Half Rests

Quick Recap

Just like before, this is simply taking 2 already created rests (the half rest and the quarter rest) and putting them together to create something new (the dotted half rest).

Moving right along to slurs and ties…

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