Rests and dotted notes
Write silence with rests, and make a note half as long again with a dot.
Rests
Silence matters in music as much as sound, and it is measured in beats too. It is written with rests. Each note value has a rest of the same length: a whole rest lasts four beats, a half rest two, a quarter rest one, an eighth rest half a beat.
The beat does not stop during a rest: it goes on, you just don't sound it.
Rests: a whole rest, two half rests, four quarter rests, eight eighth rests
Notes and rests mixed. Count all four beats, the silent ones too
The whole rest hangs below the fourth line; the half rest sits on the third. An easy way to remember: the half rest is lighter, it sits like a hat; the whole rest is heavier, it hangs like a hole.
Practice: Tap a rhythm with rests
Dotted notes
A dot after a note makes it half as long again.
- A dotted half note: 2 + 1 = 3 beats.
- A dotted quarter note: 1 + ½ = one and a half beats. It is nearly always followed by an eighth note, which completes the beat.
A dotted half note and a quarter: three beats and one
A dotted quarter and an eighth: hold through "one-and-two", the eighth comes on "and"
To play a dotted quarter exactly, count half beats: "one-and-two-and". The note sounds on "one" and holds until the "and" after "two", where the eighth comes in.