ABSTRACT

Rhythmic patterns that use ties and the dotted rhythms derived from them serve to add interest and tension to music. Notes of any value can be dotted; a dot adds half the value of the note to the note. Thus, in 4/4, a dotted quarter gets one and a half beats, a dotted eighth is equal to 3/4 of a beat, etc. A second dot adds half the value of the first dot to the note. (For example, a double dotted half note in 4/4 gets 2 beats + 1 beat + 1/2 beat.)

A tie is a curved line used to rhythmically join together two notes on the same line or space of a staff. The two notes become one, the length of which is determined by adding the two note values together. Ties can be used both within and between measures, but are not used within beats.