Notes and rests are dotted—that is to say, a dot is placed to the right of the note or rest—to indicate that the length of time the note is played or the rest is held should be changed in a piece of music. A dot after a note tells the musician that the note or rest should be held half again as long as its normal duration.

A dot makes a note (or rest) longer by 50%. Or, in other words, a dotted note is equal to itself, plus half of itself.

Just as you can have dotted notes, which make the note last longer by half its time value, you can also have dotted rests, which make the rest last longer by half its time value. In other words, if you have a dotted rest, it’s worth one and a half times its time value.

Dots and ties allow rhythmic and rest durations to be lengthened. A dot is written immediately after a note or rest, and it increases its duration by half (Example 6). For example, a quarter note is equivalent in duration to two eighth notes; therefore, a dotted quarter note would be equivalent to three eighth notes.

Theoretically, any note value can be dotted, as can rests of any value. If the rest is in its normal position, dots are always placed in third staff space from the bottom, as shown in the example below. The dotted rests are very common in simple meters, but also necessary in compound ones, as shown in the example below.