Printable worksheet
Dotted notes worksheet
Free printable dotted notes worksheet: beats in a dotted note, what a dot adds, adding dotted values and completing bars. Simple and compound time.
Dotted notes worksheet
Sheet #
Name Date Score /
Answer key
Dotted notes worksheet · Sheet #
How to use it
- Choose a difficulty and simple or compound time, then press New worksheet.
- A dot adds half of the note’s own value: a dotted half note is a half note plus a quarter note.
- Convert to beats using the beat note named in each question (a quarter note in simple time, a dotted quarter in compound time).
- Show answers to check, or print the answer page.
A dot after a note makes it half as long again. This worksheet turns that rule into four kinds of question.
Question types#
- How many beats? Give the length of a dotted note in beats. In 4/4 a dotted quarter note is 1 1/2 beats; in 6/8, where the beat is a dotted quarter, it is exactly one beat.
- What does the dot add? Say which note value the dot adds (a dotted half note is a half note plus a quarter note), or how many smaller notes the dotted note equals (a dotted quarter note equals three eighth notes).
- Add them up. A short row of values, some dotted and some not, to total in beats. The row is printed on a single-line staff.
- Complete the bar. A bar that contains a dotted value is missing its last note. Find it.
Reading fractions of a beat#
In simple time the beat is a quarter note, so an eighth note is 1/2 beat and a dotted eighth is 3/4 beat. In compound time the beat is a dotted quarter note, so an eighth note is 1/3 of a beat and a quarter note is 2/3.
Difficulty levels#
- Easy: dotted half and dotted quarter notes.
- Medium: adds dotted eighth and dotted whole notes, sixteenth notes in the sums, and bars that contain rests.
- Hard: adds double-dotted values to the how-long and what-does-the-dot-add questions, and more sixteenth-note and rest values to the sums.
Frequently asked questions
How long is a dotted half note?
A half note plus a quarter note: three quarter-note beats. In 6/8, where the beat is a dotted quarter, a dotted half note lasts two beats.
What does a second dot do?
A second dot adds half of the first dot’s value. A double-dotted quarter note is a quarter note plus an eighth note plus a sixteenth note, which is 1 3/4 beats in 4/4. Double dots appear only at the hard level, in the written questions.
Is a dotted quarter note the same as a quarter note tied to an eighth note?
They sound the same length. The dot is shorter to write, while a tie is used when the value has to cross a barline or a beat.
Can rests be dotted?
Yes, a dot lengthens a rest in the same way. Dotted rests appear in the adding-up questions, for example a dotted quarter rest in compound time.