MUSIC THEORY - Ties and Dots in Music. What does this mean?

The value and beat of a musical note can be affected by several signs and symbols used in music. Two symbols that affect the beats of notes are "Ties and Dots".

What is a Tie?
A tie is a curve line that joins two or more notes of the same pitch. This means that a tie can only join musical notes that are on the same line or in the same space. The notes joined can be in the same bar or in bars that follow each other.

Here are some examples showing how notes are joined together by ties.

(A semibreve joined with a crotchet)


(Two semibreves joined together)


 (Two dotted minims joined together)

When notes are joined by ties the beats of the notes are added creating one sound. In other words the sound is as long as the number of beats for each note when they are added together.
The tie goes from the head of the first note to the head of the next, on the other side.

The illustration above shows a crotchet and a minim joined together by a tie. When both notes are tied together they create one sound lasting as long as 3 beats.

What are dotted notes?

A dotted note is basically a musical note with a dot place immediately after it.

This is what a dotted crotchet looks like.

A dot extends the beat of a note by half the note's value. Therefore a crotchet equals 1 beat but a dotted crotchet equals to 1 1/2 beat. So the purpose of a dot is to make the beat or beats of a note longer.

Here are some examples of other dotted notes. 

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