Note worth 3.5 beats?

[Tupac]

Is there such a thing? How is it expressed on sheet music? I want one long note and then stick one eighth note in at the end of a measure.

 

[Marcus Willett]

Double dotted half note.

 

[Cycho]

Or: half note tied to quarter note tied to eighth note.

 

[FretlessMainly]

Or: half note tied to quarter note tied to eighth note.

This is the proper way to do it. To properly notate in 4/4 time, you should have 2 beats notated in the first half of the measure and 2 beats notated in the second half of the measure. The exception being a whole note.

The imaginary line dividing the measure in half would bisect the tie between the half note and the quarter note.

But as we all know, music theory isn't important.

 

[Marcus Willett]

This is the proper way to do it. To properly notate in 4/4 time, you should have 2 beats notated in the first half of the measure and 2 beats notated in the second half of the measure. The exception being a whole note

True, although he did ask for a note.

Really, each beat should be clearly visible, although charts are often not written that way. I can't count how many times I've seen an eighth followed by three quarters with a final eighth. It functions, but you can't see any of the beats besides beat 1 that way, but it's extremely common.

 

[FretlessMainly]

True, although he did ask for a note.

Fair enough, but I would consider a half note tied to a quarter note and an eighth note (all of the same pitch, of course) to be one note of duration 3.5 beats.

It functions, but you can't see any of the beats besides beat 1 that way, but it's extremely common.

Doing it improperly becomes common because people tend to do what's most simple rather than taking the time to understand that seeing the beats, as you mention, makes a difference, and using a uniform notational style makes reading music easier because your eyes become used to what you see and associate it with the rhythms you've been hearing when reading a passage of music. Next thing you know, you get people calling a double-stop a chord, and all of the years of developing a lexicon and a unified means of notation goes out the window.

Now everybody get off my lawn!

 

[Marcus Willett]

Doing it improperly becomes common because people tend to do what's most simple rather than taking the time...

We could just put a period there, and the number of instances in life it would apply to would be staggering.

 

[bigboy_78]

Why not a dotted half not tied to a eighth? I think I’ve got that right, I always get my halfs mixed up, is it half a note or half a bar, anyway a dotted minim tied to a quaver.

I know you said 2 beats on each half of the bar, but a dotted minim (3 beats) isn’t an uncommon site.

 

[Clef_de_fa]

You can either :

Tied an halfnote with a quater with a 8th

-or-

Tied an halfnote with a doted quater

-or-

A doted half note ... but that one I never saw it in a 4/4 beat, I see it more in 3/2

 

[Laura Clarke]

Hello, I know this is old, but what if you wanted the eighth note at the beginning of the measure and the 3.5 note after it? Would the appropriate format still be the half note tied to a quarter note tied to an eighth note or would it be the reverse? (Eighth, quarter, then half)
Thanks!

 

[Pacman]

You can either :

Tied an halfnote with a quater with a 8th

-or-

Tied an halfnote with a doted quater

-or-

A double doted half note ... but that one I never saw it in a 4/4 beat, I see it more in 3/2

Fixed it for you

 

[SLO Surfer]

what if you wanted the eighth note at the beginning of the measure and the 3.5 note after it?

To keep the (4/4 time signature I'm assuming) bar divided in half, your rhythm of an 1/8th note followed by a 3.5 beat note would be notated; 1/8th note, then dotted 1/4 note tied to a half note.

 

[bfields]

The only correct answer is 14 tied 16ths.

 

[two fingers]

The only correct answer is 14 tied 16ths.

Pics or it didn't happen.

 

[Bob_Ross]

Doing it improperly becomes common because people tend to do what's most simple rather than taking the time to understand that seeing the beats, as you mention, makes a difference, and using a uniform notational style makes reading music easier because your eyes become used to what you see and associate it with the rhythms you've been hearing when reading a passage of music.

I don't disagree, and I would champion any copyist who would take a strict stance on this sort of dogmatic consistency.
But it's worth noting that certain "incorrect" shortcuts have entered the lexicon and become acceptable* idiomatic devices precisely because they make reading music easier ...or at least easier for people who already know how to read music.

(Okay, not acceptable to an undergrad professor of music theory. But acceptable to the Music Director of the showband who has to conduct 145 cues for a live TV awards show with no rehearsal.)

 

[elgecko]

The only correct answer is 14 tied 16ths.

Pics or it didn't happen.

 

[two fingers]

View attachment 2764023

Well done!

 

[bfields]

View attachment 2764023

See, isn't that better?

Plus, everyone knows 16th notes are the funkiest subdivision.

 

[Febs]

Hello, I know this is old, but what if you wanted the eighth note at the beginning of the measure and the 3.5 note after it? Would the appropriate format still be the half note tied to a quarter note tied to an eighth note or would it be the reverse? (Eighth, quarter, then half)
Thanks!

Eighth note tied to quarter tied to half is good because it shows exactly where the beats fall within the measure:

If you wrote it the opposite way, the beats are obscured, making it much more difficult to read and count:

 

[Thuddy Waters]

A dotted 2.3333333333333333333333333333333333 note.