Every piece so far has had four beats in a bar. Plenty of music counts in threes instead, and it has a very different feel: a lilt, a sway, the swing of a dance. This lesson introduces 3/4 time and the note that fills a whole bar of it, the dotted half note. Along the way you will learn what a dot after a note means, which is useful far beyond this one note.
What 3/4 means
The time signature 3/4 has a 3 on top, so there are three beats in every bar. The bottom number is the same as in 4/4: each beat is a quarter note. You count 1 2 3, 1 2 3, starting over at 1 each bar.
The first beat of each bar is the strong one. Say it with a little more weight: ONE two three, ONE two three. That pattern of strong-weak-weak is the heartbeat of the waltz and the minuet, two dances that are almost always in three.
Try swaying from side to side while you count, leaning on each 1. Or try "oom-pah-pah": a low "oom" on 1 and two lighter "pah"s on 2 and 3. Waltz accompaniments often sound exactly like that.
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The dot
A dot written just after a note head adds half the note's value to it. It is a little piece of arithmetic:
- A half note lasts 2 beats.
- Half of 2 is 1.
- So a dotted half note lasts 2 + 1 = 3 beats.
A dotted half note looks like a half note (hollow head, stem) with a small dot to its right. In 3/4 it fills a complete bar on its own. You press on 1 and hold through 2 and 3, releasing as the next bar begins.
Position matters. This dot sits to the right of the head, and that is what lengthens the note. A dot placed above or below a note head means something quite different, which a later unit covers.
A tune in three
With your right hand in C position, play C, E and G as three quarter notes, then hold G for a whole bar as a dotted half note. Then come down: G, E, C, and hold C for three beats.
The first bar climbs; the second bar rests on a long note; the third bar climbs back down; the fourth settles. Count "1 2 3" out loud the whole way through.
Morning Waltz
The Academy's piece for this lesson is Morning Waltz, a gentle tune in C position over an oom-pah-pah accompaniment. Its rhythm is very regular: three quarter notes in most bars, and a dotted half note at the end of each half to let the phrase breathe.
The notes of the first half are C D E, E D C, E G E, then C held for three beats. The second half answers with G F E, D E D, E D C, and again C held for three.
Listen to a minuet
A good piece to count along with is the Minuet in G, long thought to be by Bach and now generally credited to Christian Petzold. Count 1 2 3 and feel how every bar leans on its first beat. Listen for the long notes at the ends of phrases.
How to practise
- Count "1 2 3" aloud for a minute, stressing each 1. Clap on 1 and tap your knee lightly on 2 and 3.
- Clap the four-bar rhythm with the dotted half notes. On each dotted half, clap once and hold your hands together for two more counts.
- Play it on G (finger 5 in C position), still counting aloud.
- Play C E G with a held G, then G E C with a held C.
- Learn Morning Waltz four bars at a time. Feel the sway of three.
- Switch between 4/4 and 3/4: play four bars of quarter notes counting to four, then four bars counting to three. Notice how different they feel.
Common mistakes
- Counting to four out of habit. After weeks of 4/4, your mouth may say "4". Check the time signature before you start.
- Missing the dot. It is small. Look closely at every half note in 3/4 music.
- Accenting every beat equally. In 3/4 the first beat leads; let 2 and 3 be lighter.
- Pausing between bars. As in 4/4, the count goes straight from 3 back to 1 with no gap.
Try it in Pianuvo
The fourth lesson in Unit 1: Pulse and rhythm through playing has you tap and copy rhythms in 3/4, play C E G with dotted half notes and then play Morning Waltz while the app adds the oom-pah-pah underneath. You can play on screen, on a MIDI keyboard or on a real piano with the microphone listening, and each exercise scores whether your long notes lasted their full three beats.