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dot, dotted note. Mark in notation. (1) Placed above a note indicates staccato. (2) Placed after a note lengthens it by half. But in music up to and including Bach and Handel the addition intended was merely approximately half, something being left to the decision of the performer, e.g. a dotted quaver and a semiquaver in one part, played against a triplet of quavers in another part, might accommodate itself to that latter rhythm,being rendered thusAlso in a very slow movt. .♪ might be rendered .. . It was, indeed, to meet this latter case that the DOUBLE DOT (the 2nd dot adding half the value of the 1st one) was introduced in 1769 by Mozart's father, Leopold Mozart.

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