How Many Dots in Mensural Notation?

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How many dots exist in Renaissance Notation?

How many dots are there in Renaissance Music?

If I asked you how many dots exist in music, you would probably say there is only one – the dot of augmentation (obviously, we are not talking about staccato or expressive dots, but those related to duration).

But is it the same in Renaissance Music?

Not exactly!

In the Renaissance, there are four types of dots – let’s look at them one by one!

Here are the four dots:

1) Punctum Augmentationis

2) Punctum Perfectionis

3) Punctum Divisionis

4) Punctum Alterationis

Punctum Augmentationis

The Punctum Augmentationis is placed immediately after the figure and increases the figure’s value by half of its original value.

It is not used with rests and is only applied in imperfect Mensure.

Punctum Perfectionis

The Punctum Perfectionis is placed immediately after the figure and makes it perfect; it is used only in Mensura subject to perfection.

Punctum Divisionis

The Punctum Divisionis is placed between two figures and serves to divide two ternaries in perfect Mensure.

Punctum Alterationis

The Punctum Alterationis is placed between two figures and serves to create a pair of notes where the second is subject to alteration, meaning the doubling of its value.

Since alteration is a phenomenon of perfect mensurae, it is only used in those perfect mensurae.

Learn Renaissance Music as if you had lived in the Renaissance!

For example, in lesson 5.21 of the Cantus Figuratus level in the Renaissance Path of the Musicus Practicus Academy, we will do an exercise by Franchino Gaffurio specifically dedicated to this distinguishing the different types of Punti (Dots)!

So, don’t miss the opportunity to learn Music as if you had lived in the Renaissance and Baroque!

Join the Musicus Practicus Academy!

What Would You Have Learned If You Had Lived in the Renaissance?

Which disciplines would you have studied, and in what order?

Well, time travel isn’t possible… or is it?

Thanks to the Renaissance path at Musicus Practicus Academy, you can learn the secrets of music as if you had lived in the Renaissance!

In the first level of 100 lessons, you will learn to read note pitches using hexachords—this is known as Hexachordal Solmization.
Next, you will study Cantus Firmus, meaning Gregorian Chant as it was conceived and performed in the Renaissance, especially from a modal perspective.
You will explore interval formation, the structure of the 8 Perfect, Imperfect, Mixti, Commixti, Regular, and Irregular Tones, the Psalms, and much more.
Then, you will learn to read Mensural Notation directly from the original sources—without relying on transcriptions! You will master Perfect Mensurations, Ligatures, Proportions, and much more—all within the Cantus Figuratus level.
And after mastering Polyphony, in the Tones and Modes level, you will explore the vast world of the 8 Ecclesiastical Tones and the 12 Modes of Glareanus in polyphony by analyzing over 100 pieces ranging from 2 to 6 voices!

Are you ready to start and learn music as if you had lived in the Renaissance?

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Today’s Musician must know how music is composed, how to analyze each piece, and how to improvise with their instrument…

For this reason, I teach musicians all over the world how to express their creativity by teaching composition with the historical method of Partimenti!

Richardus Cochlearius
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