Where to put this dot?

[David Ward]

How and where should I place the dot for the dotted minim (half) F on the second beat in the piano left hand? (It's a vocal score.)

[tisimst]

Two options:

1. Add space between the notes as they are with minim on the left and place the dot between them, but keeping just a hair more white space on the right of the dot so it looks like it belongs to the minim.

2. Switch the notes’ places so the minim is on the right and place the dot next to it.

Which is most elegant depends always on the situation, but should result in the clearest meaning and least rhythmic distortion. If it were me, I’d lean toward the second option since the lower runs of 16ths have a more visual prominence of rhythm. In other words, I might favor their rhythmic position over the minim, but give those a try and see which works best for you.

Hope that helps.

[David Ward]

Thank you tisimst, your 2 seems to work best. Finale doesn't seem to want want to keep it there, but at least I can export a PDF without its reverting and it looks fine.

[John Ruggero]

David, I do no. 2 all the time in Finale and it stays in place, probably because I have "automatic music spacing" turned off. Incidentally, If you flip the stem directions of the two voices, the default is correct (like no. 2). You might want to bring this one up over at Finale Forum.

[MalteM]

The second option looks most logical to me (and to LilyPond, it’s the default behaviour), however there is a third option:

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Edit: You might argue that the dot is ambiguous but who would really expect a dotted sixteenth under these circumstances (4/4 time, “default” beaming of 16 16ths, …)