Subject: scagliola (not) -- more information

From: Jean-Joseph Cote <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 14 Oct 2004 00:02:59 -0400

[I don't think I sent this information out already, but we do forget
things as we age, so apologies if I did.]

In the "scagliola" round, we had:
>> scagliola - n. - The dot following a musical note that indicates it
>> should be held for an additional half the length of the original 
>> note.
> by Melissa.  No points
> Hutch: I think it's something like "punto".
> Pierre: I should know what that's called...
> Jean-Joseph: As far as I can tell, it's called a "dot".  Or maybe an
> "augmentation dot" if you need to be really specific.  But I have a
query
> in with an expert.

I have received the reply from the expert, as follows:

> Well, I've never heard it called anything but a dot, but I looked it
up.  Sure
> enough, it's called a dot.  But there's some other information that I
uncovered
> that may help you.  (Let me guess, you're trying to come up with a
confusing,
> yet official-sounding definition or word for your dictionary e-mail
game?)   That
> is, that it originally came from Mensural Notation, which is the system
of
> notation established in 1250 by Franco of Cologne and used until 1600. 
Back
> then it was called punctus additionis and meant the same that it does
now -- not
> to be confused with punctus divisionis which looked pretty much the
same, but
> was supposed to mean something more like our bar lines which always
> marked off 3 beats.
> But of course no musician has used it to mean that since around 1600.

Jean-Joseph