6/8 time signature dotted minim

[Hector Pascal]

Hi all,
In the past, when writing in 6/8 time signature, it was my habit to use —as a whole note—a dotted crotchet tied to a dotted crotchet, instead of a dotted minim. Now I am using Dorico, and Dorico is gently telling me to use the dotted minim. Its gentle persuasion inspired me to look through my collection of books and style guides and all clearly advocate for the dotted minim. So, I should thank Dorico, for the gentle persuasion to shift my thinking. I must admit, I still admire two dotted crotchets tied together. There's something about the symmetry and the counting of it that seems to align with my mental wiring. When I count the dotted minim in 6/8, I mentally count 3 crotchet beats because of the look of the dotted minim. But anyway, I am persuaded to use the dotted minim now and I will no doubt get used to it I am enjoying Dorico, even though I am late to the party!
Hope you are all well,
Cheers,
HP.

[OCTO]

Yes, 6/8 has two beats, and not 6 beats, and they can be combined in one note, as the full measure note.
In 9/8 time signature it should be notated as + , rather than + , since beat 2+3 cannot be combined separately if the note starts from beat 1.

[Hector Pascal]

Thanks, OCTO

[John Ruggero]

Similarly, one would use a dotted whole note in 12/8, not two dotted halves tied together. Of course, this all goes out the window if one wanted to nail down some specific beat for a dynamic marking or any other reason.

Economy could be considered almost a golden rule for music notation: Never use more symbols than necessary to communicate. Look through a lot of music by the best composers in manuscripts and original editions. That is the best teacher of what is good notation and what is not. Not even Dorico comes close.

[ttw]

I don't know where I got the idea, but dotted half in 6/8 would look wrong. It seems like there would be a shift to 3/4. Were the pair of notes on different pitches, dotted quarters would sound different from a half note followed by a quarter note. I would like to see the tied notes following the underlying rhythm.

[Hector Pascal]

Hi all,
Yes, John, indeed I did soon need to nail down a mid-measure dynamic, so back to the dotted crotchets I went, for that bar.

In my research, I immediately came upon this score video of a 6/8 piece which abounded in dotted minims, and that's what got me thinking that I should consider using them.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFqFazzYgmY

Thanks again, all, for your contributions.
Hector.