Lesson 19: Triplets, and Other "Tuplets"

You will need a solid grounding in time signatures to do this lesson. You may want to re-read Lesson 13.

 

SPECIAL NOTE: Figuring out how to write triplets and other "tuplets" (odd groupings of notes) can be an exercise in futility! Beyond triplets, there does not seem to be a hard and fast agreement from editor to editor on how tuplets should look in any given situation: From The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music, 3rd ed. (Michael Kennedy), p.322: "Various other combinations are possible, and it is hardly possible to list them or to lay down rules. When an irregular combination occurs the performer should observe the other notes of the measure, and he will quickly realize into what fraction of the measure the irregular grouping is to be fitted." That being the case, this lesson is designed to give the music student a set of guidelines for writing tuplets that will work in most situations. Take it all with a grain of salt, and after you do this lesson, go have a nice long, hot bath!

You know that simple time signatures tell us the number of beats in each bar. For example, in   the '2' tells us that there are two beats in each bar, and the '4' tells us that the beat unit is the quarter note. You also know that each beat can subdivide into two smaller units. Here's a sample of music in : 

Notice that we've placed the quarter notes across the top, and eighth notes along the bottom, to show where the beats and subdivided beats are.

In the example above, the first note of the bar is a quarter note. Let's change the melody, so that the first beat of the bar is divided into two even eighth notes, as shown here:

We can divide that beat into four even parts easily by using four sixteenth notes (The pitches used in these examples are unimportant; the focus of this lesson is on the rhythms.) :

So what do we do if we want to divide the beat into three even parts? Do we have a note value that accomplishes this?

Yes we do. It's called a triplet, and it looks like this:

The first three notes of the bar are grouped together, using a slur or bracket, with a number '3'. The '3' indicates that the three notes are to be spread evenly across the beat so that the three notes are equal in length. Here is another example of music that uses a triplet:

In music where the quarter note gets the beat (as in ,  or common time,) triplets that take up one beat are called eighth note triplets.. They are written to occupy the space that two eighth notes would occupy. That's the important rule to remember about triplets:

Look at the last example. In the second bar, the triplets occupy the same space that two eighth notes would normally occupy. Now look at the excerpt below. It shows a triplet, but it's made up of quarter notes, not eighth notes:

If you apply the rule above (triplets occupy the same space that two notes of that value would normally occupy), you would conclude correctly that the quarter note triplet is two beats long. That's because two quarter notes equal two beats.

What about other "odd" groupings"? Odd groupings (not triplets) are called "tuplets". Look at the first example below. What makes it "odd" (a tuplet) is that there are five sixteenths where you'd expect to find four. Now look at the next example, in . What makes the pair of eighths a tuplet is that there are two notes where you'd expect to find three. Easy! Just remember to write the number above the grouping, as shown. (It doesn't matter if you use a bracket or a slur - both are acceptable.)

Ex.1             

Ex.2

Filling In the Missing Tuplet

Completing a bar with a tuplet figure simply requires following a short series of steps. Consider the following example:

Here are the steps we go through to figure out the basic time value of the six notes we need:

1- What is the duration of the missing beat? (Answer in this case: one quarter note)
2- The required tuplet is a group of six (look at the example). What standard grouping of notes is larger than six in common time (  )? Seven? No. Eight? Yes! What group of eight fits? Thirty-second notes, of course.
3- Cut the answer (thirty-second notes) in half: sixteenths. That's the value of your tuplet! Here it is:

We can use those same steps to figuring out tuplets in compound time, by eliminating the final step. Look at this example:

Let's go through the steps: What is the duration of the missing tuplet? It is one dotted quarter-note long. What standard grouping of notes is larger? 3 eighths. So the tuplet will be made up of 2 eighths. (We don't do step 3: that's just for simple time)

The truth of the matter is that publishers of music will ultimately put any time value they wish, and the discrepancies abound for compound time! Their reasoning would be: Anyone can tell that the empty spot is one dotted quarter (in the case of the sample above), so just play the two notes evenly across the beat - it doesn't really matter what kind they are. Sometimes you'll see, for example, a '9'-figure, using sixteenths, and then you'll see the same figure in another score using thirty-seconds.

Here are some bars of music that use tuplets. Study them carefully before trying the quiz for this lesson.