Triplets and tuplets

Standard note values divide by two: a quarter becomes two eighths, an eighth becomes two sixteenths. A tuplet breaks that, fitting a different number of notes into the same space.

The common case by far is the triplet: three equal notes in the time normally occupied by two.

An eighth-note triplet fits three eighths into one quarter-note beat. Written without the marking, three eighths would take a beat and a half, so the small 3 above the group is what tells you to compress them.

How they are written

A bracket or beam spans the group with a number above it. The number says how many notes are in the group; the note value says which value is being borrowed.

• 3 over three eighths in 4/4 — three in the space of two.
• 5 (quintuplet) — five in the space of four.
• 7 (septuplet) — seven in the space of four.

The general rule: a tuplet of n notes fits into the space of the next lower power of two. Five and six fit into four; seven through eleven fit into eight. Where that is ambiguous, editors write a ratio like 5:4.

Counting a triplet

Do not try to subdivide it against the normal count — you cannot, which is the point. Use a three-syllable word instead:

• "tri-pl-et"
• "one-and-a, two-and-a" (the standard compound-time count)
• "straw-ber-ry", "el-e-phant" — any even three-syllable word

Say it out loud over a metronome click on each beat. The three syllables must land evenly between clicks.

The common mistake is playing a triplet as a dotted-eighth-plus-sixteenth figure, which is uneven. If it sounds like a limp rather than an even roll, that is what has happened.

Duplets: the same trick backwards

In compound time the beat already divides into three. To fit two even notes into a beat there, you need a duplet — two notes in the space of three, marked with a 2.

So triplets are borrowed from compound time into simple time, and duplets are borrowed from simple time into compound. Each one is asking for the division the current metre does not naturally give you.

Tomus's rhythm games cover the standard note values and the four common time signatures; tuplets are beyond what they currently drill, so practise these with a metronome and your instrument.