Metric Notation: Tuplets

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From the course by Michigan State University

Getting Started With Music Theory

125 ratings

Michigan State University

Getting Started With Music Theory

125 ratings

This course is a brief introduction to the elements of music theory for those with little or no music theory experience. We will explore pitch, rhythm, meter, notation, scales, keys, key signatures, meter signatures, triads, seventh chords, and basic harmony. If you listen to music or play music by ear, and you want to know more about how music is organized and notated, this course is for you. By the end of the course, you should know all major and minor keys, how to read and write in treble and bass clef using standard meters and rhythmic values, and how to notate and harmonize a simple melody. This course can serve as a stand-alone basic music theory course, or it can be a springboard to more advanced theory and composition courses. Your instructor is Bruce Taggart, Associate Professor of Music Theory at Michigan State University, in the College of Music, where he has taught undergraduate and graduate music theory since 1996.

From the lesson

Rhythm and Meter

Learning Outcomes: By the end of this module, you should be able to (1) read and write all possible rhythmic values, including dotted notes and ties, (2) understand how many notes fit within a measure in various meters, (3) determine meter signatures based on note grouping, and note grouping based on meter signatures, (4) define the types of musical accent and how they create a sense of meter, (5) distinguish between duple and triple meters in notation and by sound, and (6) describe and identify metrical syncopation. You should be able to (7) write melodies on the treble, bass, and grand staves using correct meter signatures, note values, rhythmic grouping, stem direction and beaming, and key signatures and accidentals,

Metric Notation In Practice9:50

Metric Notation: Tuplets6:05

Syncopation9:06

Meet the Instructors

Bruce Taggart
Associate Professor
College of Music

[MUSIC]

Welcome back, we have several more topics to cover before we leave rhythm.

So far, we have talked about subdividing beats according to the meter signature.

If the top number of the meter signature is a multiple of two,

other than six, we divide the beat into two.

The beat in four four is usually the quarter note

which subdivides into eighth notes grouped by two.

This rhythm is four beats long with the dotted quarter note lasting for

a beat and a half.

This is what it sounds like, [SOUND].

If the top number is a multiple of three we divide the beat into threes.

This rhythm is two beats long, the beat is the dotted quarter note,

which divides into three eighth notes.

It sounds like this, [SOUND].

But it's also possible to go against the given meter signature,

dividing the beat into twos when we expect threes, or threes when we expect twos.

Here we have a group of three notes that fits into one quarter note.

It sounds like this, [SOUND].

And here we have two notes that fit within a beat that usually contains three notes.

Sounds like this, [SOUND].

Such a rhythm in which the meter beat is divided into a subdivision other than what

is called for by the meter signature is called a tuplet.

The most common tuplet is when we divide a beat with duple subdivisions into three,

which creates a triplet.

We usually write the number three above the triplet to make it

clear that we are sub-dividing into three,

although you will sometimes see triplets written without the number.

Subdividing a beat into two instead of three gives a duplet.

For triplets, the note value used in the triplet is usually half the value

of the note the triplet is fitting into.

So a triplet that takes one quarter note is written as an eighth note triplet.

[SOUND].

A triplet that fits in an 8th note is written as a 16th note triplet.

[SOUND] A triplet

that takes the time of a half note is written as a quarter note triplet.

[SOUND].

It's even possible to have half note triplets,

which would fit in the time of a whole note.

This is most likely at a fast tempo,

perhaps even in two two, in which the beats are half notes.

So these are half notes, [SOUND].

Let's look at some triplets in real music.

This is a famous example of five four meter.

Five quarter notes in a measure, eighth notes group in pairs.

The eighth note triplets fill the duration of one quarter.

[MUSIC]

More Tchaikovsky, this time in 12 8 time.

12 eighth notes in a measure,

4 groups of 3 eighth notes with the dotted quarter note as the beat.

In the first two measures, we see the triple grouping of eighth notes.

Sounds like this,

[MUSIC]

But Tchaikovsky turns all of the third measure into duple pairings,

using duplet notation.

Each duplet takes the time of one dotted quarter note beat.

It sounds like this,

[MUSIC]

One final Tchaikovsky excerpt.

Tchaikovsky used a lot of tuples.

This is a nice one.

It's the first thing you hear in the fourth symphony played fortissimo by

the french horns and bassoons.

It's in three four so

the quarter note gets the beat with eighth notes grouped by twos.

The first 2 triplets are 16th note triplets,

which means they fit in the span of one 8th note.

Notice how the beaming shows this.

The last 2 triplets are 8th note triplets so they last 1 beat,

that is 1 quarter note, but

the triplets themselves get subdivided into a dotted 8th and a 16th note.

It's exactly the same rhythm as it would be if it were written in six eight.

So the rhythm would be in slow motion, [SOUND].

Here's how it sounds when led in by the eighth notes on the beat three of

the previous measure.

So, one and

two and [SOUND].

Here's what it sounds like full speed played by my computer so

that it's exactly precise.

[MUSIC]

This was a short lecture.

We talked about subdivisions of the beat that are different from what

the meter signature specifies called, in general, tuplets.

The most common tuplets are triplets, but duplets also happen.

Any metric level can have tuplets.

Triplets are the most common.

They can be 16th note, 8th note, quarter note, or even half note triplets.

It's also possible to have subdivisions other than two or three.

Another Tchaikovsky excerpt from the Sixth Symphony has a septuplet,

seven notes in one beat.

In the next lecture we'll finish up rhythm and

meter when we look at syncopation, or displaced the accents.

[MUSIC]

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