In music a tuplet is a note value whose relationship with the next larger note value is more or less than (not equal to) half as long as the next higher note value, usually indicated with a horizontal (or nearly horizontal) bracket with a number. Music is an art, entertainment, or other human activity which involves structured and audible sound, though definitions vary. ... Parts of a note In music notation, a note value indicates the relative duration of a note, using the color or shape of the note head, the presence or absence of a stem, and the presence or absence of flags. ... Parts of a note In music notation, a note value indicates the relative duration of a note, using the color or shape of the note head, the presence or absence of a stem, and the presence or absence of flags. ... Parts of a note In music notation, a note value indicates the relative duration of a note, using the color or shape of the note head, the presence or absence of a stem, and the presence or absence of flags. ...

Tuplet: a standard triplet; a triplet denoted without a bracket; a tuplet denoted as a ratio

Image File history File links Tuplets. ...

Explanation

The most common tuplet is the triplet, shown at right. Whereas normally two quarter notes are the same duration as a half note, three triplet quarter notes total that same duration, so a triplet quarter note is 2/3 the duration of a standard quarter note. Similarly, three triplet eighth notes are equal in duration to a quarter note. If several note values appear under the triplet bracket, they are all affected the same way, reduced to 2/3 their original duration. A triplet is a set of three items, and includes in particular: one of three babies in a multiple birth a preparation of opal as a gemstone, with a thin layer of opal backed with a dark material and covered with cap of clear quartz in poetry, a tercet (three... In music, a quarter note is played for one quarter of the duration of a whole note. ... A duration is an amount of time or a particular time interval. ... In music, a half note (American) or minim is a note played for one half the duration of a whole note, hence the name. ... A duration is an amount of time or a particular time interval. ... In music, a quarter note is played for one quarter of the duration of a whole note. ... Figure 1. ... In music, a quarter note is played for one quarter of the duration of a whole note. ...

Tuplets notation

If the notes of the tuplet are beamed together, the bracket may be omitted and the number written above the beam, as shown in the second illustration. Occasionally the bracket is omitted when the notes are slurred together. A beam in musical notation is constructed as one or more lines used to connect multiple consecutive eighth notes, sixteenth notes, etc. ... A slur is a symbol in Western musical notation indicating that the notes it embraces are to be played without separation. ...

For other tuplets, the number indicates a ratio to the next lower power of two. So a quintuplet indicated with the numeral 5 means that five of the indicated note value total the duration normally occupied by four, equivalent to the second higher note value; for example, five quintuplet eighth notes total the same duration as a half note. Some numbers are used inconsistently: for example septuplets are sometimes used to mean 7 notes in the duration of 4, and other times to mean 7 notes in the duration of 8. To avoid ambiguity, composers sometimes write the ratio explicitly instead of just a single number, as shown in the third illustration. In number and more generally in algebra, a ratio is the linear relationship between two quantities of the same unit. ... In mathematics, a power of two is any of the nonnegative integer powers of the number two; in other words, two times itself a certain number of times. ... Identical Triplet Sisters A multiple birth results when more than one human baby is born from a single pregnancy. ... A duration is an amount of time or a particular time interval. ... Identical Triplet Sisters A multiple birth results when more than one human baby is born from a single pregnancy. ... Identical Triplet Sisters A multiple birth results when more than one human baby is born from a single pregnancy. ... A duration is an amount of time or a particular time interval. ...

In compound meter, even-numbered tuplets can indicate that a note value is changed in relation to the dotted version of the next higher note value. Thus, two duplet eighth notes (most often used in 6/8 meter) take the time normally totalled by three eighth notes, equal to a dotted quarter note. Four quadruplet eighth notes would also equal a dotted quarter note. The duplet eighth note is thus exactly the same duration as a dotted eighth note, but the duplet notation is more often used in compound meters. Metre or meter is the measurement of a musical line into measures of stressed and unstressed beats, indicated in Western notation by a symbol called a time signature. ... Parts of a note In music notation, a note value indicates the relative duration of a note, using the color or shape of the note head, the presence or absence of a stem, and the presence or absence of flags. ... Figure 1. ... Metre or meter is the measurement of a musical line into measures of stressed and unstressed beats, indicated in Western notation by a symbol called a time signature. ...

Usage and purpose

Tuplets can produce irrational rhythms or may be used as polyrhythms when played against the regular duration. They are extrametric rhythmic units. In music, an irrational rhythm is any rhythm in which an odd number of beats is superimposed on an even number in the predominating tempo, or vice versa. ... Polyrhythm is the simultaneous sounding of two or more independent rhythms. ... See: International System of Units, colloquially called the Metric System, and also metrication. ... A rhythmic unit is a durational pattern which occupies a period of time equivalent to a pulse or pulses on an underlying metric level, as opposed to a rhythmic gesture. ...