Music Theory / Time / Sound and silence Total time is calculated by adding the notes and rests. Two quavers equal a crotchet. Four crotchets equal a semibreve. Eight quavers equal a semibreve. This music plays for 16 crotchets. How long is 16 crotchets in seconds? See Tempo later in this book of Time. Picture notes If you are learning to read music for the first time, it might help to see the notes in pictures. Every note begins with a note-head. The notehead is oval shaped. A semibreve is an empty notehead Notes shorter than a semibreve have a stem. A stem is a vertical line jutting up from the right or down from the left of the notehead A minim is a semibreve with a stem. A crotchet is a minim with a coloured notehead A quaver is a crotchet with a tail. A semiquaver is a crotchet with two tails. A demisemiquaver is a crotchet with three tails. A hemidemisemiquaver is a crotchet with four tails. Clap your hands to the beat. Tails are beamed to the beat.

Here are some examples. 2 quavers beamed to a crotchet beat. 4 semiquavers beamed to a crotchet beat. 8 demisemiquavers beamed to a crotchet beat. In a crotchet beat two factors are important. Notes are beamed in multiples of 4. You can slice the beam (beat) in half. 16 hemidemisemiquavers beamed to a crotchet beat. Here are some more complex patterns. In these patterns the beat is equal to a crotchet, so you can count up to the value of a crotchet under every beam. Remember, we beam the beat. Beam (beat) 1. Quaver - Semiquaver - Semiquaver Beam (beat) 2. Semiquaver - Semiquaver - Quaver Beam (beat) 3. Semiquaver - Quaver - Semiquaver Music Theory 4. Time Names of Notes Note Shapes To show how long notes should be held for, we draw them with different shapes. Most notes are made up of a note head and a stem (apart from semibreves, which have no stem).

Crotchets The most basic and most common length of note is the crotchet, which looks like this: or this It’s a black note head on a basic stem, (or stick). A crotchet usually represents one beat. As musicians, we can decide for ourselves exactly how long a beat should be, but often a crotchet lasts about one second. Here are 4 crotchet Ds. Your browser does not support the audio element. Notes which are twice as fast as crotchets are called quavers. They look like this: or this Notice that although the quaver has a black note head like the crotchet, it also has a small tail on the right side of its stem. Here are 8 quavers, F sharps and Gs. Your browser does not support the audio element. (To find out why there is only one sharp symbol, read Lesson 3 – Accidentals . Listen to the crotchets and quavers together. The quavers here are joined together in groups called beams - this makes them easier to read. The rules about beaming are explained in Lesson 7 – Beaming . Your browser does not support the audio element. Minims are twice as long as crotchets.

Minims look like this: Notice that minims look like crotchets, but their heads are white, not black. Here is a minim B and a minim A, in the bass clef: Your browser does not support the audio element. Listen to the crotchets, quavers and minims together: Your browser does not support the audio element. Semibreves Semibreves are twice as long as minims, or four times as long as crotchets. Semibreves look like this: Here is a semibreve D in the bass clef: Your browser does not support the audio element. Listent to the crotchets, minims, quavers and semibreves together: Your browser does not support the audio element. Semiquavers Semiquavers are twice as fast as quavers, or 4 times faster than crotchets. Four semiquavers take up the same amount of time as 1 crotchet. So, a semiquaver is equal to a quarter of a crotchet.

A semiquaver looks like this: or this We can also join two or more semiquavers together, like this: Semiquavers look like quavers, but they have two tails where quavers have one. Here are some semiquavers in action: Your browser does not support the audio element. And here is the finished product - from semibreves to semiquavers! Your browser does not support the audio element. Why are Semibreves called Semibreves? There is another note, called a breve, which is worth two semibreves. Breves aren't used very much these days, so you don't need to know about them for your grade one music theory exam. A long time ago, breves and semibreves were quite short notes. Over time, they have become longer and longer, and so today we think of semibreves as very long notes, but it wasn't always the case! 3.

Time Signatures The Lower Number The lower number represents of a type of note to count in each bar: For example, the lower number 4 tells you that the kind of note we must count is a crotchet (quarter note) because the number 4 (in the lower position) stands for crotchet (quarter note). The numbers you can find in the lower position are: 2= Minim (Half note) count 4= Crotchet (quarter note) count 8= Quaver (8th note) count 16= Semiquaver (16th note) count (You might also see a lower number 32 used in pieces that you play, but this doesn't normally come up in the Grade 5 Theory Exam.) The upper number tells you how many of these notes you need to count. So, means we count 2 crotchets (quarter notes) per bar means we count 6 quavers (eighth notes) per bar, and means we count 4 minims (half notes) per bar. Where should you write the time signature? The time signature must appear at the beginning of a piece of music, after the clef and the key signature.

The order that these 3 symbols must be written is always Clef-Key-Time. This is easy to remember, as the letters CKT must be in alphabetical order! clef - key - time Although the clef and key signatures must be repeated on every new line of music, the time signature is not repeated: Time Signatures and Beats Time signatures don't only tell you how many notes there are in a bar. They also give you some very important information: They tell you how many main beats per bar there are. This is a really important point to grasp, and one that is new to many students at this level. What am I talking about exactly? Take a look at this bar: How many beats do you think there are in that bar? If you thought "six", you'd be wrong. In fact, without the time signature, we can't tell how many beats there are, but we can be sure there aren't six! All time signatures are either regular or irregular. Regular time signatures have 2, 3 or 4 beats per bar. (No other number!) Irregular time signatures have any number of beats per bar which is not divisible by 2, 3 or 4.

In the bar above, you can count six crotchets (quarter notes). Six is divisible by 2 or 3, so it will be a regular time signature. There could be either 2 or 3 beats per bar, depending on the time signature. In this bar though, there are 5 crotchets' (quarter notes') worth. 5 is not divisible by 2, 3 or 4, so this will be be an irregular time signature. Irregular time signatures are straightforward: here we have 5 crotchets (quarter notes), so the time signature is 5/4. Remember that the top number tells you how many to count, and the lower number tells you the type of note. Regular time signatures are a little more tricky. Each regular time signature can be further described as duple, triple or quadruple, and as either simple or compound. Duple, Triple and Quadruple Time When there are 2 main beats per bar, the music is in duple time. Triple time means there are 3 main beats per bar, and quadruple time means there are 4. The first beat of bar receives a stronger stress or accent than the other main beats.

The other main beats receive a slightly stronger stress than the "off-beats". This gives us three types of beat: strong beat, weak beat, off-beat. When we talk about the "main beats", we mean the "strong and weak beats", and not the off-beats. Imagine that the above bar with six crotchets (quarter notes) was played with a slight stress on the 1st and 4th notes: As you can see, this would give us two main beats per bar. This means the music is in duple time. On the other hand, we could play it a different way, so that the 1st, 3rd and 5th notes are slightly stressed: This would give us a total of three main beats per bar, so the music is in triple time. Simple and Compound Time Look again at the 6/4 bar above. What note values would you use if you wanted to write just one note for each of the two main beats? Each main beat is equal to three crotchets (quarter notes). Three crotchets (quarter notes) written as one single note is a dotted minim (dotted half note).

Look at the 3/2 bar, and do the same thing. What note value is equal to one main beat? Each main beat is equal to two crotchets (quarter notes). Two crotchets (quarter notes) written as one single note is a minim (half note). Whenever the main beat splits into three, like in 6/4, the music is in compound time. Whenever the main beat splits into two, like in 3/2, the music is in simple time. Simple time signatures use 2, 3 and 4 as the top number. Compound time signatures use 6, 9 and 12 as the top number. This is how you can tell the difference between simple and compound time: the top number of the time signature tells you, and the rhythms in the bar tell you too. The lower number depends on the top number of course. If you use "6" on the top, because the beat splits into 3, then you use "4" below, because there are six crotchets (quarter notes).

If you use a "3" on top, because the beat splits into 2, then you use "2" below, because there are 3 minims (half notes). All irregular time signatures are simple, because the main beat is always split into 2, not 3. Clues in the Rhythm When you need to work out a time signature, or when you are writing a melody yourself, you should understand that the way a rhythm is written is dependent on the time signature. The note values should always make it clear where the main beats are. Look again at this 6/4 bar. The two notes fall precisely where the two main beats of 6/4 fall: But what if we wanted to write that rhythm in a 3/2 bar? Would this be correct? The answer is "no", because we cannot see where the 2nd or 3rd beats are supposed to be, and the 2nd G falls on an off beat (see the diagram above!) Writing the rhythm like this makes it more confusing for the player to understand where the beats are supposed to be. To write this rhythm correctly in 3/2, first we need to work out where the main beats lie.

Currently, the 3rd beat starts somewhere in the middle of the 2nd dotted note. We need to rewrite it, so that the 3rd beat is evident. We can do this by breaking the dotted note up, and using a tie instead. Now it is easy to see where the 3rd beat starts. Ties are very useful when you need to work out what a time signature is. The 2nd note of the tie will always start a new main beat. Another very useful clue can be found in beams. Beams are those horizontal lines that join together fast notes like quavers (eighth notes) and semiquavers (16th notes). Generally, notes are beamed together to make complete beats. How would you beam together 12 quavers (eighth notes) in 3/2 and in 6/4? Try and work it out for yourself first, then check below (hover your mouse over the image to see the answer (tap on mobile devices)). In 3/2, the notes are beamed to the value of a minim (half note), but in 6/4 they are beamed to the value of a dotted minim (dotted half note).

This also helps you to see that 3/2 is triple time, and 6/4 is duple. Top number is 2 (duple), 3 (triple) or 4 (quadruple) Main beat is split into 2 Main beat is not a dotted note Compound Time Top number is 6 (duple), 9 (triple) or 12 (quadruple) Main beat is split into 3 Main beat is a dotted note What kind of time signature questions are there in Grade 5 Theory? There are 4 types of question: Putting bar lines in an extract with a given time signature. Putting a time signature in an extract with given bar lines. Rewriting music in a new time signature without changing the rhythmic effect. General knowledge questions about the technical names of time signatures. You won’t get every type of question in your exam, but any of them can come up, so be prepared for all of them! Adding Bar Lines to a Melody In this type of question, you are given a short melody with the time signature. You need to work out where the bar lines should go, and draw them in neatly.

You will be told whether the melody starts on the first beat of the bar. Here's a typical question (which starts on the first beat of the bar): 1. Look at the lower number in the time signature. This tells you the kind of note to count: = count minims (half notes) = count semiquavers (16th notes) 2. Next look at the upper number. This tells you how many of those notes there need to be in each bar. 3. Count out the required number of notes, then, using a ruler and a sharp pencil, draw a bar line. Repeat, until you get to the end. In the above melody, the time signature is 4/8. This means each bar needs to have the equivalent of four quavers (eighth notes). Pay attention to the way the notes are beamed - you will never draw a bar line through a beamed group. Also pay attention to the triplet. Remember that a triplet means there are 3 notes in the space of 2, so the triplet here is worth the same as two semiquavers (two 16th notes).

(A triplet always consists of three notes, so the quaver G (eighth note G) which is part of the beamed group is not part of the triplet). Have a go at putting the bar lines in place in the above melody, then hover your mouse over the stave to reveal the answer (or tap if you have a mobile device). Working Out the Time Signature In this type of question, you are given one or more bars and have to work out what the time signature(s) is (or are). The question could look like this: The following melody requires a different time signature in each bar. Add the correct time signatures. 1. Work out what value of note is used for the main beat. Use clues to help you: Look for beamed notes. Notes are generally beamed together to add up to one main beat. A new main beat cannot begin in the middle of a beamed group. Look for tied notes. The 2nd tied note of a pair will show you where a new main beat falls. Look at where longer notes are placed in the bar. A long note (crotchet (quarter note) or longer) will always fall on the beat.

(Look again at the diagram above, if you need to remember which are the off beats.) Look for triplets. Triplets are only used in simple time signatures. Look for duplets. Duplets are only used in compound time signatures. The type of note used for the main beat will give you the lower number of the time signature. Remember, this can only be 2, 4, 8 or 16. (16 is very rare and unlikely to come up in the exam). 2. When you have worked out what the main beat is, count up how many times it is used in the bar. This will give you the top number. Remember that if the main beat is an undotted note, the time signature will be simple, so the top number can only be 2, 3 or 4, (regular time) or a number which doesn't divide into 2, 3 or 4 (irregular time). If the beat is a dotted note, the time signature will be compound, and the top number can only be 6, 9 or 12. Use the following table to help you: Let's work through the above question. Bar 1.

Look at the beamed notes, and add them up. These notes add up to the value of one dotted crotchet (dotted quarter note). This value is likely to be the main beat. Next, see what is left: the crotchet+quaver (quarter note + eighth note) add up to the same value, so the beamed group is equal to half a bar. There are therefore two main beats per bar (duple time), and the main beat is a dotted note (compound time). In compound duple time, the top number is 6. We have a total of 6 quavers (eighth notes), so the time signature is 6/8. Bar 2. The beamed notes add up to one crotchet (quarter note). The other notes are of the same value. The Ab, C and Bb should all fall on the beat, so there are three beats in the bar, and they are crotchet (quarter note) beats. This means the time signature is 3/4. Bar 3. All the notes are beamed. (It is common to beam notes across a whole bar).

There cannot only be one beat per bar though, because the minimum number is 2 (duple). Here we have the equivalent of three quavers (eighth notes), so it is simple triple time, with a quaver beat (eighth note beat). The time signature is 3/8. (Notice that 3/8 is simple time, not compound, even though the lower number is 8. Don't forget that it is only the top number of a time signature which can distinguish between simple and compound time.) Bar 4. The quaver (eighth note) triplet is worth one crotchet (quarter note). There are four more beats of the same value, making five in total. Five doesn't divide into 2, 3 or 4, so this bar is irregular. The time signature is 5/4 because there are five crotchets (quarter notes) in the bar. Rewriting a Melody in a New Time Signature In this type of question, you are asked to rewrite a short excerpt using a different time signature without changing the rhythmic effect. This is easy if both the old and new time signatures are simple time. (The grade 4 course explains this in more detail).

Notice how the note values change when 3/4 becomes 3/8: Each note value is halved; for example, a minim (half note) becomes a crotchet (quarter note) and a dotted minim (dotted half note) becomes a dotted crotchet (dotted quarter note). Compound to Simple (and Vice Versa) The task is more complicated when you are moving from simple time to compound time or vice versa, and when you also have to work out what the new time signature is! The first step is to look at the given time signature and remind yourself what kind of beat and how many beats it represents. Let's say you have an extract in 12/8, to rewrite in simple time. What does 12/8 actually mean? 12/8= 4 dotted crotchet (dotted quarter note) beats per bar. The equivalent simple time signature will use the same value of note without the dot. Which time signature uses four undotted crotchets (quarter notes) per bar?

4/4 Each dotted main beat in compound time should be written as an undotted note in simple: Now think about how each main beat is divided into sub-beats: 12/8: 1 dotted crotchet (dotted quarter note) =3 quavers (eighth notes) 4/4: 1 crotchet (quarter note) =2 quavers (eighth notes) In order to keep the rhythmic effect when re-writing the rhythm, you might need to use duplets or triplets. Duplets are used in compound time (3 becomes 2) Triplets are used in simple time (2 becomes 3) Let’s look at an example. Duplets are used in compound time, when you need 2 notes instead of 3. Triplets are used in simple time, when you need 3 notes instead of 2. Triplets can be made with any note value - not just quavers (eighth notes). Here is a rhythm in 9/8. How would you rewrite it in a simple time signature?

(Hover your mouse over the lightbulb (or tap on a mobile device) to reveal the answers, but try to answer them yourself first!) What does the time signature 9/8 actually mean? What is the equivalent simple time signature? The first note F is a dotted crotchet (dotted quarter note). What should this be in the new time signature? The second main beat is a crotchet+quaver (quarter note + 8th). How should this be written in the new time signature? The third main beat is the same rhythm as the second main beat (minus the tie). Here is the whole bar rewritten: Common Mistakes In Rewriting Time Signatures The most common mistake I find among students tackling this question, is failing to work out what the new time signature is supposed to be. Often, a student will assume that a bar in 6/8 ought to be rewritten in 3/4, because they contain the same number of quavers (eighth notes) per bar. This is a mistake! 6/8 is duple time, and 3/4 is triple time, so it is impossible to rewrite a rhythm in that way without changing the rhythmic effect.

Always keep the same number of main beats per bar: duple time stays as duple time, and so on. Rests sometimes make the exercise look more difficult, but you should think about them in exactly the same way as you think about notes. A common mistake, (especially with compound times), is to forget that a rest sometimes makes up a whole beat with the note before it. In this bar, the 9/8 time signature might make you think that you should group quavers (8th notes) into threes, so you might think the second beat of the bar starts with the quaver (8th) rest: Look more closely, and you’ll see that the first complete beat, (which must be a dotted crotchet (dotted quarter note) beat), is the G plus the rest. The second beat is the duplet B - D, and the third beat is C sharp - A. Rests can be included in duplets and triplets in the same way that notes can. Here’s an example: For a complete table of time signatures , take a look at the chart in our reference section. It includes all time signatures, with examples of rhythms written in those time signatures.

Music Theory / Time / Compound time beats in simple time Compound time beats in simple time (Triplets and Hemiola) Triplets and hemiola are compound entities in simple time. They say, play 3 notes in the time of 2. Tailed notes like quavers and semiquavers can be beamed in a group of three with the numeral 3 written above. Three beamed notes to be played in the time of 2 are called triplets. A quaver triplet plays for the time of a crotchet. Crotchets and minims cannot be beamed. To write three crotchets or minims in the time of two write the three notes under a square bracket with the number 3 above. In common time three crotchets or minims in the time of two are called hemiola. A tripplet plays 3 within the time of the beat or for the time of the beat. A hemiola plays 3 over the time of the beat. Counting In simple time you are used to counting by 2 and 4. Triplets are counted by 3. Think of time in the form of a clock. In duple time the clock strikes 12 and 6.

Triplets strike at 12, 4 and 8. Hemiola are very difficult to count because they don't show the beat. Think of them this way. A crotchet is equivalent to two tied quavers. A crotchet hemiola is equivalent to two quaver triplets with every second note tied. The quaver triplets give you the beat. In a crotchet hemiola the second beat is halfway between the second and third crotchets. You play the second crotchet a triplet quaver before the beat and the third crotchet a triplet quaver after the beat. On time On the beat, triplets and hemiola group naturally to the entities of simple time. A minim hemiola covers an entire 4 - 4 bar. A crotchet hemiola covers the first or second half of a 4 - 4 bar. Hemi is a Greek prefix meaning half. A quaver triplet equates to a crotchet. A semiquaver triplet equates to half a crotchet. If a hemiola or triplet begins off the beat such that it crosses the simple time x4 groupings then it must still be written to be correct in simple time.

A simple technique is used. It is based on the fact that a minim hemiola can if necessary be written as two crotchet hemiola. A crotchet hemiola can if necessary be written as two quaver triplets and so on. Here are some hemiola and triplets which begin off the beat or cross over the bar's half way mark. Here is what we do with them. We break the crotchet hemiola into two quaver triplets so we can slice the bar in half. We divide the quaver triplet into two semiquaver triplets so we can see the beat and adhere to simple time rules. Music Theory Music theory  Tuplets etc. The word tuplet is common in American English. The basic notation for tuplets is presented in the examples below. Subdivisions can be written with a number if the notes are beamed. With time values longer than the quaver, a tie or bracket can be used; the bracket is preferred as a tie can be mistaken for a legato slur. The time values for tuplets are usually chosen to produce, when combined, a longer duration than the time value to be divided.

Bars 4 and 5, however, show that it is possible to deviate from this rule. For example, Bartok and other 20th century composers wrote a duplet in quavers when the time signature was 3/8. They are more comprehensible to a musician than crotchets. Moreover, a 2/4 time signature uses quavers even though a crotchet may be divided into two or three. Bar 4 shows that two quadruplets with an equal duration can be written in two different time values (a and b). The latter form is familiar from textbooks; the combined time values of the duplet exceed their actual duration. Composers have used both notations, and version a) is now more common. It is customary to also state the numerical ratio, where the latter number shows how many time values of the duplet are normally included in the part of the beat in question. All examples of bar 5 apply the same time value. The bottom bar could use semiquavers or sixteenth notes; the symbol would then be 8:10 (or 4:5). The time value symbol after the note is common in modern art music, where duplets can include further irregular subdivisions.

Basic time values have the relationship 1:2:4:8:16 or semibreve, minim, crotchet (whole note, half note, quarter note), and so on. It is commonplace, however, that the durations have a relationship of 3:2 (triplet) or 2:3 (duplet). These tuplets can be written without numbers if the time signature allows. The example below shows three time values on the top line and a corresponding set of two time values on the bottom line. Bars 1 and 2 show that a duplet has two fixed notations for the time values: the first notation is today more common; the second notation is used, for example, if a quadruplet is written in crotchets. The 6/8 time signature often uses dotted quavers instead of duplets. The 3:2 relationship manifested in different time signatures: Bar 4 shows a typical way of writing simple polymetre (or bimeter) in which a bar is divided into two and three parts of equal size. Bars 5 and 6 show tuplets (triplets) written on the top staves to correspond with the basic perfect time values indicated in the time signatures.

Successive time signatures 3/4 and 6/8 also illustrate the bimeter formed by the 3:2 relationship. You can experiment by playing the example below several times so that you hear three accents in the former and two accents in the latter. The 1/16 figure below can help you to perceive a quadruplet; the bottom notes lie in line with the quadruplet notes. In popular music with African-American origins, a quadruplet is often written in successive dotted notes. When a quadruplet extends past the barline, it is wise to use dotted time values: In the example below, each bar has three time values on the top staves and four time values on the bottom staves. Like the duplet and triplet, the only time signatures to show the 4:3 relationship without the quadruplet or triplet symbol are the 6/8 and 12/8 time signatures. The 4:3 relationship manifested in different time signatures: This example shows that different notations can be used to describe musical events, producing a similar auditory experience. It also illustrates one of the specific challenges of traditional notation, the difficulty of describing polymeter in a readable and comprehensible manner.

A crowd of tuplets produces unreadable rhythm; it would be more intelligible to express duration with a specific time signature. Metric modulation The term metric modulation is related to modern art music and Elliot Carter's compositions. The same phenomenon was, however, present in the change of time values/tactus in Renaissance music. In metric modulation, the time value of the pulse changes and causes an abrupt change in the tempo. For example, if a triplet rhythm is perceived to consist of sets of two successive quavers and when this becomes the new beat unit, we have a metric modulation: At the beginning, the tempo is 120 MM. In the second bar, we have six notes instead of four (a slow triplet written out). A new tempo derived from these triplet parts is 180 MM. The notation above the staff is common when the new tempo can easily be derived from the previous tempo. It is wise to give a new time signature, for example 6/8, if the alternative would be to continue writing as in bar 2. The new tempo in this context is actually 60 MM; in this time signature, a dotted crotchet is the typical beat unit.

Dolmetsch Online - Music Theory Online - Notes & Rests 1 Duration Where the vertical position of a note on a staff or stave determines its pitch, its relative time value or duration is denoted by the particular sign chosen to represent it. This is the essence of proportional or mensural notation, first developed in the eleventh century and about which more information is given in the section below entitled Origin of Music Notation . The coin & paper money you use to pay for goods & services are good examples of relative value. While in England 100 pence = 1 pound and in the United States the cent and dollar are similarly related (100 cents = 1 dollar) in neither case do you know the 'absolute' value of a currency or of its 'denominations'; for example, how many dollars = 1 pound. So it is with musical 'denominations'. The signs do not give duration in units of time, minutes or seconds. That must be given in ways we discuss in lesson 5 . The Anatomy of a Note Sign :: Key words: 1 The Anatomy of a Note Sign In music the denomination of 'coinage' is the note or note sign. One can use either term.

Each note sign is a construct of three distinct parts. The notehead, whose position on the stave actually sets its pitch, can be open (white) or closed (black). For all notes except the breve (double whole note) and semibreve (whole note), each note has a stem or tail and, for the notes of shorter time-value, a hook or flag, one for a quaver (eighth note), two for a semiquaver (sixteenth note), and so on). The stem can rise from the notehead, in which case it lies on the right-hand side of the notehead, or fall from the notehead, in which case it lies on the left hand side of the notehead (see the two crotchets or quarter notes). In either case, the flag or hook lies on the right-hand side of the stem (see the two quavers (eighth notes)).

English pausa de semiminima (f.) quart de pausa (m.) or pausa de negra (f.) 8 quaver rest eighth rest pausa di croma (f.) demi-soupir (m.) Achtelpause (f.) silencio de corchea (m.) or pausa de corchea (f.) vuitï¿½ de pausa (m.) or pausa de corxera (f.) 16 semiquaver rest sixteenth rest pausa di semicroma (f.) quart de soupir (m.) Sechzehntelpause (f.) silencio de semicorchea (m.) or pausa de semicorchea (f.) setzï¿½ de pausa (m.) or pausa de semicorxera (f.) 32 demisemiquaver rest thirty-second rest pausa di biscroma (f.) huitiï¿½me de soupir (m.) Zweiunddreiï¿½igstelpause (f.) silencio de fusa (m.) or pausa de fusa (f.) trenta-dosï¿½ de pausa

 (m.) or pausa de fusa (f.) 64 hemidemisemiquaver rest sixty-fourth rest pausa di semibiscroma (f.) seiziï¿½me de soupir (m.) Vierundsechzigstelpause (f.) silencio de semifusa (m.) or pausa de semifusa (f.) seixanta-quatrï¿½ de pausa (m.) or pausa de semifusa (f.) 128 semihemidemisemiquaver rest one hundred and twenty-eighth rest pausa di centoventottavo (f.) cent-vingt-huitiï¿½me de soupir (m.) Hundertundachtundzwanzigstelpause (f.) silencio de garrapatea (m.) or pausa de garrapatea (f.) Each line in the example below is a single bar (we meet bars in the next lesson ), with the same total time value of notes as every other line.

Each line in the example below is a single bar (we meet bars in the next lesson ), with the same total time value of rests as every other line. Dotting and Double-Dotting :: 1 Dotting and Double-Dotting A dot, placed to the immediate right of the notehead, increases its time-value by half; thus a minim (half note) (which is equivalent to two crotchets (quarter notes)) followed by a dot (which in this case is equivalent to a further crotchet (quarter note)) is equivalent to three crotchets (quarter notes), while a dotted crotchet (dotted quarter note) is equivalent to three quavers (eighth notes) and a dotted quaver (dotted eighth note) is equivalent to three semiquavers (sixteenth notes)). If the notehead is located in a space, the dot is placed in that same space. If the notehead is on a line, the dot is placed in the space just above the line. Exceptions sometimes have to be made if several dotted notes share a single stem. A dot placed after a rest or note is called an augmentation dot.

A second dot, placed to the immediate right of the first dot, increases the original undotted time-value by a further quarter. Another way of thinking about the second dot is that it adds the note equivalent to half the note added by the first dot. So, for example, a minim (half note) (equivalent to four quavers (eighth notes)) followed by one dot (equivalent to two quavers (eighth notes)) followed by a second dot (equivalent to one quaver (eighth note)) is equivalent, in total, to seven quavers (eighth notes). A triple-dotted note is a note with three dots written after it; its duration is 1 7/8 times (1 + 1/2 + 1/4 + 1/8) its basic note value. Use of a triple-dotted note value is not common in the Baroque and Classical periods, but quite common in the music of Richard Wagner and Anton Bruckner, especially in their brass parts Dots after rests increase their time-value in the same way as dots after notes.

Beams and Beaming :: 1 Beams and Beaming When notes with flags lie together in groups they are often linked by one or more lines called beams. The number of beams reflect the number of flags each would have had when an individual note. The beam that is furthest from the noteheads, and remains unbroken, and connects a group of notes is called a primary beam. Any beam other than than the primary beam is a secondary beam and may be broken, often dividing the grouping into smaller units for easier reading. We illustrate below: a group of four semiquavers (sixteenth notes), first unbeamed and then beamed a group of two quavers (eighth notes), first unbeamed and then beamed a group of one quaver (eighth note) and two semiquavers (sixteenth notes), first unbeamed and then beamed. Notice the use of primary and secondary beams in this example Notice how the beaming reflects the time value of each note. Where a beam does not join a group of notes, for example a beam joining a dotted quaver (eighth note) to a semiquaver (sixteenth note), the secondary beam attached to the semiquaver (sixteenth note) is called a fractional beam.

Ties :: 1 Ties There are occasions when the duration of a note may not be easily notated using one of the note signs given above. If the duration of a note is longer than a breve (double whole note) or when the addition of dots cannot provide the required duration, groups of notes can be linked by one or more ties. Tied notes are treated as a single unbroken note whose duration is given by the duration of the notes under the tie taken successively. This is illustrated in the example given below where a crotchet (quarter note) tied to a quaver (eighth note) is equivalent to the dotted crotchet (dotted quarter note) that follows. Note that the tie is always written so as to join the noteheads of two notes. The beginning and end of the tie are on the same horizontal level, and the tie is placed between the noteheads (without touching them). Rests are never tied. Origin of Music Notation :: Origin of Music Notation by the late John Howell When Guido d'Arezzo invented chant notation on a staff in about 1025, the notes were drawn fully black.

I imagine that the scribes cut their pens so as to give a broad stroke in one direction and a very narrow stroke in the other, because that's exactly what the manuscripts look like. (Twentieth-century music pens - both nibs and fountain pens - were designed exactly the same way.) When late twelfth-early thirteenth century musicians at Notre Dame in Paris needed a way to indicate rhythmic values, they came up with the six rhythmic modes. They used existing chant notation (all black notes) with only two note values, short and long (or breve and longa), but in practice also needed a note value equal to a breve plus a longa. The rhythms were indicated not by the appearance of the notes, but by the way they were joined together in multi-note ligatures. When Franco of Cologne, about 50 years later, proposed a system of mensural notation ("measured" notation), his biggest innovation was to assign specific values to specific note shapes. (The notes were still black.) The longa was a square black note with a descending tail on the right. The breve was a square black note with no tail.

He added a new note value, the semibreve, which was a square note turned 45 degrees (which is to say a diamond-shaped note). He also added a new longer note, the double longa, which was a rectangular note about twice the width of a longa with a descending tail on the right. Since notation always seems to lag behind what musicians are actually doing and wanting to write down, what happened in the next 150 years was that shorter and shorter note values were introduced to facilitate notating fast passages. As a result the original breve became slower and slower in practice, and the original longa slower still. The notes were still black (except when they were red, but that's another discussion entirely!). By the early sixteenth century the longa is seldom seen except as the final note of a piece, which is better notated in modern notation as a fermata rather than a note 16 bars long! During the fifteenth century a major technological innovation came into use. Paper was invented. Or if not invented, it became available at reasonable prices. Instead of the painstaking and labor-intensive business of preparing animal skin (vellum) for manuscript use, paper could be made relatively inexpensively or even bought ready made.

Only one problem for the music scribes. Since paper is made of fibers, apparently the ink had a tendency to spread out along those fibers and look like a blob instead of the nice, clean square note shape people were used to. That's when scribes started using outline notes (white notation) instead of solid black notes. Throughout the sixteenth century, when the first methods for printing music were being worked out, the same white notation using the same square note shapes continued in use in the printed music. As a broad generalization I would guess that the rounded note shapes we are used to did not come into use until the seventeenth century, when engraving music on copper plates began to replace printing from movable type. Additional Notes on The History of Music Notation :: Key word: Additional Notes on The History of Music Notation by Dr.

Brian Blood About the alphabet (the discovery of which is attributed to Palamedes, the mythical inventor of the joke, the lighthouse, dice, and a number of other essentials of human civilization), Socrates, in Phaedrus, warned: "this discovery will create forgetfulness in the learnerï¿½s souls, because they will not use their memories; they will trust to the external written characters and not remember of themselves. The specific which you have discovered is an aid not to memory but to recollection, and gives only a semblance of truth; they will hear much and learn nothing; they will appear to know much and will generally know nothing; they will be tiresome company, for they will seem wise without being wise." Of course, the same reservations may be directed at musical notation - that traditions become immutable, that the musicians read but neither do they think nor do they understand, that their memories weaken, that improvisation is discouraged. However, at the time when our modern notational system was developing, there were pressing practical reasons for wanting to record certain aspects of a musical line accurately.

These included the systemisation of the performance of religious music in a centrally organised Roman Catholic church, and, later, a desire to fix an intrinsically plastic medium, the better to apply to it the reflections of philosophers and critics. Richard Rastall writes, in his The Notation of Western Music (2nd ed. 1998, Leeds University Press), "the story of musical notation in Western Europe is one of innovations, changes and disappearances." It appears that the Egyptians from the 3rd millennium BC practiced some kind of musical notation and that various systems were in use in the Orient in ancient times. A Hittite (or Hurrian) love-song, from about 1800 BC is the earliest example of musical notation we have. In the ancient Greek, Oriental and Jewish traditions, ekphonetic notation, a system of grammatical accents indicating inflections in language or liturgical texts, was in use as early as c. 200 BC. The invention of the Greek system of prosodic signs, from which both ekphonetic and neumatic notation are derived, is generally attributed to the grammarian Aristophanes of Byzantium (257-180 BC).

Although many fragments have survived from this period, the Greek Seikilos epitaph, a find that has been dated variously from around 200 BC to around AD 100, is the oldest surviving example of a complete musical composition, including musical notation, from anywhere in the Western world. Greek instrumental and vocal music was notated using two different systems of letters, but, by the time Boethius (c. 470-525) was writing his five books on music theory, the Romans were using a single system based on the first 15 letters of the alphabet. Neumes, themselves derived from Greek ekphonetic notation, were introduced into Gregorian chant probably as early as the sixth century. Although the scholar and music theorist Isidore of Seville, writing in the early seventh century, famously remarked that it was impossible to notate music, fragmentary evidence indicates that staffless neumes were certainly in use by the eighth century where they appear to have been used primarily to jog the memories of singers who would have learned the chants by ear. In their earliest form, neumes were purely adiastematic, that is, they only told the singer whether the pitch went up or down. Louis W.

G. Barton, in his essay entitled The Neume Notation Project explains that neumes are 'symbolic characters'. Each character is a literal (not pictorial) representation of a note or group of notes, in an analogous way to letters of the alphabet standing for sounds of speech. There is nothing inherent in the shape of the letter 'A' that would lead one to think that it stands for the sound 'ah', and so 'A' is symbolic, not iconic. For this reason the exact form that neumes could take varied from region to region. Reference: Neumatic Notation part of Medieval Liturgy in the Low Countries Black letter styles were a feature of most late Mediaeval hand-scribed manuscripts. Thick nibs scratching away on parchment could not produce light airy forms; rather, and to avoid raising the pen too often from the page, the hand was crowded, filled with numerous ligatures, often close to illegible and very black. This sense of overcrowding persisted even after a further refinement, heightened neumes arranged above and below a line (which appeared sometime towards the end of the tenth century), made the intervals of the melody somewhat clearer.

Neumatic Notation through History podatus subpunctis (group of four notes) quilisma - it occurs invariably as the middle note in an ascending group and seems to indicate a glide of the voice, being accompanied by a sustaining of the note or group of notes preceding it strophicus - one group of hook form signs shaped like a comma - singly it is called apostropha, when doubled, distropha; when trebled, tristropha. The apostropha is generally found at the end of another neum, or followed by a distropha at a higher pitch; it is never used as a single note over a syllable oriscus - apostropha and oriscus are sometimes interchanged in different manuscripts.

In a few instances the oriscus, however, is found as the single sign over a syllable Latin Glossary: virga, virgula (from the Latin virga, rod) - punctus or punctum (Latin, point, dot) - tractulus (Latin, little stroke) - pes, podatus (from the Latin, pes, foot) - torculus (Latin, twisted - from torquere, to twist, from its broken form) - clivis (more properly clinis) (Latin, bend) - porrectus (Latin, extended - from porrigere, to extend, from the extended form of its lines) - climacus (from the Latin climax, stair, ladder) - scandicus (Latin, climber - from scandere, to rise) - salicus (from the Latin, salire, to jump) - flexus (Latin, 'bent' - the addition of a lower note to a group ending with a higher note) - resupinus (Latin, 'bent back' - the addition of a higher note to a group ending with a lower note) - prï¿½punctis (the placing of several puncta before a sign) - compunct

is (addition of puncta before and after a group of notes) - subpunctis (the placing of several puncta after a sign) Ashenafi Kebede, in Music in Black Jewish and Christian Communities , describes the 'dual' system introduced in the sixteenth century that featured in Ethiopic chant notation.

It employed both milikitoch (neumatic signs: curves, dots, dashes, etc.) and siraye (letter notation taken from the Ethiopian Ge'ez alphabet). To keep the two systems apart, the siraye was often placed above, while the milikit was placed below the text of the manuscripts. The siraye consisted of small letters usually written in red ink; the milikitoch were easily recognizable by their distinct shapes, and they were often written in black ink. Although neither the signs nor the letters indicated individual pitches, they clearly reminded the knowledgeable cantor of melodic passages, each with its own relative pitches, each passage being both melodically and textually meaningful. The duration of each pitch, silence, and volume was also measured according to their importance within each passage and the entire chant as a whole. We would recommend the reference below for further information about the development of neumatic notation. Reference: Gregorian Notation - examples showing the development of the notation In modern printing of medieval chant usually four line staffs are employed. In medieval manuscripts, however, there might be no staff line, or anything from one to six lines per staff, where each line signified a different voice.

Odo, abbot of the great abbey of Cluny from 927 to 942, actively fostered choral music both in his own abbey, where a hundred or more psalms were being sung daily, and in his travels to other monasteries, inspecting their music and instructing their choirs. From documents of the period, we know both of his teaching methods and of the importance attached to music at Cluny. His great innovation was to arrange the notes of the scale into an orderly progression from A to G, in this way developing the earliest effective system of Western musical notation. To aid the pitching the notes in the various Gregorian modes he associated them with string lengths on the monochord. Reproducibility replaced unreliable 'learning by rote'. The failure of the neume system to maintain consistency in the performance of religious chant, inspired Guido d'Arezzo, in about 1025, to extend Odo's methods, and perfect his new staff-based system of music notation. Reference: Graduale [ref: Fol. 236. St. Gall, 1512. Wurttembergische Landesbibliothek, Cod.

mus. I.] - an example of early sixteenth-century notation. Sometime during the tenth century, a red line, traced horizontally above the text, gave the singer a fixed note (F=fa), and so helped him to approximate the intervals. A second line in yellow (for C=ut) was added later. The staff arose from the addition of further black lines. It should be emphasised that these developments varied from place to place and that a remarkable range of notations coexisted at any one period. These experiments would result in the assignment of a four-lined staff to sacred music and of a five-lined staff to secular music. The yellow and red colours were later replaced by Guido who indicated the pitch of certain lines on the stave using letters. From one assigned pitch, the pitch of the remaining lines and spaces followed. By the time Petrucci's 1501 Harmonice musices odhecaton appeared, the first book of music printed from moveable type, bass and alto clefs identifying the note F and the note C respectively, symbols virtually identical to those found in earlier manuscript, had become standard.

Only in the case where the cantus line was preceded by a C clef marking the bottom line of the stave, would we use today a treble clef marking G on the second line from the bottom of the stave. We illustrate the C and F clef signs below: An example of the Petrucci 'style' may be found on page 160 of A History of Western Music by Grout and Palisca (published by W.W. Norton). As we have noted above, Guido also named the degrees of the scale using the initial syllables of the lines of a Latin hymn (ut, re, mi, fa, sol, la). Originally used for teaching sight singing, these or their derivatives are also used in some languages for naming absolute pitches. However, the term 'absolute pitch' when referring to medieval music should be handled with care. Reference: Pitch, Temperament & Timbre While a staff of five lines was adopted in France for vocal music, one of six lines was used in Italy and, as the example illustrates, in the Reading Abbey manuscript in which the Reading rota (entitled Sumer Is Icumen In) appears.

Instrumental music employed staves of varying numbers of lines until the sixteenth century when the five-line staff became the standard. Accidental notation derives from variations of the letter B, particularly, the sharp and natural from the square B quadratum, and the flat from the B rotundum. In the earliest European music notation, 4-line staff Gregorian chant manuscripts, only B needed to be altered. It could be flattened, so altering from its position in the hexachordum durum ('hard hexachord' - hard because of the 'hard b': G-A-B-C-D-E) where it is natural, to that in the hexachordum molle ('soft hexachord' - soft because of the 'soft b': F-G-A-Bb-C-D) where it is flat. B is absent from the third hexachord, hexachordum naturale ('natural hexachord' - natural because it is neither hard nor soft: C-D-E-F-G-A). This use of B as the only altered note explains some modern notational peculiarities.

The flat sign actually derives from a round B (b), to signify the B of the soft hexachord, that is B flat (hence the name of the flat sign in French bï¿½mol from medieval French bï¿½ mol ï¿½ modern French bï¿½ mou ï¿½ or 'soft b') and originally meant only the altered B, Bb. The natural sign derives from a square B ( ), to indicate the B of the 'hard hexachord', that is, B natural (hence the name of the natural sign in French bï¿½carre from medieval French bï¿½ carre, earlier bï¿½ quarre ï¿½ modern French bï¿½ carrï¿½ ï¿½ or 'square b') and originally meant only the unaltered B, B natural. For the same reason, in the German notation the letter B only designates the B flat while the letter H, which is actually a deformation of a square B designates the B natural. As polyphonic harmony developed more alterations were required. The first sharp in use was F#, then came the second flat Eb, then C#, as so on.

By the sixteenth century Bb, Eb, Db, Ab, Gb and F#, C#, G#, D# and A# were all in use. The opposition of the 'soft b' (B flat) and the 'hard b' (B natural) went beyond the fact that they are present in different hexachords: the rules of polyphony stated that they could not be sung together or even consecutively either in the same part or in different parts. The segregation of the 'hard b' (which in the medieval hexachordal system bore the name 'b mi') from the 'soft b' (which in the medieval hexachordal system bore the name 'b fa') was extended in polyphonic music to the rule of 'mi contra fa', whereby the tritone, the medieval 'diabolo in musica' was a forbidden melodic and vertical interval and had to be corrected to a perfect fourth or fifth. References: Tritone After a period during which printers sought to replicate features of handwritten manuscript in their choice of print face, a process of standardisation took place and when new ideas in letter form design were adopted in one country, they became commonplace elsewhere.

Those interested in the history of design and form in early printing, much of it unrelated to notation of music, may like to read The Alphabet Abecedarium by Richard A. Firmage published in 2000 by Bloomsbury (ISBN 0 7475 4757 2) - an earlier edition appeared in 1993 published by David R. Godine, Boston, MA, USA. The evolution of rhythmic notation took much longer than that for pitch. It would appear that prior to mensural notation the length of notes would be determined by the ancient rules of proportional rhythm applied to the words accompanying the melody (prosodic feet and proportions). By the tenth century, notation was beginning to develop its own rules. We find, in the anonymous Commemoratio brevis, some striking observations on the relative lengths of different notes. "Breves must not be slower than is fitting for Breves; nor may Longs be distorted in erratic haste and be faster than is appropriate for Longs .... All notes which are long must correspond rhythmically with those which are not long through their proper inherent durations ...

for the longer values consist of the shorter, and the shorter subsist in the longer, and in such a fashion that one has always twice the duration of the other, neither more nor less ... for without question all music should be strictly measured in the manner of prosody" Even so, it remains a problem when classifying and analysing the music of the troubadour, associated with Southern France between 1100 and 1300, as to whether the lyrics or the melody form the foundation for interpretation and performance. There is a complete absence of any mensural notation. Mensural or 'measured-time' notation would emerge only slowly and the golden era of the troubadours was a time of evolution. Mensural notation became a necessity as polyphony and, in particular, the motet developed. Time could no longer be elastic. A single invariable time-unit became essential. At first, rhythmic modes were represented by certain patternings of neumes; later, in his Ars cantus mensurabilis (c.1280), Franco of Cologne clearly indicated, for each note, its exact rhythmic length and represented notes of long and short duration by particular specific neumes.

In his system, the longer value was in principle equal to three of the shorter values. Indeed, the essence of mensuration was the relationships between two sets of note durations specifically, the ratio of breves to semibreves (called tempus), and of semibreves to minims (called prolatio). In the fourteenth century, Philippe de Vitry, author of Ars nova, expanded Franco's 3:1 system to allow duple divisions of the long and short notes, i.e. a 2:1 system. At the various rhythmic levels of a given piece, either relationship was implied, and a system of signs and coloured notes was used to identify which relationship was currently being used or being temporarily set aside. Mensural notation had become, then, a system of rhythmic notation where distinct note-shapes (from about 1260, maxima, longa, brevis and semibrevis - from the fourteenth century, minima - from the fifteenth century, semiminima, fusa and semifusa) indicated the relative lengths of different notes. Groups of notes could be 'bound' together to form ligatures.

This notational system was distinct both from that of rhythmic modes in which the context of the musical line limited any rhythmic flexibity, and unmeasured music which was entirely free from any set rhythmic values. The ternary ratio (3:1) applied to the tempus (ratio of breves to semibreves), was called perfect, and was represented by a complete circle; applied to the prolatio (ratio of semibreves to minims), it was called major and was represented by a dot in the middle of the sign. The binary ratio (2:1) applied to the tempus was called imperfect, and was represented by an incomplete circle; applied to prolatio, it was called minor and was represented by the lack of an internal dot. This system was extended to the ratio of longer note values, in particular, of maxima to longa (called modus maximorum, modus major or maximodus) and of longa to breve (called modus longarum, modus minor or simply modus). The mensural notation system remained in use until about 1600. We thank Ken Moore for his help in clarifying this section on mensuration.

Pre-Mensural Notation Symbols Reading Early Notation by David Read We thank Christian Mondrup for recommending and providing information about two of these links By the fifteenth century, numbers appeared in the form of fractions, which in time developed into our time signatures, to mark when one proportionality of rhythmic values was temporarily being substituted for by another. Bar lines, expression signs, and, by the seventeenth century, Italian became the standard language for indicating the tempo (e.g. allegro, andante, largo). It should be mentioned that indications of the character of a piece had been used as far back as the Musica Enchiriadis (ninth century) employing the Latin words morosus (sadly) and cum celeritate (fast). Nicola Vicentino (1511-1575/76) was one of the first theorists to mention volume as an expressive parameter.

In his treatise L'antica musica ridotta alla moderna prattica (1555) he mentioned that the strength of singing must respect carefully the text and passage being sung and Giovanni Gabrieli's Sacrae Symphoniae (1597) is an early example where we find dynamic markings (i.e. piano, forte, pianissimo, fortissimo) used in their abbreviated form. German, French and English composers sometimes indicated, at the top of the page, the mood or speed of a piece in their own language while employing titles drawn from a wide range of languages. With the adoption of equal temperament and the major and minor modes, key signatures indicating a major key or its relative minor became conventional and assumed their present form during the baroque period. Even so there could be the odd example where composers modified standard notation to meet specific needs.

This is a portion of the first movement of Partita VII from Biber's collection of scordatura trios, Harmonia artificiosa-ariosa diversimode accordata, a work in 7 movements for two violas d'amore and basso continuo, originally published in 1696; this is a facsimile from the 1712 reprint. The tuning given is for 6 strings. The 9 line stave is Biber's way of extending the fingerings of the ordinary 4 string viola to the viola d'amore. There is one other example of this 9 line stave notation surviving. To those interested in hearing this Partitia by Biber we recommend the superb recording of the complete Harmonia Artificioso Ariosa by The Rare Fruits Council on Auvidis France E 8572. The Auvidis label is now part of Naive Classique.

Naive Classique 148 rue du Faubourg Poissonniï¿½re 75010 Paris Tel: +33 (0)1 44 91 64 00 Fax: +33 (0)1 44 91 64 02 Email: info@naive.fr In the example below, taken from the Lilypond music processor web site, the arrangement of stems in the second half of the first bar, the whole of the second bar and the first half of the third bar, reflects the fact that the left hand melody line has been written on both staves for clarity. In order to make readable multiple voices on an individual staff, the engraver combines notes and rests so that the player can follow easily the disposition of the individual voices from beat to beat, bar to bar. The advent of aleatory music has produced new notational systems, varying from piece to piece, indicating only approximate pitch, duration, and dynamic relations. Notation for electronic music is still not standardized but generally uses traditional reference symbols (staff and clef signs) in conjunction with specially adapted pitch and rhythm notation.

Proportionate (proportional) Notation, a graphic method of indicating durations, where instead of traditional notation, the horizontal spacing of symbols represents the intended length of durations has been introduced to handle pulseless music and music in which different and often complicated rhythms progress simultaneously at different speeds. Sagittal is a microtonal notation system by George D. Secor and David C. Keenan. George Secor began development of the Sagittal (pronounced ï¿½SAJ-i-tlï¿½) notation system in August 2001. In January 2002 he presented what he had developed to the Yahoo group tuning and offered to consider suggestions for improvements. At that stage the system could notate the equal temperaments with 17, 19, 22, 29, 31, 41, and 72 divisions per octave. Little did he know that he had provided a unifying symbolic principle which would ultimately be developed into a system capable of notating almost any conceivable microtonal tuning. References: Study: Triplets To view the complete study guide, you will need a valid subscription. Why not subscribe now? Already have a subscription? Make sure you login first!

Triplets Rhythm, rests, and time signatures Level 1 To view the complete study guide, you will need a valid subscription. Why not subscribe now? Already have a subscription? Make sure you login first! Introduction We have already seen how a crotchet can be divided into two quavers. Let's now investigate how we can instead divide it into three: triplets. Subdividing the beat Have you noticed that all of our note symbols (semibreve, minim, crotchet, quaver, semiquaver) all divide into twos? A minim is worth two crotchets, a crotchet is worth two quavers, and so on. In order to create a note type three units long we had to add dots: a dotted crotchet, for example, is worth three quavers. Dividing into three However, what if we want to divide a normal beat (without a dot) into 3 instead of 2? In other words, three notes in the time of two? For this we use a new bracket-like symbol called a triplet. A triplet: three notes in the time of two A triplet quite straightforwardly indicates to the performer that three notes are to be played in the time of two.

Triplets can be of any time value: three triplet crotchets take the place of two normal crotchets; three triplet quavers take the place of two normal quavers, and so on. Which duration? As with simple note and rest values, we use the largest note values for the triplet we have in mind. Therefore, if we want triplets to span a minim, we use triplet crotchets rather than any shorter values. Shorter values can be used to make rhythms within the triplet, but the basic triplet consists of three crotchets. In all cases, the triplet note durations must add up to the same as the dotted version of the duration replaced. Triplets can almost be thought of as the "opposite" of a dot. For example, three triplet crotchets equal a minim and three normal crotchets equal a dotted minim. Triplets as the "opposite" of a dot Triplets and barlines Triplets can therefore span several beats within a bar, or even a whole bar (for example, triplet minims in 4/4). However, triplets never cross a barline.

They work a little like beams: they join notes together with a beat group and within a bar, but usually do not run across the beat group, and never across the barline. Triplet notation Triplets can be notated in several different ways as shown in below. All are equally valid, and you might see any of these in music you play or in a music theory exam. All of these are valid ways to notate triplets Repeated triplets Be warned! Sometimes you may find a whole piece of music in which there is a recurring, constant triplet pattern (for example, an accompanying left-hand pattern in piano music) notated without any obvious triplet marking. This is potentially confusing, but the meaning should be obvious in printed music. You should, however, avoid this practice: always make triplets very clear to the performer, by using one of the methods of notation shown above. Rhythms within triplets When we use a triplet we are specifying that the span of time is divided into three rather than two (for example, the span of 2 crotchets is divided among 3 crotchets). We can therefore write any rhythm we like within that span long as it adds up to those three units.

The example below shows several instances of both rests and mixed time values within triplets, but notice how in each case, each triplet adds up to the correct three units: the first beat of the first bar, containing a triplet crotchet and quaver, adds up correctly to three quavers, which take the time of two quavers. Mixed time values within triplets Adding up bars Triplets add extra complexity to a bar, and this makes some jobs more difficult. It can be harder to check that a bar adds up to the correct amount given the time signature used, or to work out what that time signature should be, or to know where the barline should be placed. You may find it helpful to pencil in the duration that the triplet unit replaces before adding up the bar. In the example below, we are asked to give the correct time signature: Q. What is the missing time signature? If you are not careful, you might look at the four crotchets and be tempted to quickly say "4/4". But you would be wrong! Look closer: those three triplet crotchets take the place of only two normal crotchets.

That means there is a total duration of only three normal crotchets in the whole bar, which means that the correct time signature is in fact 3/4! Read more... With a subscription to Clements Theory you'll be able to read this and dozens of other study guides, along with thousands of practice questions and more! Why not subscribe now?

Question: What is equivalent to 4 quavers?
Answer: Minim