7/10/2020 Tuplets

Music Theory for the 21st-Century

∑ Classroom
Robert Hutchinson

4.5 Tuplets ¶
Tuplet is a generic term that describes a grouping of notes that would not
normally occur within a beat.

A quarter note naturally divides into two eighth notes or four sixteenth notes. A
triplet is a grouping of three eighth notes that occurs within the span of the
quarter note. A quintuplet would be a grouping of ve sixteenth notes to occur
within the span of one quarter note. It is not uncommon to see quintuplets,
sextuplets, and septuplets.

If you write a piece of music that naturally has a triplet division to the beat, you
should use , or 6
8
9
8
depending on the number of beats in each measure.
12
8

Figure 4.5.1. Two measures that sound the same

In compound meter, a duplet is a grouping of two eighth notes to occur within

the span of a dotted quarter note and a quadruplet is a grouping of four eighth
notes to occur with the span of a dotted quarter note.

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