Tuplets: Dividing the Beat

In the previous lessons, we learned how note values can be halved, doubled and extended with dots. Now we will explore tuplets, which allow us to divide a musical duration into a different number of equal parts.

The most familiar example is the triplet: three equally spaced notes performed in the time normally occupied by two notes of the same written value. Here is how triplets appear in notation.

You may also see groups of five, seven or nine notes played within a specified duration. These are called quintuplets, septuplets and nonuplets.

Such groups occur less frequently, but knowing how to recognize them is useful, especially when reading classical scores or rhythmically complex music.