Rhythm & Meter
Triplets and Tuplets Explained: Dividing the Beat in Three
A triplet fits three notes into the time of two of the same value. This article covers the ratio, the counts and how triplets differ from compound meter.
Topic
Rhythm & Meter
Beats, subdivisions, time signatures, syncopation and hypermeter, and the difference between a cross-rhythm and a polyrhythm.
Meter, beat and subdivision are three different things, and most rhythm problems come from confusing them. These pieces cover the beat hierarchy, syncopation, hemiola, hypermeter, polyrhythm against cross-rhythm, and the honest problem of notating swing.
Tools for this topic
Try the calculation or sound, then read the assumptions in its guide.
- Metronome — A steady pulse you can trust: scheduled on the audio clock rather than by timers, with tap tempo, subdivisions, accent patterns and polyrhythms for the day you need to practise three against four.
- Tap Tempo — Tap along to a song or a practice track and read its tempo in beats per minute, with the spread of your taps, the length of each subdivision in milliseconds and a click pattern to check the result against the music.
- Loop Tempo Calculator — Turn a trimmed loop length into BPM, then calculate the duration and playback ratio needed for a new tempo. Choose the beat unit explicitly, including dotted quarters in 6/8.
Rhythm & Meter
Calculate Loop BPM from Bars and Seconds, Even in 6/8
Work out a loop’s BPM from its trimmed duration, choose the right beat unit and calculate tempo-change ratios without confusing speed with stretch.
Rhythm & Meter
Compound Meter: 6/8 vs 3/4 and How to Hear the Difference
Six eighth notes per bar can group as 3+3 in 6/8 or 2+2+2 in 3/4. Accent, contour, hemiola and conducting show which grouping you are hearing.
Rhythm & Meter
Note Values, Rests, Ties and Dots Explained
Each note value is half the one above it. Whole to sixteenth notes and their rests, plus how dots, ties and beams change what you count.
Rhythm & Meter
Time Signatures Explained: Simple, Compound and Beyond
A time signature gives beats per bar and the note value that counts as one beat. Simple meters split each beat in two, compound meters split it in three.
Rhythm & Meter
Odd Meters in 5/4 and 7/8: Counting, Feeling, Writing
Hear 5/4 and 7/8 as beat groups, not math: counting systems, conducting, repertoire from Brubeck to Balkan dance.
Rhythm & Meter
Syncopation, Accent and Groove: Rhythm That Pushes Back
Tied overbeats, attacked offbeats, hemiola and groove: how syncopation displaces accent and why the body keeps the score.
Rhythm & Meter
Meter, Beat Hierarchy and Hypermeter in Performance
Meter is a pattern of strong and weak positions, not a time signature: how it is built, how it stretches past the bar, and where performance contradicts it.
Rhythm & Meter
Polyrhythm and Cross-Rhythm: Counting the Distinction
Polyrhythm, cross-rhythm and polymeter are not interchangeable. Counting the ratios shows what separates a divided span from a pattern set against a metre.
Rhythm & Meter
Swing Timing: What the Notation Does Not Say
Jazz notation asks for swing and leaves the ratio to the players, because the timing is tempo-dependent and a fixed written value would be wrong at most speeds.
The ebook
Music Theory: the site as a book
The site's working library as a structured ebook: intervals, keys, harmony, counterpoint, rhythm, form, tuning, orchestration and the history behind them.
- 78 pages
- PDF format
- $2.87
- By The musics.name project
The Gumroad link opens the seller’s listing and checkout. Review the current total and purchase terms there; the free site does not require a purchase.
Featured releases
