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Music vocabulary · Rhythm, Meter and Tempo

Tuplet

Meaning in music, with examples

nounCommon term

In music, tuplet means: A group of notes played in the time normally given to a different number of the same note value, such as three eighth notes in the time of two.

In Turkish: özel ritmik bölünme, tuplet

How it is used

Used in rhythm reading and notation. A number, often with a bracket, shows the grouping; triplets and quintuplets are familiar types.

Example sentences

  1. The tuplet bracket places five even notes inside the space of one beat.

    The player divides the available beat into five equal parts for this group.

  2. Check the tuplet number before copying the rhythm into the percussion part.

    The copyist needs the written grouping to preserve the original timing.

Common collocations

  • tuplet bracket
  • tuplet notation
  • nested tuplet
  • rhythmThe pattern of long and short sounds and silences in music, and how they are placed in time against the beat.
  • eighth noteA note value equal to half a quarter note, often written with a flag or joined by a beam.
  • beatThe steady pulse that you tap your foot to in a piece of music. Beats are grouped into bars, and their speed is the tempo.

More terms: Rhythm, Meter and Tempo

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