And since I'm not a wizard in music theory, I've difficulty understanding the logic and meaning of the 'n'-rule given by the ABC standard:
"If the time signature is compound (3/8, 6/8, 9/8, 3/4, etc.) then n is three, otherwise n is two."
Ah, this I can explain....
Review: In a time signature, musicians are taught to read the lower of the numbers as the duration of the note that constitutes the beat, and the top number as the number of notes per measure. So something in 3/4 time would have a measure consisting of three quarter-notes, and 6/8 time would have a measure consisting of six eighth-notes.
But that alone isn't sufficient to distinguish between 3/4 and 6/8 times. After all, 3/4 time also has 6 eighth-notes per measure.
Musicians are also taught that notes on a beat get a little more emphasis than non-beat notes (although that should be the basis of the composition), and that the first beat of a measure get even more emphasis. Hence walzes (in 3/4 time) have a characteristic "DAdada DAdada" sound to them (often times written as "Oom-pa-pa", but I'll stick to "da" for the beat souncd). Marches, often written in 2/4 or 2/2, have a "DAda DAda" rhythm. And jigs, written in 6/8 time have a characteristic "DAdadaDadada DAdadaDadada" rhythm. But that's introducing a third level of stress, dividing each measure in half -- a very strong initial beat and two normal beats, and a strong fourth beat and two normal beats.
When you see music written in a "typical" fashion, this sub-measure beat structure is often indicated by how notes are grouped. A typical waltz measure (in 8th notes) would be written in ABC like | ab ab ab | wheras the same run of notes in a jig would be written as | aba bab |. In standard staff notation, the waltz would have three pairs of 8ths, each identical, and the jig would have two triples of 8ths, the second an inversion of the first. When played at the same tempo, the waltz would sound very repetative, almost like a stereotypical european two-tone siren, with the same two notes played over and over again, while the jig would have a much different, and more interesting (in my opinion) sound, as the two parts counterbalance each other.
This sort of subdividing the measure into smaller rhythmic patterns is very typical, with no "foot" (using a term from poetry) being longer than 3-4 beats. Most music subdivides the measure as evenly possible into feet of 2 and 3 beats. Occasionally you'll see divisions into 4 beats, and even then there will often be a hint in playing of a 2-beat division. 2/x is always "DAda DAda", 3/x is always "DAdada DAdada", 4/x is iffy (common-time and cut time are both 4/4, but cut time emphaizes the 2-beat substructure more), 6/x is "DAdadaDadada", 9/x is "DAdadaDadadaDadada", etc.
Generally, meters with a 2-beat foot are considered "simple meters" and meters with a 3-beat foot are considered "compound meters". While some beat structures don't, or can't, fall into those categories (like 5/4, 7/8, etc), most do.
So for tuples, the general idea is that one usually wants the tuple run to fall within one "foot" of music. So for a march (2/4 or cut time), which is a simple meter, a foot is two beats. If you are trying to do a 8th-note quintuplet, you'd want all five notes to fall in the time of one foot, or two quarter-notes.
On the other hand, with a jig (6/8 time), a compound meter, the foot is three beats, so a 8th-note quintuplet would fall in the space of one foot, or three eightnotes (a faster quintuplet than in the march example above). It would also make sense to attempt a quadruplet in jig-time, as that would be cramming 4 8th-notes into the space of 3, but notating a quadruplet in march-time (4 eighth-notes in the space of 2 quarter-notes) is pointless.
This rule does not appear on the other page I cited: http://www.vicfirth.com/education/features/webrhythms/18.html
I want to know if there exists a generally accepted definition of the meaning of note tuples, or if there are multiple, mutually exclusive traditions around. If the latter would be the case, are some definitions maybe more correct or precise than others?
Groeten, Irwin Oppenheim [EMAIL PROTECTED] ~~~* To subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html
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