Music Theory for ABRSM Grade 2, lesson 4,
Triplets. Triplets simply mean, three notes
that are played in the space of two. They
are usually shown with a small 3 and a bracket
placed above the notes that are to played
as a triplet. So for example, here you see
a triplet sign placed above three quavers.
This means that you would play these three
quavers in the space that it would normally
take to play two quavers. A triplet can be
used when two notes that would normally be
worth three are used. In this example, a crotchet
and a quaver are worth three quavers so like
in the previous example, this triplet would
be played in the same time that normally two
quavers would be played. Look at the pairs
of bars in this example. In each pair of bars
the first bar contains a triplet rhythm and
the second a single note and that single note
is worth the same as the triplet group in
the previous bar. For example, three triplet
crotchets are played in the space of two normal
crotchets, and two normal crotchets are equal
to a minim. In the second pair of bars, the
triplet group adds up to three semiquavers,
so this would be played in the time of two
normal semiquavers, and two normal semiquavers
makes a quaver. Now lets see what you have
learned. In each of the bars you will see
what is the single note that is worth the
same as the triplet group. The first one is
a minim because three triplet crotchets are
played in the time of two normal crotchets and two normal crotchets make  a minim.
This one the answer is a crotchet, because, three triplet quavers are played in the same time as two
normal quavers and two normal quavers make
a crotchet. In this one the answer is a quaver,
because three triplet semiquavers are played
in the same time as two normal semiquavers
and two normal semiquavers make a quaver.
In this one the answer is a crotchet, because
the triplet group, quaver plus a crotchet
is equal to three quaver triplets and three
quaver triplets are played in the same time
as two normal quavers which is equal to a
crotchet. And finally this one, the answer
is a minim. Because the notes under the triplet
add up to three crotchets. So three triplet
crotchets are played in the same time as two
normal crotchets and that is equal to a minim.
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