Lesson 15: Triplets

One crotchet beat can also be divided into four semiquavers:

But, if we want to split the crotchet into three equal parts, we need to use a triplet. To show a triplet, we write the notes as three quavers beamed (joined) together, and we also write "3" on the beamed side of the notes. (These days it's not necessary to put a slur marking too.)

Look and listen to this rhythm using triplets:

Crotchet Triplets

Triplets don't always have to be quavers - we can make triplets out of notes of any length. We can split a minim up into three equal notes by writing triplet crotchets, for example:

crotchets don't have beams, of course, so we write crotchet triplets with a square bracket, with the number 3 in the middle of the longest line.

Adding Barlines with Triplets

Adding barlines to music with triplets can look difficult at first glance, but don't panic! Remember that you are looking at three notes in the space of two, and that they are grouped together in whole beats. Here's an example:

Add the missing barlines to this tune.

(Click the "next" button to see how to count the groups of notes.)

Adding Rests with Triplets

Here's a melody which you need to add rests to, and the melody contains a triplet:

What do we need to do? We can see that there is a triplet marked with a "3" above the beamed quavers, but there are only two notes written instead of three. (Triplets always have three notes in them.) The star (*) shows us where the missing rest is supposed to go - in this case it's in the middle of the triplet.

The other notes in the triplet group are quavers; we've got two quavers but we need three, so the rest must have the value of a quaver. Draw the quaver rest carefully, in the place shown by the star. If you have to write a crotchet triplet rest, make sure it's inside the square "triplet" brackets.

Here's the finished answer, with the quaver rest in place: