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1.6 Simple and Compound Beat Division

1 min readnovember 2, 2020

Mickey Hansen

Mickey Hansen


AP Music Theory 🎶

72 resources
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1.6: Simple and Compound Beat Division


When reading music, each measure has a certain number of beats, as well as divisions of the beat. Rhythm is governed by an underlying pulse that we call meter.
We saw earlier (hyperlink to end of 1.3) that each beat can be divided in half to create another note of half value. We can also, however, split a beat into 3 divisions. We call these triplets!


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Triplets are indicated with the number 3 above the notes, so you know the beat is divided into three parts.
In the case of 8th note triplets, they will also be beamed together.



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In the case of quarter note triplets, there will be a bracket above or below the notes to indicate that there should be three notes in the space of two beats.


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When a meter contains beats are divided into two smaller notes, the music is considered to have simple beat division.


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When a meter contains beats that are divided into three smaller notes, such as in the case with triplets, the music is considered to have compound beat division.


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🦜Polly wants a knowledge tracker: Look at the two images above. Can you clap those rhythms by keeping the beat of the quarter note?


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🎵Unit 1 – Music Fundamentals I (Pitch, Major Scales and Key Signatures, Rhythm, Meter, and Expressive Elements)
🎶Unit 2 – Music Fundamentals II (Minor Scales and Key Signatures, Melody, Timbre, and Texture)
🎻Unit 3 – Music Fundamentals III (Triads and Seventh Chords)
🎹Unit 4 – Harmony and Voice Leading I (Chord Function, Cadence, and Phrase)
🎸Unit 5: Harmony and Voice Leading II: Chord Progressions and Predominant Function
🎤Unit 7 – Harmony and Voice Leading IV (Secondary Function)
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