Compound Notes | Triple Meter

This is the last blog about rhythm and counting which covers the division of compound notes / triple meter. The 3/4 example is part of the John Mohr Mackintosh Pipes & Drums warm up. Open the music section to see and print the complete warm up, or any of the music.

*280A features 16 divisions of the quarter note written in 3/4. One dotted half note fills one measure. The “counting” syllables will help you play the practice patterns.

*280 is the same 3/4 without “counting” syllables.

*280C features 16 divisions of the eighth note written in 3/8. One dotted quarter note fills one measure. The “counting” syllables will help you play the practice patterns.

*280B is the same 3/8 without “counting” syllables.

*280E features 16 divisions of the half note written in 3/2. One dotted whole note fills one measure. The “counting” syllables will help you play the practice patterns.

*280D is the same 3/2 without “counting” syllables.

Compound beat music is mostly written in 3/4  | 3/8 | 6/8 | 9/8 and 12/8. Also, 3/2 and 6/2 are not uncommon.
The next blogs will feature rolls.

Cheers,
Drummer Barbee

Dotted Notes as the Beat Note

The Baroque Period produced some interesting rhythm patterns with groups of two and three mixed mostly to match the dances of the day. Search Baroque Rhythm for more information.

The dotted note became known as a compound note because it was made by combining three like notes to form a number system that has 3 as its base.

Let’s review the first blog featuring the Quantize Chart. Notice the top half of the chart divides the notes into binary or duple parts. The Bottom half of the chart divides notes into ternary or three parts.

The odd divisions of 5 and 7 at the bottom of the chart are not used as beat notes. A beat can be divided into any number of parts which 99% of the time are divisions of 2, 3, or a combination of 2 and 3.

Binary/Duple note division: 1 2 4 8 16 32 64

Ternary/Triple note divisions: 1 3 6 9 12 24 48

Hopefully, the attached chart will help you understand Binary (base 2) and Ternary (base 3) beat notes.

Remember this… binary/duple beat notes have a Down Beat and an Up Beat. Dotted Beat Notes, or Compound Ternary/Triple beat notes have a Down Beat and TWO Up Beats.

Cheers, Roy Barbee

The Dot

On New Year’s Day, 1700, the Composer Monks, the Calligraphy Monks and the Type Setting Monks were determined to figure out how to write a note lasting three beats in 4/4 time without tying three quarter notes together. They needed a better way of writing a long‐short and short‐long duration of sound. Bagpipers refer to long‐short as “dot and cut” and short‐long as “cut and dot”.

Becoming frustrated, they took a break and reminisced about simple notation before The Pie Chart and printing press, when duration of sound was not mathematically fixed in a binary grid. Oh, for the days when length of pitch was indicated by gestures, a few notes and a grunt.

Without notice, the Odd Meter Monk dropped by. Irritatingly cheerful he said, “Happy New Year”. The conservative, traditional Monks, hadn’t invited the Odd Meter Monk because… well…. he was odd. He was attracted to 3/2, 3/4, and 3/8 time signatures. He had already figured out the problem of tying three like notes together.

“It’s simple”, said the Odd Meter Monk. “There are four quarter notes in one measure of 4/4 time. The first two quarter notes equal one half note. So, use a half note for the first two quarter notes and tie the half note to the third quarter note for a pitch lasting three beats.”

The other Monks interrupted and were glad to point out that there was still a tied note. “Let me finish”, he said. “The third quarter note will become abbreviated by writing only the note head to the right side of the half note which eliminates the need for the tie to the third quarter note. I refer to this abbreviated third note as a dot.”

“A dotted note!” they all exclaimed in unison. They had to acknowledge the simple brilliance of the Odd Meter Monk’s solution. A common explanation of the dot is, “A dot after a note lengthens the note by half its value”.

A few people get it from the quoted statement. Most of us have a vague understanding, and some of us don’t get it at all.

Bless those that teach the Dot.

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The concept of the dotted note made possible the Compound Beat and Compound Time, which will be discussed in the next blog.
The Morse Code attachment and the Dotted Note Chart will help you understand the dot as an abbreviated note.

Cheers
Roy