if the time signature is 12/8 and I have 12 sixteenth notes in a measure, does that mean I have 4 triplets?
Or not?
I don't think so, because each single note of a triplet must be worth a little less than an eighth; that is, I should have a 4/4 measure with four groups of three notes.
So in the example I described at the beginning, I don't think one can speak of triplets, even if we have a group of three notes in every beat.
Or not?
I have been studying piano for a short time and two months ago I added classical guitar.
I thought I understood, but the person explaining guitar to me confused my ideas when they spoke to me about triplets in 12/8.
One must speak of simple time and compound time. 12/8 is a compound time. By definition, the triplet belongs to those which are called superabundant groups. The triplet is therefore a superabundant group in 4/4 (simple time) but it is not in 12/8 where every subdivision is assigned an eighth note.
What Simone states is absolutely right, in my opinion. One must have clarity from the very beginning between compound and simple meters. Music is born Sacred, and 3, an expression of the Holy Trinity, stands in opposition to 2, a Human expression. To us, 2 seems more natural. And everything that is ternary... makes us think. We must assimilate the concept that simple time (2/4; 3/4; 4/4, 2/8; 2/2 etc.) always divides into two. And the beat is expressed by a "simple" figure, which we can immediately "take" ready and waiting! For example: the quarter note, the eighth note, the half note.
Different and further from naturalness for us is compound time: It always divides into 3 and its beat is a "compound" figure... meaning it's not "ready and waiting" like the quarter note, the eighth note, or the half note. To form and represent the beat of a compound meter, we must create a compound figure... from a simple figure plus a dot: dotted quarter, dotted sixteenth, dotted half.
But then???.......what do triplets or duplets have to do with it? They serve to indicate that a "rhythmic modification of the subdivision" is occurring. For example, if we are in 2/4 where the beat is divided into two eighth notes, we might suddenly find three eighth notes instead of two within the same beat. That group in "augmentation" or "increase" must be indicated as an irregular group with a 3 above the group as a "warning". The reverse happens in the case of duplets in compound time (e.g., the duplet, in diminution). In more complex cases, we may encounter quintuplets, septuplets, or sextuplets. Many of Chopin's nocturnes are full of these irregular examples, and I recommend examining and/or attempting to play them. Mathematically, this could turn into a puzzle, but with study, one understands how to execute the contrasting irregular groups "musically". Listen to my small example of the opening of Chopin's Nocturne Op. 27, No. 2 at the beginning of one of my video tutorials. Left hand sextuplets and septuplets in the right....indivisible!!! one must learn to find a natural "proportion" for execution. I hope I haven't been too boring
