How The Hell Do I Read This?

[Rugdoctor]

Hi guys just got a new chart and I am at a loss as how to read this triplet. I just moved so I don't have a teacher and I simply have never come across anything like this before, can someone break it down exactly (A triplet with a quarter and eight note is beyond me)



http://img521.imageshack.us/my.php?image=34vx5.jpg

[LowDown Hal]

basically you give the quarter the first two beats of the triplet and the eight gets the third

"normal"
eighth - eighth - eighth
tri - pe - let

your example
quarter - eighth
tri pe - let

[AndrewShirley]

Disclaimer: I'm not a reading expert and haven't taken theory since highschool (don't even ask how long that's been!).

They could have written the triplet with three "eighth" notes with the 1st two tied, but instead combined the 1st two into a single "quarter" note.

- Andrew

Originally Posted by Rugdoctor

Hi guys just got a new chart and I am at a loss as how to read this triplet. I just moved so I don't have a teacher and I simply have never come across anything like this before, can someone break it down exactly (A triplet with a quarter and eight note is beyond me)



http://img521.imageshack.us/my.php?image=34vx5.jpg

[Hawaii Islander]

I believe the slanted line "3" underneath ties the final eighth note of the first triplet (written with two quarter notes) to the following note. That's how my music instructor explained it to us a couple of semesters ago.

[hdiddy]

If it was jazz, I'd interpret last note in the triplet is just an accent into the last (3rd) beat.

bah.... bah-dump..

[simandlesque]

There are a couple of different ways of thinking about it:

First, you could think of the entire bar as a 9/8 bar, and count triplets in each beat, so your attacks would be as follows (attacks in bold):

Trip-e-let / Trip-e-let / Trip-e-let

or substitute whichever counting system you prefer, like "la-li-la" or Gordon syllables or whatever.

If it is too difficult to think of the entire measure as compound, you could think of the individual beats as:

duple, triple, duple, so:

Du de / Du da di / Du de (gordon syllables)
-or-
1 2 / 1 2 3 / 1 2 (thinking in terms of eighth note subdivision)

I hope that's clear; it can probably be explained much simpler than this.

If all else fails, find a recording, learn the rhythm by rote, then apply counting.

Good luck!

[futurebass77]

i dont ever want to play that

[Timbo]

The way I'd go about is break each beat into triplets.

So it'd be 1 2 3 / 1 2 3 / 1 2 3

Then just count 1 2 3 1 2 then 3 1 and play on second three. It's all a counting game really.

[Rugdoctor]

Originally Posted by futurebass77

i dont ever want to play that

I had to sight read this my first day of jazz band this part is a bass intro solo, needless to say I sucked massively.

[justBrian]

By my count, there is an extra 1/2 beat in that measure, right? But , I think you'd really just swing it.

[Panurge]

It's an academic way of writing swing, a lot of times, or just a style of copying.
You could write that figure:
Dotted quarter, eight, quarter-which is tied to whaterever it's tied with.
With a swung feel it would sound the same as writing it with triplets. It's funny how different arrangers write different variations for essentially the same sound, sort of like writing dotted eight and a sixteenth note for skips in a walking bass line. None of these ways of transcribing are mathematically accurate, but in the end it'll work if the readers or the band know what they'e doing. Or if the conductor/bandleader is on it.
A good trick for dubious rhythmic values is to try and find someone else in the band who has something similar, in our case the drums or piano, or if you're matching what the horns are doing. If the whole section is playing it, or if the horns are doing something related, it'll affect the feel you'll have to play with.
If it's a solo, then don't worry too much about it, you're supposed to interpret it. Make sure your jazz band teacher or conductor is happy with the way you play it.
One last thing: most horn players are good readers, especially section guys. For that sort of thing, or indications you haven't seen before, don't hesitate to ask around to see what's the general consensus.
It's funny how you can play a chart, and sometimes you swing a line, others you don't, and you're not quite sure what's expected, and when you finally asks, NOBODY knows if you should swing it or not! So everyone talks about it and then you try both and decide...
At the end of the day, it's a group effort.
Hope this helps.

[txstatebass]

It's a subdivision of beat two into triplets. Think "One Two(an-da) three.

[steve66]

Count 1 te Ta 2 te Ta 3

Hold beat 1 to 2 skip the te play the ta play the 3rd beat

1 te Ta 2 te Ta 3

[buddyro57]

Have your metronome set for eighth notes: Say the tempo marking is quarter = 82, put the click on 164. Now, count eighths with any syllable ("one and", or "one-te" etc). Now try to split the quarter into three equal divisions. Some folks say "mex-i-co", or "trip-uh-let" or whatever you like. Then practice going between 2 eighths per quarter to 3 triplet eighths per quarter. Be it jazz or classical, you must be able to glide seamlessly between not only this division, but also lots of others. These are sometimes called borrowed divisions (in this case the triplet eighth division is "borrowed" from compound meter , 6/8). You can do the same thing in 6/8 time, superimposing the eighth note duple in place of 3 eighths.
JS

[anonymous12251111]

What's throwing you off is the tied D, it's "scaring you." Untie the high D and then play the entire bar as triplets so you can get a feel for it.

D123
D12(3)- 3 is the low D
G#123

So if you're counting to 9, the triplet low D will be on 6. Also...picture the measure in 9/8 instead of 3/4 perhaps that will help.

Have fun!