Triplet Crotchets

[Chris]

Has anyone any thoughts on the best way to count these, or is it all done by feel. The piece in question has bar upon bar of them. There are 6 notes per bar in 4/4 time. So I worked out that the 1st and 4th notes land on beats 1 and 3, s for the other notes, is it just a question of feeling the time. Thanks for any answers..

Chris

 

[Pete Thomas]

It's actually quite tricky, I tend to just think of playing crotchets but drawing them out and aiming for that beat 3 as you say.

Before going for whole strings of the little buggers, try practising (with a metronome) two crotchets followed by the triplets, then try triplets followed by two crotchets.

If I remember correctly, a tip on learning to play crotchet triplets against a count of 2, is to think

"Nice Cup of Tea", where the "Nice" and "of" are on the metronome beats, and Nice, cup, tea are the triplets.

Once you get the rhythm of this it starts to flow nicely.

 

[Pete Thomas]

I
If I remember correctly, a tip on learning to play crotchet triplets against a count of 2, is to think

"Nice Cup of Tea", where the "Nice" and "of" are on the metronome beats, and Nice, cup, tea are the triplets.

Once you get the rhythm of this it starts to flow nicely.

I could be wrong about that, it might be for playing 2 against 3, not 3 against 2.

BTW Chris, just finishing off your uploads.

 

[Justin Chune]

I still have a set of counting principles that I bought From Leslie Evans many years ago. Leslie is now retired. His principles were designed to having us count less and play more. He was just what I was looking for.

He fitted the word banana to the triplet crochet by dividing it into three equal parts like this, Ba-na-na, Ba-na-na, and so on. Once you get used to the rhythm you just play it without thinking about words or counting. Works for me.

Jim.

 

[MandyH]

I was told to use the word "merrily" but I guess that as long as the word has 3 equall syllables it's not critical.
Personally I feel that triplet crotches seem longer than crotchets (although they're not) yet triplet quavers seem really quite fast.
Once you've got the rhythm and the "feel" of it, it seems so much easier.

 

[Pete Thomas]

Personally I feel that triplet crotches seem longer than crotchets

Yes, they do have that kind of drawn out feel, a bit like when a car in a movie goes up a ramp on one of those bridges that opens in the middle. The car takes off in the air over the void and goes into slow motion then comes down on the other side and continues. Without crashing.

 

[ArtyLady]

I definitely play them by feel but if I was explaining to someone I would probably use something like Mandy's "merrily"

 

[Chris]

This cool, so many ideas to try out and see which one will work best. Thanks all, for taking the time to reply..

 

[rhysonsax]

I've used "merrily" for quaver triplets and "beau-ti-ful" for crotchet triplets.

I don't remember where that came from but I do have fond recollections of the Leslie Evans course - photocopies of handwritten sheets. And I bought my first decent mouthpiece by mail order from him - a Link STM.

I think that there are some people who look at a section of sight reading for jazz and think to themselves "merrily di dum-di beau-ti-ful dum-di tick-ets".

Rhys

 

[Tenor Viol]

Triplet crotchets (i.e. three in the time of two) have a lazy 'yah da da' feel to them and the risk is rushing them and treating them as quavers. It's easy to trip over yourself.

If you've got a long continuous run of them, it might be worth regarding the time signature as compound, i.e. 6/4 and counting it two in a bar for that section (i.e. in effect the unit that you are counting in is a dotted minim).

 

[buckg]

Another dumb question from across the pond... Are crotchets what we Americans would call quarter notes? Is it pronounced the way it's spelled, or is it pronounced like the stitching technique?

 

[MandyH]

Yes, our crotchets are what you call quarter note. And it is sort of pronounced as written, but the middle T is more-or-less swallowed - sort of "cro'chiT" -the final T is definitely pronounced; the ch in the middle is like the ch in chaz or chair; and the e is pronounced more like I than E

Definitely not "croshay" (as in the needle-craft)

if that was any help at all 🙂))

 

[BigMartin]

I like to think in terms of triplet quavers (eighths) and move on every second one: ONE-two-THREE four-FIVE-six etc.

 

[Justin Chune]

Leslie Evans used merrily for quaver triplets and also beautiful for crochet triplets. Where the quaver triplets end with the last note tied to a longer note, as frequently happens, merrily becomes merrilee, and you would make no attempt to count the beat under your foot on the lee. Just feel it and move on.

There's a tune out there called "I Get A Kick" and it has runs of minim triplets. That's three half notes to the bar and Yah da da fits that pattern nicely. We play that particular song with just that sound/feel, so thanks very much for that Tenorviol.

Jim.

 

[Tenor Viol]

I like to think in terms of triplet quavers (eighths) and move on every second one: ONE-two-THREE four-FIVE-six etc.

Apologies - not sure I unbderstand this? If you are playing triplets, the beat is sub-divided into 3 not two. The pattern you are suggesting implies a hemiola i.e. two against an underlying 3 rather than 3 against 2?

 

[Pete C]

If I understand correctly what Big Martin is getting at, then one way to hear accurate crotchet triplets is to count four in then play quaver triplets by tapping a table with your two hands alternately; have a spoon or something in one hand (which you start with) and nothing in the other - the spoon will be playing crotchet triplets. Something shown to me by a drummer.

Pete

 

[BigMartin]

Apologies - not sure I unbderstand this? If you are playing triplets, the beat is sub-divided into 3 not two. The pattern you are suggesting implies a hemiola i.e. two against an underlying 3 rather than 3 against 2?

What I mean is: keep a triplet quaver pulse going in your head. Your triplet crotchets run over two beats --- that's six units in your pulse. Then give each note two units. It's easier to do than to describe! Another way of saying it is : think of it as two lots of triplet quavers with ties from 1 to 2, 3 to 4 and 5 to 6.

And yes, it is like a hemiola using the subdivided time unit. Think "America" from West Side Story.

 

[BigMartin]

If I understand correctly what Big Martin is getting at, then one way to hear accurate crotchet triplets is to count four in then play quaver triplets by tapping a table with your two hands alternately; have a spoon or something in one hand (which you start with) and nothing in the other - the spoon will be playing crotchet triplets. Something shown to me by a drummer.

Pete

I'm not a fan of The Matrix, but I can't resist: "There is no spoon".

 

[Tenor Viol]

If I understand correctly what Big Martin is getting at, then one way to hear accurate crotchet triplets is to count four in then play quaver triplets by tapping a table with your two hands alternately; have a spoon or something in one hand (which you start with) and nothing in the other - the spoon will be playing crotchet triplets. Something shown to me by a drummer.

Pete

Aha - I see what you're getting at :lb:

 

[Tenor Viol]

Thanks - I see what you're saying now.