Gould Option 2 tuplets

• Aug 21, 2023 - 11:02

How do I format tuplets according to Gould option 2? This is where you use the beaming that's closest to the number natural number of subdivisions what would fill the same time space. For example:
Option 1 - a quintuplet in the space of a dotted crotchet is displayed as 5 quavers.
Option 2 - the same quintuplet is displayed as 5 semiquavers.

The latter is visually more natural when the number of tuplet subdivisions is large and close in number to the equivalent non-tuplet subdivisions.

Richard


Comments

Option 1 is 5 in the space of 3, option 2 is 5 in the space of 6. Both are possible in MuseScore (the latter via a custom tuplet), but generally tuplets squeeze more notes into a duration, not less

In reply to by AndreasKågedal

I don't dispute that. Equally the traditional way to show a quintuplet over a dotted crotchet in 6/8, 9/8 etc is to show 5 semiquavers. Similarly a 15-tuplet or 17-tuplet (see Janáček Mládí) over 4 crotchets as 15 or 17 semiquavers. However the more modern method would be to ensure the first number of the tuplet ratio is always greater than the second and base the tuplets on the second number. In the case of 5:3 one would show quavers and 15:16 one would treat as 15:8 and similarly show as quavers. My argument against the modern or option 1 method of Gould is that it's not as clear for the purposes of sight reading and approximating the rhythm at a glance. However I would never show 3:2 over a crotchet length as anything other than quavers because by convention that's what's expected.

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