Duplets
I'm copying a score for easier reading and listening . The latest handout had in a 6/4 bar (bar 9) a minim followed by a crotchet and then two minims braced with a "2", indicating that these two minims have the duration of three crotchets.
Following the instructions of the handbook ends up with two crotchets braced with a "2". Playing it sounds as it should but ??? Does it really matter? If it does matter, how can the two notes in the duplet appear as minims, the same way as in our handout?
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| Jesu, our hope, our heart's desire - K Lee Scott.pdf | 2.94 MB |
Comments
These duplets
![Screenshot 2025-02-16 101347.png]( "Screenshot 2025-02-16 101347.png")
are 2 in the space of 1.5, something MuseScore can't do. It could do 4 in the space of 3 though and these quarters then get changed to minims, but that'd show a 4 , not a 2
But you could to a Ctrl+2 on a dotted mimin (to get 2 in the space of 3), you'd get 2 quarters then. Then change their note head type to half. Looks right, sounds right, but is sort of a fake
If you were copying and wanted as close a visual appearance to the original as possible, I can see the point of going to the effort of making a duplicate but for "I'm copying a score for easier reading and listening" I would just use normal notation. Which of these representations do you find easier to interpret?. Personally, I get more confused by a mix of tuplets and dotted notes in the same measure and prefer the third method particularly as the piece is described as being two slow beats per measure.
![Screenshot_20250216_095831.png]( "Screenshot_20250216_095831.png")
In reply to If you were copying and… by underquark
Thanks gentlemen,
I go with the two crotchets in a duplet, it'll work for me and some others in our quite small choir. There's no publishing involved so some niceties may just be swished under the carpet of unnecessary complications.