Duplet and quadruplet · Tuplets · Music theory
In compound meters the beat divides into three, and here it is the other way round: the special group is the one of two or of four. A duplet is two notes…
Duplet and quadruplet
In compound meters the beat divides into three, and here it is the other way round: the special group is the one of two or of four. A duplet is two notes in the place of three and a quadruplet, four in the place of three.
In 6/8, an eighth-note duplet fills a dotted quarter, like the three normal eighths, and each note lasts an eighth and a half.
A duplet is not a dotted eighth written differently
In 6/8, a duplet sounds exactly like two dotted eighths. Some authors prefer that spelling, others the number: it is a notational choice. The number, however, makes clear that the meter is still triple and that the feeling of two is momentary.