# Advice on Duplets



## omc_29 (Aug 3, 2020)

I'm very new to notating and trying to currently notate a piano piece in Sibelius. Can you use Duplets in simple time such as 4 4 to play two notes in the time of three quarter notes?

I have a bar where I want two notes to play in the time of three 8th notes. Its plays back how I want it when using a Duplet in 4 4 in Sibelius. I have also notated it like this which also plays back the same as using a duplet. Which should I use and is either correct or wrong?


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## Mackieguy (Aug 3, 2020)

It’s two dotted eights. Take the third eighth note and and evenly distribute it in to the first two notes as sixteenths. Three eighths = six sixteenths divided by two = 3/16 and 3/16 or dotted 1/8 and dotted 1/8.

Fraction math is fun! (not!) Lol


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## omc_29 (Aug 3, 2020)

Mackieguy said:


> It’s two dotted eights. Take the third eighth note and and evenly distribute it in to the first two notes as sixteenths. Three eighths = six sixteenths divided by two = 3/16 and 3/16 or dotted 1/8 and dotted 1/8.
> 
> Fraction math is fun! (not!) Lol



Thanks for the advice on this. It can get really confusing!!

Think I am getting bit muddled up in trying to understand it all. These both here sound the same played back in Sibelius in 4 4:










So is the second one correct for this?


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## mikeh-375 (Aug 3, 2020)

...in 4/4, to notate 2 even notes in the time of 3 crotchets (1/4 notes) one would write 2 dotted crotchets, not dotted quavers as you have. If you meant 8ths and not quarters then your second example is correct but there is a clearer way of defining the beat. To do that, it might be prudent to write a dotted D quaver and E semiquaver beamed together. This E semiquaver is them tied to an E quaver, followed by a D quaver. That way, the 4/4 beat is more clearly delineated via beaming.


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## omc_29 (Aug 3, 2020)

mikeh-375 said:


> ...in 4/4, to notate 2 even notes in the time of 3 crotchets (1/4 notes) one would write 2 dotted crotchets, not dotted quavers as you have. If you meant 8ths and not quarters then your second example is correct but there is a clearer way of defining the beat. To do that, it might be prudent to write a dotted D quaver and E semiquaver beamed together. This E semiquaver is them tied to an E quaver, followed by a D quaver. That way, the 4/4 beat is more clearly delineated via beaming.



Thanks a lot for this. Sorry did mean 2 even notes in the time of 3 Quavers. So assume that two dotted quavers would be correct for this. 

So instead of this: 






It would be good to instead do this as you suggested:


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## mikeh-375 (Aug 3, 2020)

....both ways are legit, but if you go the way I suggested, you could also make clear the two beats of the bar with the beaming, ie the last 2 quavers can be under a separate beam. This makes the beat even clearer if that's deemed important. If I had to choose one or the other of the above, I'd choose the second option.


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## omc_29 (Aug 3, 2020)

mikeh-375 said:


> ....both ways are legit, but if you go the way I suggested, you could also make clear the two beats of the bar with the beaming, ie the last 2 quavers can be under a separate beam. This makes the beat even clearer if that's deemed important. If I had to choose one or the other of the above, I'd choose the second option.



Ok brilliant. Thanks a lot for your advice on this. So both ways above would be ok and work, but its probably better to notate it the second way to make it clearer to read and the beats more obvious.

I tried to separate the last 2 quavers and make it under a separate beam as you suggest but Sibelius doesn't seem to be allowing me to do it. Might be due to what I've got in the first half of the bar.


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## mikeh-375 (Aug 3, 2020)

....try a re-beam of the whole bar via page3 on the keypad first (select all notes in the bar) and then highlight just the notes on the beat and click the beam start button ( 1st button, 2nd line down).


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## JJP (Aug 3, 2020)

omc_29 said:


> It would be good to instead do this as you suggested:



This is the preferred way, but break the beam between the beats (under the tie) anytime you use 16th notes (semiquavers). It is important to be able to quickly determine where each beat lies to quickly read the subdivisions.


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