Lesson 4.3 - Duplets

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You should already know that triplets are 3 notes played in the space of 2. Duplets are simply 2 notes played in the space of 3 and are shown by placing a bracketed two above the relevant notes. 

This would be quite useful if you needed to convert a piece from simple time into compound time.

For example, if you were asked to convert this 4/4 rhythm into compound time

it would become

The duplets in this example occur where two notes are played in the space of where you would normally find three. Remember in 12/8 time a beat normally contains 3 quavers. If you only have 2 notes in a beat - a duplet sign is needed.

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