Triple metre (or Am. triple meter, also known as triple time) is a musical metre characterized by a ''primary'' division of 3 beats to the

bar Bar or BAR may refer to: Food and drink * Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages * Candy bar * Chocolate bar Science and technology * Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment * Bar (tropical cyclone), a layer of cloud * Bar (u ...

, usually indicated by 3 ( simple) or 9 ( compound) in the upper figure of the time signature, with , , and being the most common examples. The upper figure being divisible by three does not of itself indicate triple metre; for example, a time signature of usually indicates compound duple metre, and similarly usually indicates compound quadruple metre. Shown below are a simple and a compound triple drum pattern. \new Staff << \new voice \relative c' \new voice \relative c'' >> \new Staff << \new voice \relative c' \new voice \relative c'' >>

Stylistic differences

In popular music, the metre is most often quadruple,Schroedl, Scott (2001). ''Play Drums Today!'', p. 42. Hal Leonard. . but this does not mean that triple metre does not appear. It features in a good amount of music by artists such as

The Chipmunks Alvin and the Chipmunks, originally David Seville and the Chipmunks or simply The Chipmunks, are an American animated virtual band and media franchise first created by Ross Bagdasarian for novelty records in 1958. The group consists of three s ...

Louis Armstrong Louis Daniel Armstrong (August 4, 1901 – July 6, 1971), nicknamed "Satchmo", "Satch", and "Pops", was an American trumpeter and vocalist. He was among the most influential figures in jazz. His career spanned five decades and several era ...

or Bob Dylan. In jazz, this and other more adventurous metres have become more common since

Dave Brubeck David Warren Brubeck (; December 6, 1920 – December 5, 2012) was an American jazz pianist and composer. Often regarded as a foremost exponent of cool jazz, Brubeck's work is characterized by unusual time signatures and superimposing contrasti ...

's album ''

Time Out Time-out, Time Out, or timeout may refer to: Time * Time-out (sport), in various sports, a break in play, called by a team * Television timeout, a break in sporting action so that a commercial break may be taken * Timeout (computing), an enginee ...

''.Smith, Hedrick; Hackel, Clif
"Brubeck's Trademark Style: Odd Time Signatures, Polyrhythms and Polytonality"
PBS:Rediscovering Dave Brubeck Released 16 December 2001 Retrieved March 14, 2017 One noteworthy example of a jazz classic that employs triple metre is John Coltrane's version of " My Favorite Things". Triple time is common in formal dance styles, for example the

sarabande The sarabande (from es, zarabanda) is a dance in triple metre, or the music written for such a dance. History The Sarabande evolved from a Spanish dance with Arab influences, danced by a lively double line of couples with castanets. A dance cal ...

, the minuet, the

mazurka The mazurka (Polish: ''mazur'' Polish ball dance, one of the five Polish national dances and ''mazurek'' Polish folk dance') is a Polish musical form based on stylised folk dances in triple meter, usually at a lively tempo, with character de ...

, the waltz and others. Triple metre is rare in national anthems – the national anthems of Austria, the United Kingdom,

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

, and the United States being four notable exceptions.

Sources

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