Editing Tuplet (section)

{{Short description|Musical note value}}
{{About|the musical term|mathematical concept|Tuple}}
{{Image frame|content=<score sound="1">
\new RhythmicStaff {
   \clef percussion
   \time 4/4
   \set Score.tempoHideNote = ##t \tempo 4 = 80
   c4 \tuplet 3/2 { c8 c c }
   c4 \tuplet 5/4 { c16 c c c c }
   c4
}
</score>|width=300|caption=Rhythm with tuplets: a triplet on the second beat and a quintuplet on the fourth}}

In music, a '''tuplet''' (also '''irrational rhythm''' or '''groupings''', '''artificial division''' or '''groupings''', '''abnormal divisions''', '''irregular rhythm''', '''gruppetto''', '''extra-metric groupings''', or, rarely, '''contrametric rhythm''') is "any [[rhythm]] that involves dividing the [[beat (music)|beat]] into a different number of equal [[divisive rhythm|subdivisions]] from that usually permitted by the [[time signature|time-signature]] (e.g., triplets, duplets, etc.)"{{sfn|Humphries|2002|loc=266}} This is indicated by a number, or sometimes two indicating the fraction involved. The [[Musical note|notes]] involved are also often grouped with a bracket or (in older notation) a [[slur (music)|slur]].

The most common type of tuplet is the triplet.