When I am writing in 3/4 time and I have two notes filling a 3/4 time measure. What is more easier for the musician and correct to write a two dotted quarter notes or two quarter notes in a bracket of 2 (special tuplet)?

In Tchaikovsky piano concerto no.1 after the first cadence he/they wrote the second way.

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    I have two notes in the same time as three notes you mean that you have two notes in a bar? – Shevliaskovic Dec 23 '15 at 11:01
  • Yes, wording error. – Nachmen Dec 23 '15 at 12:23
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    Too short for an answer - but the answer is two dotted quarter notes would be easier for the musician to read than a special tuplet indicated by a bracket and number. – Rockin Cowboy Dec 23 '15 at 14:35
  • In a typical music curriculum, dotted quarters in 3/4 are completely normal. Triplets are kind of an intermediate reading skill, but any tuplet with a number other than 3 is considered advanced. – NReilingh Dec 23 '15 at 18:03

In this case, dotted crotchets would be usual to use. Note that they would only be used when the bar is split in the middle: at any other position, this note value would be split in accordance with the 3/4 beat into tied notes.


Much depends on context. I would find two dotted quarters a bit confusing. The problem is that the underlying pulse is in three but the notation implies two beats. There are two good solutions. First as already suggested, a dotted quarter followed by an eighth tied to a quarter (or a quarter tied to an eighth followed by an eighth tied to a quarter.) The second would be to use a duplet (of quarters probably).

Generally one doesn't want to break the underlying pulse with dotted notes; tied notes indicate the same rhythm but keep the pulse intact. This is important for those not familiar with the music and trying to read it. The appearance of two dotted quarters may give the impression that the underlying pulse has changed to a duple (6/8) rhythm. Compare with the song "America" from "West Side Story" which alternates pulses of three quarters with two dotted quarters.

For the same reason, the common pattern of dividing 4/4 time into eighths grouped as 3+3+2 is usually written as dotted-quarter + eighth-tied-to-quarter + quarter rather than two dotted quarters followed by an eighth. One point is that rhythmic patterns may vary over a constant pulse.

A personal example is in one piece I had written a bass using a 3+3+2 division of a measure with a treble divided as 1+2+2+1+2 (eighth, quarter, quarter, eighth, quarter). I found it easier to write the bass as dotted-quarter + eighth-tied-to-quarter + quarter and the treble as eighth, quarter, eighth-tied-to-eighth, eighth, quarter than using all dotted quarters in the bass and not splitting the quarter in the treble. Other voices had an essentially 4/4 rhythm.


Assuming you mean two equal value notes filling a full bar of 3/4 time, two dotted crotchets would be fine. Or, a crotchet tied to a quaver, followed by a quaver tied to a crotchet. (Crotchet = 1/4 note, quaver = 1/8 note). Most readers would find either simpler to read than a 'tuplet'.


It varies a bit. Dotted crochets are usual and normally the most appropriate, but, if the two beats are further (and consistently) subdivided in two, four, eight, etc., you might consider bracketed tuplets, or even, if the principal voices switch over to duple time for a long enough period, a change of meter with "← ♩. = ♩ →" over the bar line.

There isn't really a black-and-white answer here: there is a continuum of what makes for a readable solution, depending on how the duplets are subdivided (in twos or in threes), how often the duplets show up, and whether the duplets extend to one, several or all voices.

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