triplets are three notes per beat equal distance...but what about 5 notes


what is the term used for 5 notes of equal distance?


and why are triplets so popular as a term and 5 notes are not?


thanks

 

This might help you (quintuplet is the term you are looking for)

https://musictheory.pugetsound.edu/mt21c/Tuplets.html

 

That's because if you combine triplets on top of "normal" 4/4 beats, you get four chunks, each divided into 3, for a total of 12 equal chunks. This is quite a magic number for many reasons, and it's what makes 3 against 4 polyrhytms sound good.

From a math point of view, you can use any division, so 5 and 6 and 7 are all fine. They all create their own effects. You can use unequal divisions too, which create their own effects.

Sticking to equal divisions gives your sequence a feeling like it's flowing along nicely. Using unequal divisions can break that feeling just a little (and then it's called "groovy") or it can break the feeling a lot, getting disjointed, which is cool in its own ways sometimes.

 

I think quintuplets will have a day far far into the future. There's a Leonard Bernstein YT on 'music theory in 5 minutes', and he demonstrates how we the human race have aqcuired a taste for more and more "dissonant" chords, over a really long period of time. I think it will translate to rhythm but it will be a really Really long time.

 

It sounds so good when they eventually sync. Dissonance is like the new tension of call and response.
We desensitized ourselves to tension and now need the chaos of dissonance. People have such beautiful minds.
So cool when it syncs.