Sextuple metre (Am. meter) or sextuple time (chiefly British) is a musical

metre The metre ( British spelling) or meter ( American spelling; see spelling differences) (from the French unit , from the Greek noun , "measure"), symbol m, is the primary unit of length in the International System of Units (SI), though its p ...

characterized by six beats in a measure. Like the more common duple,

triple Triple is used in several contexts to mean "threefold" or a "treble": Sports * Triple (baseball), a three-base hit * A basketball three-point field goal * A figure skating jump with three rotations * In bowling terms, three strikes in a row * In ...

, and quadruple metres, it may be

simple Simple or SIMPLE may refer to: * Simplicity, the state or quality of being simple Arts and entertainment * ''Simple'' (album), by Andy Yorke, 2008, and its title track * "Simple" (Florida Georgia Line song), 2018 * "Simple", a song by John ...

, with each beat divided in half, or

compound Compound may refer to: Architecture and built environments * Compound (enclosure), a cluster of buildings having a shared purpose, usually inside a fence or wall ** Compound (fortification), a version of the above fortified with defensive struct ...

, with each beat divided into thirds. The most common

time signature The time signature (also known as meter signature, metre signature, or measure signature) is a notational convention used in Western culture, Western musical notation to specify how many beat (music), beats (pulses) are contained in each measu ...

s for simple sextuple metre are and , and compound sextuple metre is most often written in or . A time signature of or , however, does not necessarily mean that the bar is a sextuple metre with each beat divided into three. It may, for example, be used to indicate a bar of triple metre in which each beat is subdivided into six parts.Read 1964, 152. In this case, the metre is sometimes characterized as "triple sextuple time". Such a division of time may be encountered more frequently in the

Baroque period The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including ...

: for example, variation 26 of the

Goldberg Variations The ''Goldberg Variations'', BWV 988, is a musical composition for keyboard by Johann Sebastian Bach, consisting of an aria and a set of 30 variations. First published in 1741, it is named after Johann Gottlieb Goldberg, who may also h ...

Johann Sebastian Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the ''Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard wo ...

has in one hand against in the other, exchanging hands at intervals until the last five bars where both hands are in . Using for both hands would result in continuous sextuplets. Sextuple metre should not be confused with the similarly notated compound duple metre. While both are notated with time signatures that have 6 as the top number, the former has six beats to a bar, while the latter has two beats to a bar. When is used to signify sextuple metre, often the words "in six" or the equivalent in other languages are used to clarify the metre. An example of a piece in true sextuple time is

Charles-Valentin Alkan Charles-Valentin Alkan (; 30 November 1813 – 29 March 1888) was a French Jewish composer and virtuoso pianist. At the height of his fame in the 1830s and 1840s he was, alongside his friends and colleagues Frédéric Chopin and Franz Li ...

's ''Barcarolette'' in

E minor E minor is a minor scale based on E, consisting of the pitches E, F, G, A, B, C, and D. Its key signature has one sharp. Its relative major is G major and its parallel major is E major. The E natural minor scale is: : Changes nee ...

, No. 12 of his ''49 Esquisses'', which is in compound sextuple time ().. Paris. Simon Richault, n.d.(ca.1862). Plate 13476.R.

References

* Bach, Johann Sebastian. 1968. ''The Musical Offering ndThe "Goldberg Variations"''. Kalmus Study Scores no. 720. .p. Edwin F. Kalmus, Publisher of Music. Reprinted Melville, NY: Belwin Mills Publishing Corp. * Read, Gardner. 1964. ''Music Notation: A Manual of Modern Practice''. Boston: Allyn and Bacon, Inc. European rhythm Time signatures {{music-theory-stub

See also

References