Damian Oxborough writes:

>As far as X/3 time signatures are concerned, non of the technical postings
>I've read have made any sense at all.

Most of them have not, but unfortunately the following excerpts from your
post do not, either.  (In advance, please take no personal offense.):)

>If a "2" is a quantity of minims an  a "4" is a quantity of crotchet,
>then surely X/3 indicates a quantity of dotted-crotchets per bar.

Think of it mathematically.  Time-values of notes and time signatures are
all fractions.  1, or 1/1 or 4/4, etc., has the value of a whole note, 1/4
has one quarter the value of a whole note, 1/8 has one-eighth the value
of a whole note, and 1/3 has the value of...  Now at this, thousands of
learned musicians cry foul!  "There is no such thing as a third note!"
they sputter, with righteous indignation.  Well, don't call it a third note
then, although that's what a triplet-half note (NOT a dotted-quarter) _is_.
If this is understood, then we see why the remainder of the paragraph does
not relate.  X/3 indicates X triplet-half notes to a bar, useful in some
mixed-time scenarios.  In attempting to notate a passage that has, say, 3
dotted-crotchets per bar with the main emphasis on the first of those,
>this problem is overcome by using a 9/8 time signature.  snip

>Triplets do not come into the argument of time signatures at all,

There is no musical reason they cannot, only a notational one, which is
really no problem at all.  (See below).

>simply because they are designed to indicate rhythms and measures that go
>against the grain of the general pulse (ie.  3 notes where only 2 pulses
>occur).  The only reason triplets are effective in the first place is
>because the pulse they are placed over runs at a different rate.

If triplets appear in groups of three as we are accustomed to seeing
and hearing, then there is no call for a mixed or compound time signature.
(I am using the term triplet to refer to a single note and not the entire
group.) But if your time signature is, again, 4/4, (equal to "1" or a
whole note) and you want a intersperse measures lasting two triplet-half
notes, the time signature for those measures ought to be, and is, 2/3, or
two-thirds the value of a whole note.  And how to notate that measure?
Since triplet half notes are notated as half notes, bracketed with a "3",
just use half note notation for third notes, quarter note notation for
sixth notes, and so forth.  The time signature makes it clear what the
duration of each beat is.

>It hardly seems sensible trying to indicate this in a time signature
>(and again, if you were to try to do so, you would end up with a compound
>signature, that is if you were trying to make things simple for the
>performer.)

A change of tempo seems to be the only other literal way to indicate
interspersed triplets that do not appear in groups of three.  Hardly seems
logical, since we are talking about a rhythmic device.  Congrats to Messrs.
Maroney and Schmidt for understanding this issue.  The Soundgarden example
was particularly interesting, if you can find out what the title of the
song actually is I'd like to know.  I'm looking into the Stockhausen.

Michael Cooper
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