Jesu, Joy and Triplets
Two layers at once: a river of triplets that never stops, wrapped around a slow, simple hymn. Learn to feel and count triplets, see why 4/4 with triplets and 12/8 sound the same, and hear counterpoint, two independent lines that fit together, the way Bach set an old chorale inside new music in Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring.
In this lesson you'll
- Feel and count triplets, three notes in the time of two ("1 trip let"), and clap them against a steady beat.
- Write the same flowing rhythm two ways: 4/4 with a triplet sign over each group of three, or 12/8, four beats of three eighth notes.
- Play a triplet arpeggio over G – C – D – G and layer your own slow tune on top, one long chord tone per bar.
Music in this lesson
- Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring (from the cantata Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben, BWV 147)Johann Sebastian Bach · 1723
- Werde munter, mein Gemüte (the hymn tune)Johann Schop · 1642
- Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring (piano arrangement)Myra Hess · 1926
Remember
A triplet splits the beat into three equal notes instead of two; swing (lesson 29) lives on the same grid, and it sets three against two, like the hemiola of lesson 31.
4/4 with triplets and 12/8 sound the same: 12/8 simply makes the groups of three the normal pulse.
Counterpoint is two independent lines that fit together: fast triplets against a slow chorale line, each long note a tone of the chord underneath; a plain chorale puts the tune on top with one chord per note.