Music notation containing a lot of tuplets will often drop tuplet numbers after the first few occurrences of tuplets when the rhythmic interpretation without the number remains clear. Below is an example of omitted triplet numbers in the first movement of Beethoven’s moonlight sonata. Only the first measure contains visible tuplet numbers, and subsequent triplets are not marked:
To turn off tuplet numbers in a Humdrum **kern spine, add the
tandem interpretation *Xtuplet somewhere in front of the first
note of a tuplet that should have a suppressed number. To start
displaying visual tuplet numbers again in the same spine, add
the tandem interpretation *tuplet.
Try moving or adding *tuplet/*Xtuplet interpretations in the above
Humdrum data to see how this affects the music notation on the right.
Tuplet-styling with MusicXML import
The *tuplet/*Xtuplet interpretations can be extracted from MusicXML data when converting into
Humdrum data. Attach any text expression starting with a * to a note or rest, and it will be inserted
a tandem interpretation before the note. Below is an example of editing music in MuseScore, where
tuplet numbers are turned off and the on again:
This MusicXML file dragged-and-dropped into VHV will produce the following Humdrum data that preserves embedded tandem interpretations controlling the tuplet number styling.
Positioning tuplet numbers
The tuplet number can be adjusted above or below the staff by using a layout command immediately preceding the note that is at the beginning of a tuplet group.