Triple metre (or triple meter, also known as triple time) is a musical
metre characterized by a primary division of 3 beats to the bar, usually indicated by 3 (simple) or 9 (compound) in the upper figure of the
time signature, with 3/4 and 9/8 being the most common examples. The upper figure being divisible by three does not of itself indicate triple metre; for example, a time signature of 6/8 usually indicates
compound duple metre, and the 12/8 sections of
Beethoven's
Missa Solemnis are compound double with a primary division of four to the bar.
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