Musicians, can you help me understand this bar from a score?

Cafe Society
1

This passage comes from Ludovico Roncalli’s Guitar Prelude in C-Major, and it’s in 4/4.

Now–ignoring my ballpoint scribblings of added notes–look at beats 1 and 2 of the measure. The bass E and G# are on the 1 and 2 beats; the time for those beats in the treble is occupied by sixteenth rests and notes. But why is there a triplet mark in the second beat of the measure? Shouldn’t that have been used, in this instance, only if the transcriber wanted to eliminate the rest and have you sound three notes in the treble beginning at the time you sound the G#?

Is that musically valid or is it an editor’s error?

2

That’s not a triplet. A triplet needs a bendy line (forgot the term) above it. Note that on the left hand there is also a 4 marked. I would take this to indicate that you are to change fingers to play that particular note. Usually done if the fingering is not in the traditional finger order.

3

Looks like an error to me. The sixteenth rest at the beginning of beat two plus the three sixteenths (without the triplet mark) equal one beat.

4

Missed the edit window - either the the triplet mark is incorrect, or if the the triplet is correct, then the sixteenth rest at the beginning of beat two should be an eighth rest.

5

I agree with Caught@Work, the 3 is a fingering notation. A triplet indication would be in italics.

6

The ‘4’ is indeed a finger marking, telling you to use the fourth (pinkie) finger of your fretting hand to play the note. It has nothing to do with the time.

7

Another vote for the 3 is a finger marking rather than marking triplets.

8

You probably mean a slur (same appearance as a tie), but a triplet does not need that to make it a triplet, since a slur can be confused with a phrase mark (it looks the same). The modern notation is to use the beam as the note link, if obvious, or a “square slur” with a “3” in the middle if a beam cannot be used.

My interpretation of the sample is the “3” is a fingering mark or something else, not a triplet notation, or else a mistake. It would help to see the rest of the music sheet to compare fonts used for various purposes.

9

I think the similarity in appearance with the 4 which is obviously a fingering mark fairly conclusively indicates that the 3 is also a fingering mark.

So, to answer your original post: yes, it is musically valid. It just isn’t a triplet.

10

Ah, now I see, it is a finger marking. You would most likely use your ring finger to play the D above high C, if you were holding the low G# with the pinkie.

I don’t know how I missed that; I’m very familiar with this music. On the other hand I don’t like the arrangement in this part, so that may be one reason. The scribbled notes I added were an attempt to make it sound more like a recording that I have.

11

Agree with the above - note that triplet indications in traditional engraving such as this normally use an italic font.