Re: Not a duration. Why not?

[Boris Shingarov]

On Sun, 25 Apr 2010 17:31:42  0000 (UTC), Trevor Skeggs  wrote:

>     Why should 3 not be a valid duration, mid-way between 2 and 4?
 >     (It would have the same value as a dotted 4).
 >
 >     After all, if the program is going to the trouble of weeding-out
 >     these values and printing an error message, it may just as well
 >     substitute the code for a dotted 4 !
 
No, 3 may not substitute a dotted 4, because a dotted 4 is a longer
duration than a 3.  If 1 means a whole note ("semibreve"), 2 means
half of whole note, 4 means quarter, then 3 should mean one third
(triplet minim).  It is different in duration, and musically sounds
different, from a dotted crotchet.
 
>     Similarly, 6 should be a valid code equivalent to a dotted eigth-note.
 
Again, 6 logically should mean a triplet crotchet.  It sounds very
different from a dotted quaver.
 
As to why 3 and 6 produce an error message, I have no idea.  I'd
logically/intuitively expect them to be valid codes standing for a
triplet minim and a triplet crotchet, respectively.