Twelve-eight time
Twelve eighth notes per bar in four groups of three. It sounds like a 4/4 bar in which each beat is divided into triplets.
- Time signature
- 12/8
- Leading beats
- 4, each a dotted quarter note
- Stress
- strong – weak – medium – weak
- Kind
- compound metre
- Counterpart
- 4/4 with triplets
Twelve-eight time is the “triplet” form of 4/4 time: instead of four quarter notes there are four dotted quarter notes, and each of these beats divides into three eighth notes instead of two. You count “1 2 3, 4 5 6, 7 8 9, 10 11 12” or, when it gets faster, in four beats.
Four groups of three eighth notes
The figure consists of broken triads, three eighth notes each. The four leading beats are marked in the first bar and at the start of the second. The first and third leading beats, that is, eighth notes 1 and 7, are the stronger ones, like one and three in 4/4 time.
12/8 or 4/4 with triplets?
Both ways of writing sound the same. Twelve-eight time saves the triplet signs because the division in threes is already in the time signature. That makes the notation calmer, above all in long passages with broken chords or rocking rhythms. In 4/4, by contrast, the triplet remains the exception to the division in twos.
| Comparison | 4/4 with triplets | 12/8 |
|---|---|---|
| Beats per bar | 4 quarter notes | 4 dotted quarter notes |
| Division of each beat | 3 eighth-note triplets | 3 eighth notes |
| Notation | triplet figure 3 over the groups | no triplets needed |
Stress
As in 4/4 time the beats are weighted differently: the first leading beat is the strongest, the third carries a secondary accent, the second and fourth are weak. The two eighth notes within each group are lighter still. If you hear the four beats clearly, you keep a good grip on the music, even if the eighth notes above run very fast.
Twelve-eight time in the sheet music archive
The Schubert song in the sheet music archive is in 12/8 time. You find the time signature right on the first page beside the key signature. Because the voice rests for a long time, you can follow there especially well how the piano carries the time signature.
Voice and piano
-
Die junge Nonne Franz Schubert, voice and piano, with chords for guitar · 7 pages
The start of the piano part is in 12/8 with four flats in the key signature, above it “Mässig.” (German for “moderately”). The voice rests in the first eight bars with whole rests and enters only at the end of bar 9; the piano plays moving figures in small note values there.
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Related terms
Compound metreFour-four timeSix-eight timeNine-eight timeTripletTime signatureBar / measure
Editor: Maik Krohm · reviewed on 3 October 2026
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