compound time

…component beats into three produces compound time:

Compound metres are also duple (6/8, 6/16), triple (9/8), or quadruple (12/8) but have time signatures that indicate the number of beats to be a multiple of three. Thus, in 6/8, for example, both beats of the basic duple division are divisible into three subunits,…

By comparison, compound metres (e.g., duple, as in 6/8 or 6/16, or triple, as in 9/8) have time signatures that indicate the number of beats to be a multiple of three. When measures contain an uneven number of beats falling regularly into two subgroups, the division may…