Is the "down beat" quaver note in a swing piece the same length as a crotchet triplet?
In 4/4 time, when 8th notes are swung the 1st quaver in the beat becomes longer than the second quaver and depending on how much the piece is swung the second quaver gets shorter as the 1st quaver of the beat gets longer. If a piece is swung at 100% by definition, or at least the way I have understood it, the 1st quaver is now twice as long as the second quaver of the beat and in my DAW when I set this up I also notice that the 1st quaver becomes exactly as long as a crotchet triplet. Is this correct?
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Basically, yes, in reality, seldom. For written purposes, it works. Some research has been done on tunes and players that swing, and it's been found that it's not 66/33, but, from memory, maybe 62/38 or thereabouts. And the proportions vary between faster and slower songs. Looked it up - can't locate it. That would be pretty difficult to write on the staves!
What it's not is a dotted crotchet followed by a quaver. That's taking the proportions too far: 75/25.
That apart, I believe it's not an exact proportion throughout a song, or indeed from player to player. Big question is - if it was an exact proportion, how could it be written?
EDIT: Google 'Can this even be called music?' for an interesting explanation of 'swing feel'.
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