The Balinese word telu means three, and the common feature of all kotekan telu figuration is the use of three adjacent tones that function as a unit or cell around the pokok tone. One of the three tones within the cell will always land on the pokok at the unison or octave; as with other kotekan forms, this normally occurs either on every beat or every other beat (always the stronger ones). Although the cell may shift to a different position in the scale in order to follow the pokok melody, the first few examples will deal only with those that remain stationary, so that their inner structure may be revealed.

Within this cell of three tones, the division into sangsih and polos always involves sharing the middle tone, which serves as a kind of pivot-point between the two parts. One of the parts will oscillate between the two higher tones, and the other between the two lower tones. Figure 7 illustrates a common form of kotekan telu, which appears in the last section of the masked-dance piece Jauk

In this case the pokok, itself a simple alternation between tones, is met on every beat by the kotekan - on the primary downbeats by the polos part, and on the secondary beats by the sangsih. So while neither part is completely on or off the beat, each has an overall metric orientation in one or the other direction. The pivot tone in this kotekan always falls just before each beat, adding a slight accentuation and syncopation to the overall rhythmic flow.

More important, however, in understanding kotekan structure is the composition of each of the parts on a molecular level. In figure 7 each part is made up of only three elements: a single note, a single rest, or a pair of adjacent tones, combined in such a way as to yield the resultant figuration. In fact every kotekan is made up almost exclusively of these elements, with the occasional use of a three-note group. One reason for the prevalence of these simple units, clear to any performer of kotekan, is that they yield the most easily playable pattern, which can be combined to form any kind of figuration. For example, four successive tones in one part would become exceedingly difficult to play at a fast tempo (three already taxes the upper tempo limit of most players). Two successive non-adjacent tones would create a difficult leap, and likewise two successive rests would put an awkward pause in the part. Either of these would interrupt the fluid motion of the arm which is so critical in playing kotekan.

From another perspective these elements can be said to constitute the fundamental building blocks of the language of kotekan, just as the binary bits of 0 and 1 (on or off) are the smallest units in a digital computer language. In both cases a small array of building blocks can produce a large vocabulary of possible combinations.

Keeping the same two-note pokok melody, the elements in figure 7 could be rearranged into a slightly different sequence, resulting in a different kotekan telu pattern (figure 8).

The relationship to the pokok remains the same; only the sequence of notes between the beats has changed, shifting as well the metric position of the common pivot tone. Yet the difference in patterning is clearly audible, even at the fastest tempos.

If the pokok melody were somewhat different, alternating between two adjacent tones, a different kotekan telu would be used to elaborate it (figure 9).

Here the polos part makes use of a three-note unit. The polos part now hits the pokok on every beat, while the sangsih joins it on every other beat. Another interesting aspect of this kotekan is that the common tone does not fall in the same position within every beat, as in the previous examples. Instead this pivot tone, with the accentuation gained by being struck by all eight gangsa, forms its own rhythmic pattern as indicated by the arrows. It functions in a sense as a third rhythm "superimposed" on the two patterns of sangsih and polos, except that it arises through the interaction of the two parts rather than the addition of another. The possibility of a third rhythm emerging out of the kotekan is exploited fully in kotekan empat, discussed below.

Sometimes the musical context will dictate that the pokok falls on the high tone of the three-note cell. In such cases the kotekan may be an inversion of one in which the pokok is on the low tone; this can be seen by comparing figures 8 and 10. If the middle tone of the cell may fall on the pokok, a similar rearrangement of these patterns would produce a suitable kotekan (figure 11).

At this point it becomes clear that similar or identical two-beat patterns emerge in different kotekan parts. For example, the polos (lower) part of figure 9 is the same, transposed, as the sangsih (upper) part of figure 11; likewise with the higher and lower parts of figures 9 and 10, respectively. As more complex forms of kotekan are examined, similar patterns will be frequently encountered.

Figure 12, from the dance piece Gabor, shows a pokok melody that is four beats in length. Since it spans more than a three-note range, the three-note cell of the kotekan must shift one tone up or down the scale in order to follow it. As can be seen from the contour of the figuration from one beat to the next, the process gives more an impression of "leading" the melody than of "following" it. Each pokok tone is anticipated by the motion of the kotekan. The polos, generated from the current pokok tone and the one that will follow, is combined with the sangsih so that groups of three notes (indicated by brackets) form before each pokok tone and always lead into that tone. The anticipations tend to fall at two points, three sixteenths and six sixteenths before the next pokok tone is struck.  The placement of the sangsih may be either above or below the polos, depending on the motion of the pokok melody: the sangsih tends to fill in above the polos if the pokok moves downward, and below if it moves upward. In other words, it tends to trail the polos in such a way as to weave the figuration around the melody rather than remaining consistently on one side of it. In this way the internal patterning of the kotekan reflects both the shape and direction of the pokok melody.

Figure 13 shows another example of this particular form of kotekan telu, where the melody is predominantly step-wise motion up the scale. It is from the introductory section of Teruna Jaya, in the version used by many groups in south and central Bali. The shift in the kotekan, at the point when the melody changes direction, is more pronounced after the steady climb up the scale.

The frequent appearance of three-note groups in the composite figuration, as seen in figures l2 and 13, is found in many other forms as well, and is a characteristic feature of the rhythmic organization of Balinese music. When extended over several beats this figuration forms a counter-rhythm to the ongoing subdivision of four notes to a beat. Figure 14 shows a simple form of this pattern.

The three against four cross-rhythm functions so that the pattern repeats itself every three beats. (This is also the simplest example of a figuration which is a compressed version of the melody it elaborates, as the brackets on the pokok indicate.) However, most Balinese music is in quadruple meter - that is, it tends to be oriented towards four-beat divisions within a phrase, with the main punctuating gong and jegogan tones falling on every second or fourth beat, or a multiple of four beats. The three against four cross-rhythm shown above is usually arranged to fit into that metric framework. Figure 15 illustrates a typical pattern of this type over a four-beat melody.

Over an eight-beat phrase with a more elaborate pokok melody, the kotekan of figure 16 is often heard. The cycling of the three-note group gives the figuration its rhythmic impetus, as it falls on different parts of the beat with each successive repetition.