Music theory online : time signatures and meter lesson 4

music theory online : time signatures and meter

lesson 4

Dr. Brian Blood

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Music and silence .. combine strongly because music is done with silence, and silence is full of music.

Marcel Marceau (1923- ) French mime

Time Signature and Meter :: Unusual Time Signatures and Hypermeasures :: Mensuration

Common Time & Alla Breve/Cut Time :: Changing Time Signatures :: The Whole Bar Rest :: Incomplete Bars :: Ametric Music

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Time Signature and Meter ::

Where we divide time into various units of measurement (hours, minutes, seconds), so we divide music into beats. You can think of the

beat as the 'pulse' of the music. The association of music with 'dance' is central to much of Western music and demonstrates how

responsive we are to repetitive rhythmic patterns. Dancers require that dance music be regular. It should neither speed up nor slow down.

This is best achieved by imitating the dancers' steps in the rhythm of the musical line. The shape or pattern of the step sequences finds itself

reflected in the pattern of strong and weak beats in the accompanying music. A march, for example, imitates the 'left-right' pattern of the

marchers' steps - the meter comprises two beats; the first strong and the second weak. By convention, the first beat in a bar is usually the

strongest.

Bar

Pattern of Beats or Meter

Pattern over Four Bars

1 beat bar

Strong

1: S | S | S | S |

2 beat bar

Strong Weak

2: S W | S W | S W | S W |

3 beat bar

Strong Medium Weak

3: S M W | S M W | S M W | S M W |

4 beat bar

Strong Weak Medium Weak

4: S W M W | S W M W | S W M W | S W M W

6 beat bar

Strong Medium Weak Strong Medium Weak

6: S M W S M W | S M W S M W | S M W S M W | S M W S M W

The regularity of the meter is imposed on the musical line by using a regular number of beats in each bar but we have to choose which note

sign is going to be the beat.

The time signature is written as two numbers, one set above the other, usually placed immediately before the first note. The upper

number tell us the number of beats in a bar. The lower number tells us which note sign is to represent the beat.

Some examples are explained below.

Time Signature Description

Beat Time

Duration

Explanation

2

1

two beats in the bar

the beat is a semibreve (whole

note)

a bar contains 2 times 1/1 (semibreve=a whole

note)

3

2

three beats in the bar

the beat is a minim (half note)

a bar contains 3 times 1/2 (minim=a half note)

4

4

four beats in the bar

the beat is a crotchet (quarter

note)

a bar contains 4 times 1/4 (crotchet=a quarter

note)

6

8

six beats in the bar

the beat is a quaver (eighth note)

a bar contains 6 times 1/8 (quaver=an eighth

note)

eleven beats in the bar

the beat is a semiquaver

(sixteenth note)

a bar contains 11 times 1/16 (semiquaver=a

sixteenth note)

11

16

Bar Time

Duration

A bar may be made up of notes and/or rests. We give some examples below which demonstrate the use of notes and rests to complete

bars. In each case the total number of beats in a bar reflects that expected from the time signature.

Lesson 15 discusses in detail how to distinguish simple time/simple meter and compound time/compound meter.

Click here to read about how we 'say' or 'vocalise' time signatures. When we write them as text, for example when writing about time

signatures, time signatures are generally written with the top number separated from the bottom by a slash, like a fraction, e.g. 3/4.

The time signatures we have discussed above are examples of what in music is termed divisive rhythm, a rhythm in which a larger period

of time is divided into smaller rhythmic units.

While time signatures usually have no particular connotation as time signatures, experience shows that certain signatures are associated

with certain tempi and particular musical forms. We give a summary below.

Time signature Associated information

1

1

used very rarely, several times by Edward Elgar in several of his studies

2

usually used instead of 2/2, the mark, as applied up to the mid-eighteenth century, is

employed in music that is very slow and also in music that is extremely fast. Hotteterre, who

points out that the marking is never found in Italian music, recommends the use of

supplementary signs to distinguish the slow from the quick. For example, the markings alla

cappella or alla breve indicate an exceeedingly fast 2-in-a-bar tempo

2

1

cut time or alla breve, used for marches, sometimes marked

2

2

cut time, alla breve or 'in 2', sometimes marked

used for marches and fast orchestral music, and frequently occurs in musical theatre

3

an alternative to 3/4, usually signifying a quicker tempo although Hotteterre (1719) indicates

that music in 3 might be very slow or sometimes very fast

3

2

also known as double triple or major triple, because its pulse should be twice as slow as that of

ordinary triple time (i.e. 3/4), the meter is usually taken in three slow beats

4

2

alla breve, rare in music since 1600, although Brahms used it occasionally. Marpurg (writing in

about 1755) informs us that "this metre is used only in counterpoint and fugues"

2

4

used for polkas or marches. About its use in pre-mid-eighteenth century music, Choquel

(1759) writes that the meter is used for music that is neither too slow nor too fast; in other

words, the speed is generally moderato

3

4

used for waltzes, minuets and scherzi and country & western ballads. In pre-mid-eighteenthcentury French music, 3/4 signifies music that is neither too fast nor too slow.

4

4

common time widely used in classical music; the usual time signature in rock, jazz, country,

and bluegrass, and most modern pop or dance music. 4/4 was rarely used before the mideighteenth century, when the standard symbol for four beats in a bar was

. Hotteterre

(1719) informs us that common time metre is suitable for Preludes or first movements of

Sonatas, Allemandes, Adagios, Fugues, etc. but not Airs de Ballet

5

4

used for Dave Brubeck's Take Five and the original versions of the theme from

Mission:Impossible 1. It is also used in classical music by Gustav Holst in Mars from The

Planets; usually grouped as 3+2 or 2+3

6

4

in pre-mid-eighteenth century French music, sometimes called 'the meter of six slow beats'.

Although originally used in slow music (and seldom found in Italian music), it was used later

for lively buoyant airs and particularly for Reprises in French baroque opera

7

4

used for numerous Genesis songs, Money by Pink Floyd (see also 7/8 below) and The

Unsquare Dance by Dave Brubeck

9

4

in pre-mid-eighteenth-century French music, suitable for music with three slow beats in each

bar, neither too slow nor too fast

12

4

Brossard (1703) writes that this meter "is suitable for tender, affectionate kinds of expression,

and sometimes for lively and animated kinds". Other writers indicate that the meter is

performed with four beats to the bar, but gravely, each beat having three crotchets (quarter

notes) or the equivalent

2

8

as applied to pre-mid-eighteenth century music, the marking 2/8 is usually to be thought of as

a metre of one rapid beat, suitable for Tambourins and other pieces of like character

3

8

or minor triple, as applied to pre-mid-eighteenth century music, generally very quick, twice as

fast as music in 3/4

4

8

as applied to pre-mid-eighteenth century music, although sometimes used in place of 2/4, the

marking 4/8 is usually to be thought of as a metre of two rapid beats

6

8

used for light, double and triple jigs, fast waltzes or marches. In general, music in 6/8 is taken

at a faster speed than music in 6/4 and is most commonly felt as two beats to the bar

7

8

the sheet music for Money by Pink Floyd shows a predominant time signature of 7/4 (simple

septuple). David Gilmour, the guitarist, states it as being 7/8 on the documentary, The Making

of The Dark Side of the Moon. Most rock music is in 4/4, or common time, and most of the

exceptions are in 3/4 or a similar triple meter. During the guitar solo the song changes to 4/4,

then returns to 7/4, then ends in 4/4 again. This was done because David Gilmour thought it

would be too complicated to write the solo in seven beat form. Critics have commented that

the change in dynamic (maintaining tempo but changing from seven beats to the bar to 8

beats making the song feel quicker) is one of the track's strengths

9

8

compound triple time, used today rarely although it occurs in Dukas' The Sorcerer's Apprentice

and in traditional slip and hop jigs. It appeared in late seventeenth-century France as a meter

that is to be taken half as fast again as its parallel 9/4, and was thought suitable particularly

for gigues

12

8

common in blues and doo-wop, as well as some traditional single jigs or slides. In the

eighteenth-century the 12/8 metre was taken in 4, with three quavers (eighth notes) to each

beat. In the opinion of Brossard (1755) this meter was used by the Italians for tender and

affectionate feelings although it would them bear a marking such as adagio affettuoso without

which the movement would be spirited and lively

3

16

a rare compound time (one sixteenth note triplet to the bar) which in the opinion of Brossard

(1755) is suitable for extremely lively and exceedingly rapid music

6

16

a rare compound time (two sixteenth note triplets to the bar) used for extremely rapid pieces,

what the Italians would describe as a prestissimo

9

16

a rare compound time (three sixteenth note triplets to the bar) for very fast music

12

16

suitable for extremely lively and rapid music which the Italians describe with the word

prestissimo [Brossard (1755)]. Hotteterre (1719) suggests that one of the earliest to use this

marking in France was Fran?ois Couperin

14

16

used by Philip Glass' Mad Rush

although, as we mention above, rock music uses a basic 4/4 beat (however accented or syncopated), math

rock frequently uses compound time signatures (meters) such as 7/8, 11/8, or 13/8, or features constantly

changing meters based on various groupings of 2 and 3. This rhythmic complexity, seen as "mathematical" in

character by many listeners and critics, is what gives the genre its name

One of our readers, Kenneth J. Nessing, posed an interesting question:

"Is there an advantage, or other reason for, writing a piece in 5/4 as opposed to 5/8?

There is a convention whether to notate the lower figure in a time signature as an 8 or a 4. Usually, a 4, as the lower figure in a time

signature, indicates that the music is to be played more slowly than when the lower figure is an 8. The speed difference is not as great as

that found in Ars Nova mensuration (with its modus, tempus and prolatio) and so we may regard this now as just a convention. So, a jig

(which is a quick 3 in a bar) is usually written in 3/8, while a minuet (which is usually a slower 3 in a bar) is written in 3/4.

Reference:

l List of works in irregular time signatures

Unusual Time Signatures and Hypermeasures ::

The second movement of Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 6 in B minor, Pathetique, begins like a typical waltz, except for the unusual feature of

a five over four time signature broken into two plus three crotchet beats per bar.

Click Allegro con grazia to hear the opening of the second movement.

Charles Ives, in his 114 Songs published in 1922, employs a number of unusual time notations. In some cases, for example songs no 21, 27

and 30, he uses no time signature at all, while in song no. 6 he marks a time signature of four and a half over four. In song no. 37 there is

no time signature or bar lines and the performer is directed to mark off the bars to suite his taste. These effects demonstrate how composers

have always tried to bend formal notation to produce novel effects. Ives used this particular set of songs to explore notation, harmony and

the relationship between the artist, the music and the listener.

Charles Ives : Postface to 114 Songs

(selections from "Postface To 114 Songs", Essays Before a Sonata, The Majority, and Other Writings)

. . . . Be that as it may, our theory has a name: it is, "the balance of values," or "the circle of sources" (in these days of chameleon-like

efficiency every whim must be classified under a scientific-sounding name to save it from investigation). It stands something like this:

that an interest in any art-activity from poetry to baseball is better, broadly speaking, if held as a part of life, or of a life, than if it sets

itself up as a whole -- a condition verging, perhaps, toward a monopoly or, possibly, a kind of atrophy of the other important values,

and hence reacting unfavorably upon itself. . . .

. . . To illustrate further (and to become more involved): if this interest, and everyone has it, is a component of the ordinary life, if it is

free primarily to play the part of the, or a, reflex, subconscious-expression, or something of that sort, in relation to some fundamental

share in the common work of the world, as things go, is it nearer to what nature intended it should be, than if, as suggested above, it

sets itself up as a whole -- not a dominant value only, but a complete one? If a fiddler or poet does nothing all day long but enjoy the

luxury and drudgery of fiddling or dreaming, with or without meals, does he or does he not, for this reason, have anything valuable to

express? -- or is whatever he thinks he has to express less valuable than he thinks?

This is a question which each man must answer for himself. It depends, to a great extent, on what a man nails up on his dashboard as

"valuable." Does not the sinking back into the soft state of mind (or possibly a non-state of mind) that may accept "art for art's sake"

tend to shrink rather than toughen up the hitting muscles -- and incidentally those of the umpire or the grandstand, if there be one? To

quote from a book that is not read, "Is not beauty in music too often confused with something which lets the ears lie back in an easychair? Many sounds that we are used to do not bother us, and for that reason are we not too easily inclined to call them beautiful?" . . .

Possibly the fondness for personal expression -- the kind in which self-indulgence dresses up and miscalls itself freedom -- may throw

out a skin-deep arrangement, which is readily accepted at first as beautiful -- formulae that weaken rather than toughen the musicalmuscles. If a composer's conception of his art, its functions and ideals, even if sincere, coincides to such an extent with these groovecolored permutations of tried-out progressions in expediency so that he can arrange them over and over again to his delight -- has he

or has he not been drugged with an overdose of habit-forming sounds? . . . .

References:

l The Music of Charles Ives - including excerpts from the 114 Songs

l The Music of Charles Ives - Exercises - showing examples of Ives' extraordinary ideas about tonality and rhythm

Notation is but a means to an end. If the notation is formal nonsense then the composer's instructions will no longer have any meaning. Our

task as performer is to discover the notion behind the notation. The time signature four and a half over four may be unusual but it is not

nonsense. Using the information above, we realise that each bar will contain the equivalent of four crotchets plus one quaver.

There is no reason why time signatures should not show more complicated groupings; for example, a group of four crotchets followed by a

group of five quavers repeated over several bars might be notated 4/4 + 5/8. Rhythmic patterns like this, called odd meters, can be found

in Balkan folk dance music. Time signatures compounded from smaller units, for example 4/4 next to 3/4, appear in music where the bars

alternate, in this case with four and three crotchets in alternate bars.

That a time signature might relate to groups made up of more than one bar has led to the concept of the hypermeasure, where the

individual bars in a hypermeasure perform the same rhythmic role as individual notes in a single measure or bar. The example above, four

over four plus three over four, is an example of a two-bar hypermeasure while a twelve-bar blues is an example of a twelve-bar

hypermeasure.

Mensuration ::

Time signatures arose from mensuration, a system devised in the 13th century to govern rhythmic relationships in music. Relationships

between the duration of different notes were defined as follows:

l

l

l

The relationship between the longa and the breve was called the modus;

The relationship between the breve and the semibreve, the tempus;

The relationship between the semibreve and the minim, the prolatio;

These relationships could be either 3:1 (perfect, or in the case of modus or prolatio major) or 2:1 (imperfect, or in the case of modus or

prolatio minor). By adjusting these relationships and mixing them amongst each other, many different divisions of time (just like modern

time signatures) were constructed. The 'perfection of 3' comes from its association with the Holy Trinity.

Reference:

l

Mensuration - An Introduction

Common Time & Alla Breve/Cut Time ::

In earlier times it was common practice only to indicate the number of beats in a bar. Triple metre, e.g. 3/4, or tempus perfectum was

represented by a circle (according to Pythagoras the sphere represents perfection), while tempus imperfectus, i.e. 4/4, was represented by a

half circle in the form of a letter C. Duple metre, i.e. 2/2, was represented by a semicircle with a vertical line. The two latter symbols have

remained in use even if they now appear in a somewhat stylised form. The half circle intersected by a vertical line can be used also for the

time signature 2/1.

The first symbol is called 'common time', representing four crotchet beats in a bar. This is illustrated in the first example below.

The second symbol, similar to the first but crossed with a vertical line, is called alla breve (Italian, literally 'according to the breve'), alla

cappella time or cut time. It usually represents two minim beats in a bar. This is illustrated in the second example.

Again, bars can be made up of notes and/or rests.

Reference:

l

Metrical Displacement and the Compound Measure in Eighteenth-Century Theory and Practice

Cut time as used in dance music or jazz generally means that the music is played twice as fast as you would ordinarily expect, based on the

notes. Where normally a crotchet would correspond to a beat, now the minim becomes the unit of counting. Merengue music is usually

notated in cut-time; each of the "one - two" steps corresponds to a minim instead of a crotchet as might have been expected.

Changing Time Signatures ::

When the time signature of a piece remains unchanged it will only appear at the beginning of the first bar of the work. However, if the

composer wants to change the time signature during the piece, this takes place at the beginning of the bar where the change is required,

and the change remains in force until the end of the piece or until a further change is made. An example of this is given below.

A number of readers have asked whether the tempo changes when the meter changes. In the example above, two bars (measures) of 2/4

followed by two bars (measures) of 3/4 and ending with one bar (measure) of 4/4, the duration of the crotchet (quarter note) remains the

same through the five bar (measure) section unless there had been other markings to the contrary (for example, rall., accel., etc.).

The Whole Bar Rest ::

While, in general, every bar will contain the number of beats set by the time signature, in the form of beats, notes or both, there are

two occasions where a bar might appear to have an incorrect number of beats. The first of these is where a whole bar rest, identical to

the semibreve rest has been used. The time value of a whole bar rest is set by the time signature. This rest is illustrated below in four

bars each with a different time signature.

There is one particular exception to this usage: when the time signature is 4/2 the whole bar rest is the breve or double whole rest.

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