assignment 2 4 reading meter signatures

Understanding Time Signatures and Meters: A Musical Guide

At the beginning of practically any score of music you have ever looked at there are numbers and symbols that clarify how to interpret the music notation in the score. As a music learner, you’ve become familiar with these symbols and you know that the numbers tell you how to interpret the music’s rhythms, how to count and keep track of the beat, and that if you’re playing with other performers—the numbers help you stay together!

Yet, there are so many numbers and so many ways for these numbers to be written:

These are just some of the time signatures you might encounter. Notice also in the above image that there are time signatures in the form of letters instead of numbers, which adds even more possibilities and potential complications into the mix; however, these letters really just stand in for numbers with added special meanings.

All of these time signatures raise the questions: do we really need all of these different time signatures? Do they really mean different things? Why do composers and musicians prefer some time signatures over others? These time signatures really do have slightly different meanings and purposes in music, but some can sound the same to the ear. Some are quite rare and others are more common.

This article will explain the basics of reading time signatures and meters, show how the various time signatures are related to each other and can sound similar and different, and why composers might choose certain time signatures over others.

Sound in Time

Fundamental to the definition of music itself is that music must move through time—it is not static. Hence, music is sound organized through time. This organization of music through time is managed in the Western music system through time signatures.

The time signatures give us a way to notate our music so that we can play the music from scores, hear its organizational patterns, and discuss it with a common terminology known to other musicians. The organizational patterns of beats, as indicated by the time signature, is how we hear and/or feel the meter of said piece. When discussing music, the terms "time signature" and "meter" are frequently used interchangeably; but time signature refers specifically to the number and types of notes in each measure of music, while meter refers to how those notes are grouped together in the music in a repeated pattern to create a cohesive sounding composition. The methods for classifying the various time signatures into meters is discussed in detail later in this article.

Meters vs. Rhythms

Meter is the comprehensive tool we used to discuss how music moves through time. That said, there is another way that musicians also discuss how music moves through time, and that is through rhythm. Rhythms are the lengths of the notes in the music itself - which notes are long and which notes are short. Musicians learn how to play these rhythms in the context of each piece  by using the time signature.

The Notation

In musical scores, we organize the music into “ bars ” or measures . A “ barline ," or measure line, is where the five horizontal lines of a staff are intersected vertically with another line, indicating a separation:

Each measure has a specific number of notes allowed to be placed in it, and that number of notes is dependent upon the time signature.

The most common notes which are used to make the short and long rhythms in the various meters are included in the chart below, beginning with the longest held notes and going to the shortest. This chart also mentions the length relationship between the note values.

As the notes in the various metric breakdowns get bigger or smaller, the equivalent relationships continue. For example, a double-whole note would last as long as eight quarter notes!

Reading the Time Signatures

The number of notes allowed in each measure is determined by the time signature . As you saw in the time signature examples above, each time signature has two numbers: a top number and a bottom number: 2/4 time, 3/4 time, 4/4 time, 3/8 time, 9/8 time, 4/2 time, 3/1 time, and so on. The bottom number of the time signature indicates a certain kind of note used to count the beat, and the top note reveals how many beats are in each measure. If you look at the American note names from the chart above, there is a fun little trick to it:

Take the 2/4 time signature for example - with the 2 on the top of the time signature you know there are 2 beats for one measure, and this leaves you with a fraction of 1/4 —a quarter, the note-length the time signature is indicating to you then is a quarter note. Therefore, you know that there are two quarter notes worth of time in every measure:

Let’s try another one. In 9/8 time, you know that in every measure there are 9 notes in a 1/8 length.

How about in 4/2 time?

In 4/2 time, each measure has 4 notes of 1/2, so we have 4 1/2  notes:

Now try 3/1 time.

In 3/1 time, so we have 3 notes of a 1/1 length, so 3 whole notes!

Common Time and Cut Time

The above steps are how you figure out the notes and beats of most time signatures, but what about the two time signatures that are letters? As a matter of fact, the two letter time signatures are actually shorthand and variations for the most common numerical time signatures, 4/4 and 2/2.

Below is an example from the opening of Edvard Grieg’s Peer Gynt Suite, “In the Hall of the Mountain King.” This excerpt is in marked in Common Time with a big C, which means 4/4. If you count the notes in the measures, you will see that there are four quarter-notes worth of time per measure.

This example is particularly relevant to our discussion of Common and Cut time, because as this piece continues, it gradually increases in speed, moving from sounding like a 4/4 to 2/2. And this is actually what happens! By the end of the piece, the conductor directs the orchestra in Cut Time rather than Common Time. Listen to this performance  to hear the beats get faster and see if you can hear when the orchestra switches into Cut Time!

Meter Classifications

We've talking about the basics of reading and deciphering time signatures - now we get to learn how those time signatures can be understood as meters.

There are two levels of classifying meters. The first level of classification focuses on how the beat indicated by the time signature is subdivided.

There are only two ways for the beat to be regularly subdivided in Western music, and that is into two or into three smaller notes. Refer to the note value charts above. All other subdivisions are either multiples of these two subdivisions, or some complex form of adding them together. For ease of notation and classifying the subdivisions as meters then, we have: Simple Time , Compound Time , and Irregular Time .

Simple Time

Simple time is any meter whose basic note division is in groups of two. Examples of these meters include: Common Time, Cut Time, 4/4, 3/4, 2/4, 2/2, 2/1, and so on. These meters are simple time because the quarter note divides equally into two eighth notes, the half-note divides equally into two quarter notes, or the whole note divides equally into two half notes. You can see these divisions if you refer back to the above note length chart.

Compound Time

Slightly more complicated is compound time , which is any meter whose basic note division is into groups of three. You automatically know you are not in simple time if there is an 8 as the bottom number of your time signature. An 8 to mark simple time would be pointless, as will be demonstrated below in the beat hierarchies and accents section.

Technically, to get a compound time sound, composers could use a simple time signature and then mark all of the main beat subdivisions in triplets - making a duple division into a triple division - throughout an entire piece to get the same effect. However, using triplets throughout an entire piece to get a compound time sound would appear quite messy and cluttered on the page.

An example of the 12/8 against the 4/4 using triplets is in the table below. To the listener, these examples sound exactly the same, and in practice there is the added risk of confusing performers unused to switching between time signatures.

Even though it's more common to see a simple time signature with the duple divisions in Western music for music of the past five or six centuries, it was actually compound time which developed and was notated first! Because Western music notation developed alongside church music, much of the underlying theory surrounding music had a theological basis. For meter, the most common subdivision was in compound or triple divisions to relate musical time being three in one, similar to the Christian Trinity of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.

Irregular Time

The final option for beat subdivision is an irregular or unequal subdivision of the beat.

Even though these are “irregular” meters, they do have patterns that are discernable for the performer. The most common irregular meters actually mix simple time and compound time together within a single measure. Thus, in each measure, there are beats with three subdivisions and there are beats with two subdivisions. Examples include such time signatures as 5/8 and 7/8. Because there are 5 eighth notes per measure or 7 eighth notes per measure, you cannot have equal groupings of 2 or 3 eighth notes. Therefore, similarly to 6/8, 9/8, and 12/8, in which the groups of eighth-notes are beamed together to a larger count, in 5/8 and 7/8 they are also beamed together to make a larger count. However, because the number of eighth notes in 5/8 and 7/8 is odd (and prime), the count lengths in each measure are uneven—or irregular. The eighth note typically stays the same length, but because some counts have two and some counts have three eighth notes, they are irregular!

You can see the groupings of three eighth notes with two eighth notes in each measure of 5/8 above, and groups of two eighth notes against two groups of two eighth notes in each measure of 7/8. In 5/8 and 7/8 then, the first count of each measure is one eighth-note longer than the rest of the counts. Depending on where the placement of the longer beat, composers can create different accents and atmospheres.

Russian composer Pyotr Tchaikovsky (1840—1893) uses an irregular meter in the second movement of his Sixth Symphony. When you listen to the movement, it sounds like it should be a waltz with three beats per measure, but the “beats” of the meter are uneven, sometimes the first beat is longer, sometimes it is shorter because the subdivisions are irregular. To the listener, because it sounds like a waltz and like a dance, it feels at once familiar, but then also lopsided and distant. The irregular beat patterns are unexpected and un-danceable (at least without some serious practice and memorization!). The familiar becomes distorted, distant, potentially dangerous and frightening.

Duple, Triple, and Quadruple Classifications

The second level of classification for meters is how many beats there are in a measure. There are three which are the most common: duple (2/2, 2/4, 6/8), triple (3/4, 9/8, 3/2), and quadruple (4/4, 12/8, 4/2). A duple meter has two beats per measure, a triple meter has three beats per measure, and a quadruple meter has four beats per measure. It is rare to see any larger or smaller that are not an equivalent to one of these three.

Cut-Time is duple and simple meter because there are two beats per measure and those beats are divisible by two:

3/4 time is triple and simple meter because there are three beats per measure and each beat is divisible by two:

4/2 is quadruple and simple meter because there are four beats per measure and each beat is divisible by two:

6/8 time is duple and compound meter because there are two beats per measure and each beat is divided into three:

9/8 time is triple and compound meter because there are three beats per measure and each beat is divided into three:

5/8 time is duple and irregular meter because there are two beats per measure and each beat is divided irregularly:

Look through your scores at home: what are some of the meter classifications that you have been playing?

As you can see from the above explanations of the various time signatures and their meters, there are a lot of similarities and subtle nuances between all of these meters. For example, all of the duple and quadruple time meters are similar in that they have two and four beats per measure. This trait makes them sound very similar to the ear.

Depending on the tempo of the piece, triple and simple time pieces can sound compound and some compound pieces (i.e. 6/8) can sound like they have a simple beat subdivision but triple (i.e. the 6/8 sounding like 3/4)! What helps to distinguish a lot of these meters is the beat hierarchies and typical styles of music in which they are employed.

Beat Hierarchies

Music is sound organized through time, and the time signature tells us how to structure that music in time.

Another important piece of information within that time signature is which notes — which beats — are more important and should get accented. This accentuation of beats is known as a “ beat hierarchy .” In almost all Western Classical music, the first beat of every measure is the strongest and most important beat, and should carry the most weight. In duple meters then, the second beat is weak and any subdivisions of the beat are weaker still. In quadruple meters, beat three of the measure is actually stronger than beat two, but not quite as strong as beat one, and beat four should lead into the next downbeat (beat one of the next measure). Triple time starts with a strong beat one, has a weak beat two, and then begins to build on beat three (leading to beat one again).

Understanding the beat hierarchies of the different time signatures can help you to interpret repertoire, especially those that use minimal articulation. For example, check out this 3/2 example from the Spirtuoso movement in Telemann’s Fantasia #6 for solo flute:

Because this piece is marked in 3/2 time, it should be in triple and simple time. However, there are no phrase markings and some musicians who have studied Baroque performance practices have argued for sections of this piece being in two instead of three. Switching the meter from a two to three feel is like giving the piece a 6/8 time signature and making the 6/8 eighth note equal to a 3/2 quarter note. With a 6/8 type meter, the Fantasia would be duple and compound, changing the beat hierarchy and accents from every second quarter note to every third quarter note.

The particular Telemann example above, when performed with a changing beat hierarchy, can be an example of a metric and rhythmic technique called hemiola . Hemiola is a two against three subdivision of beats being played against — and right next — to each other. 

Syncopation

Another way to disrupt the beat hierarchy of meters in music is to use syncopation . Syncopation is the rhythmic shifting of the accented beat from the traditionally strong beats of one and three. In most cases this is done by a really short note on the downbeat which is immediately followed by an accented long note, or having a tie to an un-articulated downbeat, so that the downbeat gets completely lost. A textbook example of how syncopation can disrupt beat hierarchy can be seen in the ragtime piece “The Entertainer” by Scott Joplin.

From the very first verse, the melody line bounces quickly off the sixteenth-note downbeat onto the accented eighth-note. Then, the next measure’s melody downbeat is tied over from the previous measure. Without the score or the repeated eighth-note chords in the left hand of the piano, you would not know where the downbeats were or be able to track the movement of the measures as easily! 

So we have all of these meters and this is how they’re broken down, but… why?

We have all of these different meters and possibilities for subdividing meters to fit the wide variety of music we have! Essentially, different kinds of music require different Simple or Compound time signatures and duple or triple meters. When we connect the music to how it is or was supposed to be used, we find some of the answers to this.

Take a March for example: marches are meant to be, well, marched to, in strict time, and as humans we only have two legs! So out of necessity, marches have to be in a duple or quadruple time. That is why marches are (almost) always in Cut Time, 2/4, 4/4, or on occasion, 6/8. Sousa’s iconic “Stars and Stripes Forever” is in Cut Time . Even though “Stars and Stripes,” and other marches still being composed through today, are rarely still marched to, they are still written in a duple time.

Dance music is another example of music that has to be in a specific meter. Most dances throughout history have had a prescribed number of steps and the music that accompanies the dances must match. For example, waltzes have to be in triple time because they follow a pattern of three steps before repeating the cycle.

The choice of meter and note length provided in the time signature is also a possible indicator of tempo. Generally speaking, one would expect a piece notated in 4/1 to move at a slower tempo than 4/4.

So, that's how you read time signatures! We've investigated how they’re similar and different, how they’re used, and how they can change the music we hear. Many are interchangeable and can sound the same, but have slightly different origins or uses. Meters are how composers organize music through time and communicate that organization to the performers.

For fun, try seeing if you can “play” with any of the meters of your repertoire as if they were in a different meter and tell us about your experiments below!

Learn with LPM

If you are looking to review time signatures, check out our lesson on the Music Theory: How to Read Music course. 

About the Author: Michele Aichele

Michele Aichele is a PhD candidate in Musicology from the University of Iowa, with a MA from the University of Oregon and a BA from Whitman College (Washington). Her interests are in the role of women in composing, performing, teaching, and patronage in music. Her love of learning translates easily to her work with Liberty Park Music. Not only does she get to share her passion for great music and learn from the talented Liberty Park Music teachers, she also gets to help educate more people across the globe through Liberty Park Music’s services.

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23 thoughts on “understanding time signatures and meters: a musical guide”.

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I’m struggling with understanding signatures and some of the jumps that are made or not explained and it’s doing my head in.

Reading the Time Signatures 9/8 Time, Why are the notes suddenly grouped into threes with no explanation of why?

Common time and cut time. I get common time (or at least I think I do) but I don’t really understand the explanation of cut time. You say “Technically, these measures have four quarter notes in them as well … This “Cut Time” change to “Common Time” means it goes twice as fast, so instead of the quarter note getting the beat, the half note gets the beat!” What half note? If its twice as fast won’t they be 1/8 notes?

In the score for the Peer Gynt Suite why are there 1/8 notes went time is 4/4. Are you allowed to have notes of different duration to the one identified in the bottom of the signature? How does that work? Why are they grouped as 4 x 1/8 and then 2 x 1/8. Whats the rule an why is this done.

Dear Steve, Thank you for reaching out to us with your questions!

As explained later in the article, the eighth notes are grouped in threes instead of twos because 9/8 is a compound time signature. In compound time, each individual beat gets divided into three notes rather than two. The 9/8 eighth notes are grouped in threes to show that all three notes belong to the same beat. In simple time, which includes time signatures like common time and 2/4, the beat is divided into two notes and are thus the eighth notes are grouped in twos and fours in the other examples.

In cut-time, if the eighth note were to get the beat instead of the quarter note, then the music would move twice as slow, as in, you would double the number of beats in each measure—making it twice as long to get through. The rhythms stay the same in proportion to each other, but they go twice as fast. To go twice as fast as the quarter note beat, you would need a beat that fits two quarter notes in length, and that note, based on the diagram in the article, is a half note.

Regarding the Peer Gynt Suite questions, you are allowed to have notes of different duration to the one identified in the bottom of the time signature. The number at the bottom of the time signature simply tells what type of note gets the beat so that the musician knows how to interpret the rhythms of the notes. If you could only have the note-lengths that are indicated by the bottom of the time signature, then there would be no difference in rhythms—no long notes, no short notes, all the notes would have the same duration in every piece.

The eighth notes of the Peer Gynt Suite are grouped in 4 and then 2 because of the time signature. The 4 and 2 groupings reinforce that this time signature is a simple time signature and when you have a series of eighth notes then, you can only group them in groups of four or two. If they were grouped as a group of 6, that would indicate compound time and a different subdivision of the beat. Because we’re going to be going into cut-time with this example, the composer or publisher of the piece grouped the eighth notes to show the emphasis on two “beats” per measure rather than the common time four beats. That is why the first four eighth notes are grouped together—the four eighth notes equal the same length as one half note, which is one beat in cut time. The next two eighth notes are grouped together because they are on the next beat of the measure, but as they are eighth notes, they cannot be barred with the quarter note that follows. And these two eighth notes and the quarter note make up the second beat of the measure.

How do you conduct 1/4 time, I have theory work sheet and am having a hard time understanding how I would draw that.

Hey Laura, it depends on the piece. A good way to start conducting 1/4 would be to try in one beat per measure.

Hi Michele,

How do we distinguish between 3/2 and 6/4?

Thanks for your question Jithin, The main difference between 3/2 and 6/4 is how you count it. Both time signatures have the same number of quarter notes per measure. In 6/4 you count 6 beats, one for every quarter note. In 3/2 you count 3 beats, one for every half-note.

Many swing band arrangements use the cut time time signature. However, we count off 1,2,1,2,3,4 and play the music as if the time signature was originally in common time or in 4,4. Why is that? The usual answer is “That’s the way it’s always been done.” It’s not a satisfying answer. Any thoughts?

[Response from our drum kit teacher Brendan Bache] This is a really good point. For me cut time, just like common time, is still 4/4. The only difference is the way the beats are felt with the stress on 1 and 3 as opposed to every quarter note pulse. This is often down to the tempo of the piece and when I see cut time in a swing or Latin chart I usually interpret it as 4/4 at a fast tempo. In short, I’ve always counted it that way, (unless the tempo is so fast that it makes no sense to count quarter notes out loud) partly because that’s what I’ve heard other musicians do but also because I think it makes musical sense. Thanks for the comment!

thanks for the information

This was a very clear explanation of time signatures. Thank you.

I am naive about music history, and I have a very limited understanding of music theory, but I’ve often wondered how the time signature symbols evolved the way that they did. It seems to me that we have 2 symbols that represent 3 variables (length per base note, base notes per beat, and beats per measure). The 2 symbols provide a compact notation, but is can be more confusing to people who are new to music signatures.

Over the years, has anyone considered time signatures that make all three variables explicit and which have accommodations for uneven time signatures? I was thinking of something like the following:

4/4 time: 4(4𝅘𝅥) 3/4 time: 3(4𝅘𝅥) 6/8 time: 2(3𝅘𝅥𝅮) 9/8 time: 3(3𝅘𝅥𝅮) 5/8 time: 1(3𝅘𝅥𝅮,2𝅘𝅥𝅮) 7/8 time: 1(3𝅘𝅥𝅮,2𝅘𝅥𝅮,2𝅘𝅥𝅮)

Greetings Dennis and thank you for your question! In the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, a lot of composers and theorists have come up with more explicit (and less explicit) time signatures to use in their scores. However, each of these is unique to the composer; there is no universal agreement on anything that works better than the current system. Most of the music musicians learn to play use the time signatures explained in the article.

Oops, it should be more like this (I won’t give up my day job):

4/4 time: 4(1𝅘𝅥) or 4(𝅘𝅥) or (𝅘𝅥,𝅘𝅥,𝅘𝅥,𝅘𝅥) 3/4 time: 3(1𝅘𝅥) or 3(𝅘𝅥) or (𝅘𝅥,𝅘𝅥,𝅘𝅥) 6/8 time: 2(3𝅘𝅥𝅮) or (3𝅘𝅥𝅮,3𝅘𝅥𝅮) 9/8 time: 3(3𝅘𝅥𝅮) or (3𝅘𝅥𝅮,3𝅘𝅥𝅮,3𝅘𝅥𝅮) 5/8 time: (3𝅘𝅥𝅮,2𝅘𝅥𝅮) 7/8 time: (3𝅘𝅥𝅮,2𝅘𝅥𝅮,2𝅘𝅥𝅮)

Prior to the 16th century, and the introduction of bar lines, what was the Latin term for the measurement of the length of a beat?

Thanks for your question Lyle! I frequently see the beat of pre-16th century music referred to as the “tactus.”

I understand there are no constraints as to what tempo certain meters in a musical piece can be played (if composer decides two measures of 4/4 be played at 120bpm and next 3 measures of 4/4 at 140bpm),but how do we calculate a new tempo to have a different meter “sound/feel” the same. For example we start with 7/8 (has 3 beats, 7 8th notes) at 130bpm moving into 4/4 (4 beats, eight 8ths for the purpose of common denominator) how to get the tempo for 4/4 part? Should we look at beats ratio 3 to 4 or notes ratio 7 to 8? I’ve seen a formula like this but don’t know if it’s right, new tempo=number of notes in new tempo X old tempo / num of notes in old tempo. So in our case 8×130/7=114bpm rounded up

Hi Arek, I’m not sure quite what you’re asking. It depends on if the composer wants the overall beat to stay the same or keep the length of the eighth-notes or quarter-notes the same. If the beat stays the same, then moving from 4/4 to 6/8 would mean that instead of dividing each beat into two, you would divide it into three, so the subdivisions get faster, but the length of the beat would stay exactly the same. The same would go for 7/8. I imagine your formula would work if the composer wanted the eighth-notes to stay the same.

Hey Steve. Very insightful article. I understand that 2/4 as a simple quadruple time has a different feel from 6/8. I also know that 6/8 can be re-written as 2/4 without the song losing its feel. Does it mean that the aural feel of 2/4 time signature is always the same as 6/8?

Thanks for your question Jones! No, the aural feel of a 6/8 time signature will not always feel the same as 2/4. It can depend on the tempo. Sometimes it will feel the same, but sometimes, the 6/8 can be stretched out, for example, in some Baroque dance suites.

Wow.. I am indeed blessed with alot of techniques and knowledge on time or measure signature here. Thanks to libertyparkmisic

Michele, Thanks for the most comprehensive and clear explanation of the time signatures I have ever read, and I think I’ve read all of them. I think I get it now. As a nubie bass player, getting time and emphasis under control is one of my biggest challenges. This is exasperated by picking Money by Pink Floyd as a piece to show off to my mates. During this bass line the time switches from 7/4 to 3/4 to 5/4 to 3/4 back to 7/4 and, just for irony I suspect, ends in 4/4 for a couple of bars. It’s a beautiful mess. (Yes, various recording have whole ‘bridge?’ sections in 4/4 included, I know) I learned to play it by listening to the recordings, but now that I have read your article, I can follow the score, and tell my guitar playing mates that ‘I KNOW how it goes’. Thanks for your great work.

Thanks, makes bit more sense now

It will be tomorrow… actually today now, before my subconscious parses this and returns a verdict. My misinterpretation that bars or measures were finite and restricted has been delightfully dismantled. As a singer-songwriter who breathes music I never paid attention to the signature of my breathing. Now, confronting a world of DAW, I need the software to understand my timing, so it can follow and respond well. Today, I learned what a hole, half, quarter and eighth note looks like. As I reverse engineer my fifty+ creations, perhaps soon theory and music will meet and play nice together, so I can record and perform with more weapons in my arsenal. But in three minutes it will be 2am and my brain is full. Thank you

how tempo marking note value is found in irregular meters? ones like 5/4 and 7/8.

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Reading Time Signatures

At the beginning of pieces of music we find the Time Signatures. This tells us the meter. Meter is the rhythmic form or structure to a song. The form is repeated in every measure so you could say that each measure is one cycle of the meter. So if the song is in a meter of 3, then the beats would be counted as 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3... with each new measure starting on 1.

A time signature is made up of 2 parts. The top number designates how many beats there are in each measure and the bottom number designates what kind of note each beat is. We'll start with the top number because it is easier to understand.

If we have a signatre of 3/4, that means that there will be 3 beats per measure. If we have a signature of 4/4, there will be 4 beats per measure. This doesn't mean that there are only 4 notes in the measure, just a  total  of 4 beats.

Now for the bottom number. If we have a signature of 3/4 then each beat will be represented as a quarter note. If it is 3/2, then each beat will be represented as half note. Now this doesn't mean that all of the notes in the measure will be half notes. This simply means that all of the notes in the measure have to add up to the total value of 3 half notes. Here are some examples below.

The most used signatures are 2/4, 3/4, 4/4, and 2/2. 4/4 is the most common, so we call it "common time" and it sometimes looks like this: 

2/2 is the same thing cut in half so we call it "cut time" and it sometimes looks like this: 

The time sigs. we have looked at here are called Basic time sigs. These are the easiest to read and count. When there is an 8 on the bottom, these become complex time signatures, and we will talk about them in a later lesson.

Very Important!

Don't get too worried about these. Some people try to figure out every single one possible and try to understand them intimately. They aren't THAT important. They simply tell you the meter of the song. That is all. They are not some cosmo-magical being that rules the universe of music.

To be quite honest, if you know basically how one works, and you can tell "Okay, there are 3 beats and each beat is a quarter note, so there should be a total value of 3 quarter notes, and the song will have a meter of 1, 2, 3, 1 2, 3," then you can already play music just as well as that guy that knows them to the finest degree.

If in doubt, re-read the title of this website: Music Theory for Musicians, not Theorists. If you want to be a theorist, there are textbooks that can explain more about these, but this should give you enough information to play most music out there.

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Meter and time signature.

Meter is the pattern of pulses or beats on which the rhythms of a piece are based. The rhythms of a meledy can go faster or slower, but the beat marches on at a steady pace. It is like drawing a picture on a piece of graph paper. Each square on the graph is like a beat. When you count out the beats, you are counting the meter. Most pieces have either 2, 3, or 4 regular beats per measure. When you play a melody, you usually accent the notes which start on the beat. When you play faster notes, they usually divide the beat into either 2 or 3 parts. Fer examp|e, the song "Yankee Doodle" has two beats per measure and the beat divides into 2 parts:

Hickory Dockery Doc also has two beats per measure, but the rhythms divide the beat into three parts:

A time signature is a sign which helps show you what the meter is. The most common time signatures are 2/4, 3/4, 4/4. For these simple time signatures, the top number tells you how many beats per measure and the bottom number reminds you that a quarter-note (1/4) gets the beat. "Yankee Doodle" would use a time signature of 2/4. Here is an example of a piece with 3 quarter—notes per measure (3/4 time):

6/8 is another frequent time signature. Unfortunately, it is not simple; it is rather confusing. Many people think that 6/8 means 6 beats per measure with an eighth-note getting the beat. Not true. 6/8 is used fer pieces where the beat divides into 3 parts, like Hickory Dickory Dock". The time signature fer "Hockery Dockery" is supposed to show 2 beats per measure with a dotted quarter-note getting the beat, like the examp|e below:

Remember, keys don't come from key signatures and meters don't come from time signatures. When you are listening to actual music, you often can imagine counting it out in different ways (fast and slow). Follow this basic guideline: Question: How many beats are in a measure? Answer: As few as possible. For examp|e, when you see 6/8, trust the music itself (not the sign post) and count it in two, not six: 1 la li 2 la li (never 1 23 4 56).

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Rhythm Reading 101: Fundamentals

• Duple, Macrobeats and Microbeats

Rhythm Cells and Rhythm Patterns in 2/4

Watch the video lesson below. The essential content appears below the lesson. 

Take a moment to review macrobeats and microbeats in duple meter in the pre-requisites module. Remember: we are learning to read familiar material. 

Syllable Review

Say the following to yourself: “Macrobeats in duple meter are DU DU DU DU.” “Microbeats in duple meter are DU DE, DU DE, DU DE, DU DE.”

Time Signature

The stacked numbers circled in the picture above are called a time signature . It tells you what to audiate rhythmically.Technically, it’s a mathematical representation of how much of a whole note is in a measure. However, that theoretical knowledge is not important when first learning how to read. (When you first learned to read the word “cat,” did you need to know it was a noun??) To guide you when you are first learning to read, I will simply tell you what each time signature is telling you to audiate.

Reading Macrobeats and Microbeats in 2/4

The time signature 2/4 usually tells us that the macrobeats (DU) will be represented by a quarter note, and that microbeats (DU DE) will be represented by paired eighth notes.

Rhythm Cells

Let’s look at the possible combinations of macrobeats and microbeats in duple meter. There are only four possible combinations. These are called rhythm cells . You might think of these as musical words. Chant each of these rhythm cells several times.

Reading Familiar Patterns

Now we will combine these rhythm cells into four-macrobeat rhythm patterns. You might think of these as very simple musical sentences . These eight rhythm patterns will be part of your musical vocabulary.

Read the above patterns using rhythm syllables (DU and DU DE). Read them both in their familiar and unfamiliar orders. Try varying the tempo. For optimal results, use the video in the next lesson. As you are reading these patterns, continue to move as you read. Move your heels to the macrobeats and gently tap the microbeats on your lap with “spider fingers.”

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Integrated Music Theory an open, interactive, online textbook for college music theory

CC BY-NC-SA 2018.

Integrated Music Theory 2018-19

Chapter 4) Rhythm and Regular Meters Discussion 4a - Simple Meters ❯

Lesson 4a - Simple Meters

We will be assuming that you are already familiar with the basics of rhythmic notation, so we will be skipping most of the basic rhythmic terminology. If you would like to review, I have included some materials from Open Music Theory in the Further Reading .

Simple meters

Instead, we will be skipping ahead into classifications for meters. For today’s topic, we will be focusing exclusively on simple meters, one of the two classifications for regular meters.

First, a few basic terms: Meter is the manner in which we organize strong and weak pulses in music over time, and it is from this grouping that we determine the length of each measure . At its most basic, meter tells us two things:

• how we divide the meter into regular or irregular pulses called beats
• how many of these beats are in the measure

If we imagine meter as a hierarchy, beats are the highest level. Beats are then divided into divisions , and divisions can be further divided into subdivisions . A regular meter is one in which every beat is the same length.

Finally, remember that meter is somewhat subjective and can be greatly altered by many factors, especially tempo. Where one listener might listen to a piece with four quarter-notes per measure and feel that the quarter notes are the beat, another listener may listen to the same piece and hear the beat in a slow two with the half-note as the beat.

Goals for this topic

Using the following examples, determine:

• the characteristic that all simple meters have in common
• what the top and bottom numbers mean in a simple time signature
• what duple , triple , and quadruple mean when describing a meter
• “theoretically ideal” beaming in simple meters
• a list of common meters in simple duple , simple triple , and simple quadruple
• the common beat-counting system that we’ll be using in this course (written in the “Simple Quadruple” example)

Conclusions

This is always an interesting class discussion, because creating objective definitions depends on the students differentiating their opinions from the underlying principles of the concept.

While most students intuitively understand what a simple meter, it is often difficult to agree on the common characteristic of all simple meters. When asked to identify what all simple meters had in common, they landed on, they often focus on the visual or mathematical representation of the time signature–for example, “The top number of the time signature is divisible by two.” Not only is this not true for all simple meters (e.g. 3/4) as shown in Examples 4a, it still would not differentiate this class of meters from compound meters. 6/8 and 12/8 are both compound time signatures that have a top number that is divisible by two.

The common characteristic of simple meters is how the individual beats are divided. Simple meters are any regular meters in which the beat is divided into exactly two equal parts.

Duple, Triple, and Quadruple

When looking at the above examples, simple meters can be divided into collections of duple, triple, and quadruple meters:

• ex: 2/4, 2/2, 2/8, 2/16
• ex: 3/4, 3/2, 3/8, 3/16
• ex: 4/4, 4/2, 4/8, 4/16

While this is correct for the meters above, it does not provide a definition of what these numbers mean. These words–simple, triple, quadruple, and so on–are used to signify how many beats are in a measure.

Simple time signatures

Most students correctly identify the function of the top and bottom numbers of the simple time signatures (but struggle with the same concept for compound meters.)

For simple meter time signatures:

• the top number represents how many beats are in the measure
• if a 4 is on the bottom, the beat is represented by a quarter note
• if an 8 is on the bottom, the beat is represented by an eighth note

To easily figure out the bottom number’s rhythmic value, I tell students to imagine that the bottom note becomes the denominator (lower number) of a fraction under a numerator of 1. A bottom number of 4 becomes 1/4 – a quarter. A bottom number of 2 becomes 1/2 – a half.

Beat-counting system in simple meters

It seems that for every unique syllable, there is a beat-counting system for affixing syllables to beats, divisions, and subdivisions. Each of these have their strengths and weaknesses, but for this theory course, we will be using the following for simple meters:

• beat numbers for each beat (e.g. 1, 2, 3, etc.)
• & for the division (e.g. 1-& 2-& etc.)
• e (pronounced ‘ee’) and a (pronounced ‘ah’) for the first level subdivisions (e.g. 1-e-&-a 2-e-&-a)

While this system can blend together aurally if said quickly, its primary benefit is that it has a unique syllable for each level through the first subdivision, and this makes communicating easier with higher specificity. For example, it is easy to ask, “Is the G4 on the ‘e’ of beat four a non-chord tone?”, and this does not require further information.

Theoretically ideal beaming versus common practice

The two examples of Examples 4a demonstrate something I term “theoretically ideal” beaming versus two counterparts of the same rhythm beamed in a more commonly used manner. For these:

• Half notes and whole notes are obvious exceptions.
• This focuses more on eighth notes, sixteenth notes, and further subdivisions.

This is very much inline with my general intention. Well-engraved music is meant to look pleasing and be easy for a performer to read. This often leads to grouping rhythmic patterns according to non-rhythmic ideas: lyrics, spacing measures across the page, phrasing, a limited number of systems, etc. Theoretically ideal beaming would never obscure a beat in order to provide the easiest reading of harmony within a score. Of course, no musician will ever use this in its strictest form because it would become difficult to read in many situations; imagine not using a whole note in 4/4 time and instead using four tied quarter notes.

That being said, it is important for students of music to begin trying to understand how grouping and beaming decisions are made, because in harmonic analysis, it is easy to sometimes miss voices because of obscured beats. It is also an excellent thought exercise to help students to begin demonstrating mastery of meters and rhythmic values.

Find what you need to study

Unit 1 Overview: Pitch, Major Scales and Key Signatures, Rhythm, Meter, and Expressive Elements

10 min read • january 30, 2023

1.1: Pitch and Pitch Notation

Reading notes on a staff.

The first thing that we will learn in this course is how to read music written on the staff. One staff contains 5 lines and the spaces between those lines are also significant. The grand staff is a series of two staves, which are used to notate pitches that come from a wide range of voices. The grand staff consists of two clefs: the treble clef and the bass clef . 

Here are the pitches of the lines of the treble clef: 

The bottom line on the treble clef is an E. The space right above that is an F. The next line is a G. We read the first three notes of this example as E-F-G. You might already see a pattern here! For each line and subsequent space, we go through the alphabet. What happens when we get to G? We start over again at A. The fourth note is A, the 5th note is a B, and the 6th note is a C. See how that works?

There are several ways to remember all the different lines and spaces on the treble clef. Many people use a mnemonic device to remember the order of the lines (E-G-B-D-F). For example, the age-old sentence is: "Every Good Boy Does Fine."

The spaces on the treble clef spell one easy word: FACE!

On the bass clef, the lowest line is a G, and the lowest space is an A. Here are some ways to remember the bass clef lines (G-B-D-F-A):

"Good Birds Don't Fly Away"

"Go Buy Donuts For Al"

"Grapes, Bananas, Don't Forget Apples"

"Good Boys Do Fine Always"

Last, but not least, we have the spaces on the bass clef (A-C-E-G)

Accidentals

Accidentals alter pitches by a half step. The sharp ♯ indicates that a pitch will go up by one half step. The flat ♭ indicates that a pitch will go down by one half step. And, the natural ♮ cancels any flat or sharp that a pitch may have had.

Notes are organized into measures . The vertical line that spans between the treble and bass clefs indicate the end of a measure. Sometimes measures are called bars . The line can also be called a bar line .

1.2: Rhythmic Values 

The beat is the most basic unit of time in a measure. Some notes can take up multiple beats, and others will take up only a portion of a beat.

The number of beats per measure depends on the time signature . The time signature not only determines how many beats there are per measure, but it also tells you which note value gets counted as one beat. For simplicity's sake, however, we'll just assume that a quarter note is one full beat for now.

Beats are important to know in music because they help us organize the rhythmical symbols. These are called quarter notes . Each quarter note has a value of 1 beat.

If you divide a quarter note in half, you get an 8th note . This means there are two 8th notes for every quarter note beat.

If you divide an 8th note in half, you get a 16th note .

There are also half notes and whole notes. A half note takes up two beats. A half note looks just like a quarter note, but with an open circle instead of a full circle.

Whole notes take up 4 beats, and they are just one open circle with no stem. 

Each note value has a corresponding rest , which tells us to pause for that amount of time. There are quarter rests, eighth rests, sixteenth rests, half rests, and whole rests. 

1.3: Half Steps and Whole Steps 

Imagine that you are sitting in front of a piano or a keyboard, and you play every single note, black or white, in order. You might play A-Bb-B-C-C#-D-Eb-E-F-F#-G-G#-A. This is called the chromatic scale . Notice that not all of the transitions have accidentals . For example, B# is enharmonically equivalent to C natural, and E# is enharmonically equivalent to F natural.

A chromatic scale is special because all of the notes are a half step apart. In other words, these notes are right next to each other on the keyboard. For example, C is a half step away from C#, and E is a half step away from F.

A whole step is just two half steps. C is a whole step away from D, and E is a whole step away from F#, for example.

1.4: Major Scales and Scale Degrees 

When we arrange certain pitches in a specific ascending or descending pattern of whole steps and half steps, we call that a scale . Western music is comprised of major and minor scales. There are many other types of scales that are used in other parts of the world.

How do you create a major scale ? Let's first see what it looks like.

This is a C Major scale . It starts on a C, and ends on a C. A scale will always end on same note an octave higher (or lower). An octave is an interval of 8 pitches. We usually write major scales (and chords) using capital letters.

There is a very specific space between each pitch in a major scale : whole step-whole step-half step-whole step-whole step-whole step-half step. You don't really have to memorize this. You can just try deriving it from the C Major scale (the C major scale has no accidentals ), or you can memorize which sharps and flats each major scale has. This is why the major scale is also known as the diatonic scale -- it is made up of five whole steps and two half steps, which are also known as "tones" and "semitones" respectively.

When we are writing in a certain key, for example C Major, we say that we are "in C Major." You can imagine all the notes that are a member of C Major as being in the key, and all the notes that are not a member of C Major as being out of the key. For example, D is in C Major, and D# is not in C Major. Another way to say this is to say that D is diatonic, and D# is chromatic.

The starting pitch of a major or minor scale is called the tonic . Each pitch is considered to be a degree of the scale, and each scale degree has a special name. For example, in a C Major scale , the first scale degree is C, the second scale degree is D, and so on. Each scale degree has a special name that is indicative of its role in the key.

The degrees of a scale, in order, are the tonic , supertonic , mediant , subdominant , dominant , submediant , and leading tone . They correspond to the seven scale degrees of a major or minor scale. 

The major scale degrees are often abbreviated using Roman numerals, with uppercase numerals representing major chords and lowercase numerals representing minor chords. For example, the tonic of a C major scale would be represented as "I," the dominant would be represented as "V," and the submediant would be represented as "vi."

1.5: Major Keys and Key SIgnatures 

When the majority of a musical passage congregates around the pitches of a major or minor scale, we consider it to be within a certain key. For example, if the notes of an F major scale are used and F is considered a central pitch, the piece of music is referred to as "in the key of F major".

The key signature is placed on the same line as the treble clef and the time signature , and it appears immediately after the clef and time signature . It consists of one or more sharp or flat symbols, placed in a specific order, that indicate which notes are to be played as sharp or flat.

Below are all of the different key signatures. Note that Maj is short for major—you may frequently see that abbreviation.

1.6: Simple and Compound Beat Division 

In music theory, meter refers to the rhythmic structure of a piece of music, or the pattern of strong and weak beats within a measure. Usually, we notice that there are many different ways you hear the pulses of music, or the "beat" of a piece. The largest structure (arguably) is the measure. 

All the beats inside the measure are considered the beat, and it's another way to count the pulses in music. The number of beats in a measure depends on the time signature and the type of meter (simple vs. compound).

Simple meters are meters where most of the beats are divided into twos. A good heuristic is that if the bottom number on the time signature is 4, then it will be a simple meter . For simple meters, the top number of the time signature tells you how many beats there are per measure. For example, a time signature of 4/4 indicates that there are four beats per measure, and a quarter note receives one beat. 

Compound meters , on the other hand, are meters where beats mostly divide into threes. If you've ever played music in 6/8 time, you might notice that there are supposed to be 6 "beats" per measure according to the time signature , but really, it sounds like two big beats per measure, where each beat is divided up into three smaller beats. This is an example of compound meter .

1.7: Time Signatures 

The time signature shows us the relationship between the number of beats in a measure and the type of beat that is used. The top number gives you the number of beats or beat divisions per measure, and the bottom number gives you which note is counted as one beat or beat division.

In addition to classifying meters as simple and compound, we can also classify them as duple , triple , and quadruple . In short, duple meters have 2 beats per measure, triple meters have 3 beats per measure, and quadruple meters have 4 beats per measure. Remember, there are beats -- not beat divisions. Examples of duple meters are 2/4, 2/2 and 6/8, examples of triple meters are 3/4, 3/8, and 9/8, and examples of quadruple meters are 4/4 and 12/8.

1.8: Rhythmic Patterns 

In music, a rhythmic pattern is a series of rhythms that are repeated in a specific order. These patterns can be created using a variety of techniques, such as the use of different time signatures, rhythms played on different instruments, or the use of syncopation . 

Rhythmic patterns are an important aspect of music and play a role in determining the feel and groove of a song. They can also be used to create a sense of unity and structure in a piece of music. Rhythmic patterns can be simple or complex, and can be used in a variety of musical styles. 

For example, a simple rhythmic pattern might consist of just a few basic rhythms played in a repeating pattern, while a more complex pattern might involve multiple rhythms played simultaneously on different instruments.

1.9: Tempo 

Tempo explains the speed of the beat in music. It is typically measured in beats per minute (bpm) and indicated at the beginning of a piece of sheet music with a metronome marking. The tempo of a piece of music can affect its mood and can vary widely, from slow and solemn to fast and energetic.

The most widely-used Italian tempo indicators, from slowest to fastest, are:

Grave—slow and solemn (20–40 BPM)

Lento—slowly (40–45 BPM)

Largo—broadly (45–50 BPM)

Larghetto—rather broadly (60-66 BPM)

Adagio—slow and stately (literally, “at ease”) (66–73 BPM)

Andante—at a walking pace (73–77 BPM)

Andantino—slightly faster walking pace (78–83 BPM)

Moderato—moderately (86–97 BPM)

Allegretto—moderately fast (98–109 BPM)

Allegro—fast, quickly and bright (109–132 BPM)

Vivace—lively and fast (132–140 BPM)

Presto—extremely fast (168–177 BPM)

Prestissimo—even faster than Presto (178 BPM and over)

You must know these terms for the AP Music Theory test! Note that while the beats per minute are given for each of the tempo markings, they are not hard and fast rules. Instead, think of tempo markings as feelings or moods that you want to encapture. For example, Andante or Andantino is in fact slower than Vivace, but a piece in Andante is also more casual, laid back, and measured because pieces in Andante want to capture the feeling of "walking".

1.10: Dynamics  and Articulation

Dynamic markings show how loud or soft the music ought to be played. They range from very soft (pianissimo), to very loud (fortissimo). 

We use the < symbol to denote a crescendo, which means to increase the volume over the space indicated, and the > to denote a decrescendo, which means to decrease the volume. Sometimes, decrescendos are called diminuendos, and abbreviated "dim." on a score.

Composers may also want their music to be played with certain articulation. Articulation refers to the way that individual notes are played or sung in a piece of music. It can affect the phrasing, tempo, and overall character of the music, and it is an important aspect of musical expression.

Common articulations are “staccato,” “tenuto,” “legato,” and “marcato.” 

Key Terms to Review ( 25 )

Chromatic Scale

Compound Meter

Enharmonically Equivalent

Grand Staff

Key signature

Leading Tone

Major Scale

Mnemonic Device

Rhythmic Pattern

Roman numeral analysis

Simple Meter

Subdominant

Syncopation

Time Signature

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I. Fundamentals

Compound Meter and Time Signatures

Chelsey Hamm and Mark Gotham

Key Takeaways

• Compound meters are meters in which the beat divides into three and then further subdivides into six.
• Duple meters have groupings of two beats, triple meters have groupings of three beats, and quadruple meters have groupings of four beats. You can determine these groupings aurally by listening carefully and tapping along to the beat.
• There are different conducting patterns for duple, triple, and quadruple meters; these are the same in both compound and simple meters.
• Time signatures in compound meters express two things: how many divisions are contained in each measure (the top number), and the division unit — which note gets the division (the bottom number).
• Rhythms in compound meters get different counts based upon their division unit. Beats that are not articulated (because they contain more than one beat or because of ties, rests, or dots) receive parentheses around their counts.

Chapter Playlist

In the previous chapter, Simple Meter and Time Signatures, we explored rhythm and time signatures in simple meters —meters in which the beat divides into two and further subdivides into four. In this chapter, we will learn about compound meters —meters in which the beat divides into three and further subdivides into six.

Listening to and Conducting Compound Meters

Compound meters can be duple , triple , or quadruple , just like simple meters. In other words, the beats of compound meters group into sets of either two, three, or four. The difference is that each beat divides into three divisions instead of two, as you can hear by listening carefully to the following examples:

“End of the Road” (1992) by Boyz II Men is in a duple meter —the beats group into a two pattern. Tap along to the beat and notice how it divides into three parts instead of two. If you further divide the beat (by tapping twice as fast), you will feel that the beat subdivides into six parts.

• T he second movement (Minuet) of Franz Joseph Haydn’s Sonata no. 42 in G Major (1784) is in a compound triple meter . Listen for the groupings of three beats, each of which divides into three. 
• Finally, a compound quadruple meter contains four beats, each of which divides into three. Listen to “Exogenesis Symphony Part III” (2010) by the alternative rock band Muse. This is in a compound quadruple meter; in other words, the beats are grouped into a four pattern.

In general, it is less common for music to be written in compound meters. Nonetheless, you must learn how to read music and perform in these meters in order to master Western musical notation.

Review the conducting patterns for simple meters in the previous chapter , as they are the same for compound meters.

Time Signatures

Measures in compound meters are equivalent to one beat grouping (duple, triple, or quadruple), just as they are in simple meters. However, the two numbers in the time signature express different information for compound meters. The top number of a time signature in compound meter expresses the number of divisions in a measure, while the bottom number expresses the division unit —which note value is the division. Example 1 shows a common compound-meter time signature.

Just like in simple meter, compound-meter time signatures are not fractions (and there is no line between the two numbers), and they are placed after the clef on the staff. In Example 1 , the top number (6) means that each measure will contain six divisions; the bottom number (8) means that the eighth note is the division. This means that each measure in this time signature will contain six eighth notes, as you can verify by examining Example 1 .

In compound meters, the top number is always a multiple of three. Divide this number by three to find the corresponding number of beats in simple meter: top numbers of 6, 9, and 12 correspond to duple, triple, and quadruple meters respectively. In compound meters, the bottom number is usually one of the following:

• 8, which means the eighth note receives the division.
• 4, which means the quarter note receives the division.
• 16, which means the sixteenth note receives the division.

The following table summarizes the six categories of meters that we have covered so far:

Example 2. Categories of meters.

Counting in Compound Meter

While counting compound meter rhythms, it is recommended that you conduct in order to keep a steady tempo. Because beats in compound meter divide into three, they are always dotted. Beats in compound meter are as follows:

• If 8 is the bottom number, the beat is a dotted quarter note (equivalent to three eighth notes).
• If 4 is the bottom number, the beat is a dotted half note (equivalent to three quarter notes).
• If 16 is the bottom number, the beat is a dotted eighth note (equivalent to three sixteenth notes).

In simple meters, the beat divides into two parts, the first accented and the second non-accented. In compound meters, the beat divides into three parts, the first accented and the second and third non-accented. The counts for compound meter are different from simple meter, as demonstrated in Example 3 , which is in [latex]\mathbf{^6_8}[/latex].

Example 3. Counting in a compound duple meter.

In this time signature, each measure has two beats (6÷3=2), indicating duple meter. Each dotted quarter note (the beat) gets a count, which is expressed in Arabic numerals, like in simple meter. For notes that are longer than one beat (such as the dotted half note in the fourth measure of Example 3 ), the beats that are not counted out loud are still written in parentheses. Divisions are counted using the syllables “la” (first division) and “li” (second division). As the final measure of Example 3 shows, further subdivisions at the sixteenth-note level are counted as “ta,” with the “la” and “li” syllables on the eighth-note subdivisions remaining consistent.

The third measure of Example 3 presents two of the most common compound-meter rhythms with divisions, so make sure to review this measure carefully if you are not familiar with compound meter.

Please note that your instructor may employ a different counting system. Open Music Theory privileges American traditional counting, but this is not the only method.

Example 4 gives examples of rhythms in  (a) duple,  (b) triple, and  (c) quadruple meter. Just as with simple meters, compound duple meters have only two beats, compound triple meters have three beats, and compound quadruple meters have four beats.

Like in simple meters, beats that are not articulated because of rests and ties are written in parentheses and not counted out loud, as shown in Example 5 . However, because dotted notes receive the beat in compound meters, dotted rhythms do not cause beats to be written in parentheses the way they do in simple meters.

Example 5. Beats that are not counted out loud are put in parentheses.

Counting with Division Units of 4 and 16

So far, we have focused on meters with a dotted-quarter beat. In compound meters with other beat units (shown in the bottom number of the time signature), the same counting patterns are used for the beats and subdivisions, but they correspond to different note values ( Example 6 ).

Example 6. The same rhythm written with three different beat units: (a) dotted quarter, (b) dotted half, and (c) dotted eighth.

Each of these rhythms sounds the same and is counted the same. They are also all considered compound triple meters. The difference in each example is the bottom number—which note gets the division unit (eighth, quarter, or sixteenth), which then determines the beat unit.

Beaming, Stems, and Flags

In compound meters, beams still connect notes together by beat; beaming therefore changes in different time signatures. In the first measure of Example 7 , sixteenth notes are grouped into sets of six, because six sixteenth notes in a [latex]\mathbf{^6_8}[/latex] time signature are equivalent to one beat. In the second measure of Example 7 , sixteenth notes are grouped into sets of three, because three sixteenth notes in a [latex]\mathbf{^{\:6}_{16}}[/latex]   time signature are equivalent to one beat. 

When the music involves note values smaller than a quarter note, you should always clarify the meter with beams, regardless of whether the time signature is simple or compound. Example 8 shows twelve sixteenth notes beamed properly in two different meters. The first measure is in simple meter, so the notes are grouped by beat into sets of four; in the second measure, the compound meter requires the notes to be grouped by beat into sets of six.

The same rules of stemming and flagging that applied in simple meter still apply in compound meter. For notes above the middle line, stems and flags point downward on the left side of the note, and for notes below the middle line, stems and flags point upward on the right side of the note. Stems and flags on notes on the middle line can point in either direction, depending on the surrounding notes.

Like in simple meters, partial beams can be used for mixed rhythmic groupings. If you aren’t yet familiar with these conventions, pay special attention to how the notes in Example 9 are beamed.

• Compound Meter Tutorial (musictheory.net) (compound meter starts about halfway through)
• Simple vs. Compound Time Signatures (YouTube) (start at 1:49 for compound meter)
• Compound Meter Counting and Time Signatures (John Ellinger)
• Compound Meter Counting (YouTube)
• Compound Meter Rhythmic Practice (YouTube)
• Compound Meter Beaming (Michael Sult)
• Meter Identification (Simple and Compound) ( .pdf ,), and with Bar Lines ( .pdf )
• Meter Beaming (Simple and Compound) ( .pdf ), and pp. 4 and 5 ( .pdf )
• Time Signatures (Simple and Compound) ( .pdf )
• Counting in 6/8 ( .pdf ,  .pdf ,  .pdf )
• Time Signatures ( .pdf ,  .pdf , .pdf )
• Bar Lines ( .pdf ), and p. 2 ( .pdf )
• Notes, Rests, Bar Lines ( .pdf , .docx )
• Re-beaming ( .pdf , .musx )

Media Attributions

• Compound Meter Time Signature © Chelsey Hamm is licensed under a CC BY-SA (Attribution ShareAlike) license
• Simple and Compound Beaming © Mark Gotham is licensed under a CC BY-SA (Attribution ShareAlike) license

A meter that divides the beat into three parts.

A meter with two beats per measure.

A meter with three beats per measure.

A meter with four beats per measure.

An indication of meter in Western music notation, often made up of two numbers stacked vertically.

The note value that divides the beat into two or three parts (in simple or compound meters, respectively); for example, the eighth note in 4/4 or 6/8.

A meter that divides the beat into two parts.

Created by bar lines, a measure (or bar) is equivalent to one beat grouping.

The horizontal lines that connect certain groups of notes together.

OPEN MUSIC THEORY Copyright © 2023 by Chelsey Hamm and Mark Gotham is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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2.5: Measures and Time Signatures

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Measure is a segment of time within a piece of music defined by a given number of beats. Each measure is separated by a bar. Within each measure, beats are represented by a particular note value and the boundaries of the bar are indicated by vertical bar lines. Dividing music into bars provides regular reference points to pinpoint locations within a piece of music. It also makes written music easier to follow, since each bar of staff symbols can be read and played as a batch.

On the staff, bar lines provide boundaries and structure and can also give a musician directions. A double bar line (or double bar ) can consist of two single bar lines drawn close together, separating two sections within a piece, or a bar line followed by a thicker bar line, indicating the end of a piece or movement.

A repeat sign looks like the music end, but it has two dots, one above the other, indicating that the section of music that is before is to be repeated. The beginning of the repeated passage can be marked by a begin-repeat sign ; if this is absent the repeat is understood to be from the beginning of the piece or movement. This begin-repeat sign, if appearing at the beginning of a staff, does not act as a bar line because no bar is before it; its only function is to indicate the beginning of the passage to be repeated.

Types of Bar Lines

Time Signatures

In written music, time signatures are also called meter signatures. They help us identify which kind of note is used to count beats in a measure and how many beats will be in each measure.

In a musical score, the time signature appears at the beginning of the piece, as a time symbol or stacked numerals. Below are some common time signatures and how they are placed on the staff.

Common Time Signatures

The first example is 4/4 time. In this time signature there are 4 beats possible in each measure, and the quarter note represents one beat. The top number of the time signature tells how many beats are in each measure, and the bottom number tells which note will represent one beat. Sometimes 4/4 time is represented by a large C, because it is also know as common time.

The time signature 2/2 means that in each measure, the half note represents one beat (indicated by the lower number) and there are two beats in each measure (indicated by the top number)

The time signature 3/4 tells a musician that a quarter note represents one beat in a measure (the lower number) and that there will be three beats in each measure (the top number).

• What does the time signature 6/8 mean?
• What do you think the C with a line down the center means?

Classification of Meters

Simple meters.

In a simple meter, each beat in a measure can be broken into two equal parts. For example in 3/4 time the quarter note is used to count the three beats in each measure. The quarter note can be halved into eighth notes, therefore 3/4 is a simple meter.

Listen to the first movement of Haydn’s “Farewell” Symphony. The beat can easily be divided into two eighth notes.

A YouTube element has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view it online here: http://pb.libretexts.org/map/?p=52

Compound Meters

In a compound meter, each beat can be divided into thirds. For example in 6/8 time, the eighth note represents one beat and there are six beats in each measure.

Please listen to the first movement of Corelli’s “Christmas Concerto,” tapping to its slow, steady beat.

Contributors and Attributions

• Joseph Haydn / Symphony No. 45 in F-sharp minor: Farewell (Mackerras). Authored by : scrymgeour34. Located at : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXctarOxRz8 . License : All Rights Reserved . License Terms : Standard YouTube License
• Arcangelo Corelli - Concerto grosso, No. 8, Op. 6 'Christmas Concerto' - Pastorale. Authored by : Anna and Quido Holbling, violins. Ludowit Kanta, cello. Located at : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Zs6_vsU9cg . License : All Rights Reserved . License Terms : Standard YouTube License