Lesson 13: Time Signatures (Meters)

Writers of music have a convenient way of putting music into "sections" or "compartments" that make it visually easy to follow. The compartments have been discussed before... we call them "measures" or "bars". Take a look at most printed music, and you'll see this very clearly. Measures are separated from each other by "bar lines". You'll also notice at the beginning of each piece of music a time signature. Simply stated, a time signature consists of two numbers, one being written above the other, to indicate how many beats are in each bar. This is stated directly, with simple time signatures (  for one), or indirectly, with compound time signatures (  for example). Our first task is to discover the differences between simple and compound time.

SIMPLE TIME SIGNATURES
Simple time signatures tell us two things immediately: 1)HOW MANY beats are in each bar, and 2) What kind of note gets the beat. Study the following:

You can see that the time signature is  . The time signature tells us two things: a) The '2' tells us that there are 2 beats in every bar, and b) the '4' tells us that each beat is one quarter note long. Simple! (Guess that's why they call it a simple time signature.) Also, notice in bar 2 that the eighth notes have been beamed together in groups of two. That's because two eighth notes together are one quarter note in length. The writer is showing us that the quarter note "gets the beat." Here's the same excerpt with the beats shown above the music:

If we were to count along with the excerpt as it is played, we would say "1, 2, 1, 2, 1, 2," etc.

The subdivision or breakdown of a beat is its number of components. In simple time signatures, each beat can be "subdivided" into two parts. Here is the same excerpt with the subdivision, or breakdown, shown underneath:

This excerpt shows four things that describe all simple time signatures:

COMPOUND TIME SIGNATURES:
Unlike simple time signatures, compound time signatures do not directly show us the number of beats per bar. Instead, they show us the number of breakdown notes per bar.

Study the following:

In this excerpt, we can see that the writer has beamed the first three eighth notes together. The writer is showing that the first three eighths form one beat; that's why they were beamed together. We therefore need to take the eighth notes and "condense" them to discover what the beat is. Condensing the three eighths down to one note gives us a dotted quarter. (1 8th plus 1 8th plus 1 8th equals 1 dotted quarter note.) In other words, the beat in a  bar of music is the dotted quarter. You can see that by going through the two bars of the excerpt, it is possible to apply dotted quarter note beats. Here's what it looks like:

Just like with simple time signatures, we can break down each beat into beat subdivisions. However, though simple time beats break down into two parts, compound time beats break down into three parts:

You can see that each bar has SIX breakdown notes. The breakdown notes are EIGHTH notes. Therefore, the time signature is  .

So, here are the four things that describe compound time signatures:

There! Armed with that knowledge, you should be able to say what time signature the following excerpt is in:

So let's study it. Look at bar 1. Notice that the eighth notes are beamed together in groups of two. Each one of those eighth note pairs can "condense down" to form one quarter note. Looks like the quarter note may be the beat unit in this excerpt. Can we apply a quarter note beat pattern to the whole excerpt? Absolutely! This is what it would look like:

So since applying quarter notes as a beat unit seems to work, we can tell that this is a simple time signature:

The beat is an un-dotted note.
Each beat will subdivide into two components. (One quarter note subdivides into two eighth notes.).

And since we know that it is simple time, the actual signature should be the number of beats per bar. ( , or C):

Look at how the eighth notes have been beamed. Notice, in particular, the last group of notes at the end of the first bar. The dotted eighth, sixteenth, and eighth note have all been beamed together. If we condense those three notes down, we get one note which is a dotted quarter in length. It appears that perhaps the dotted quarter will be the beat unit in this excerpt. Let's see if we can apply a dotted quarter beat to the entire excerpt. The eighth rest and two eighth notes at the beginning would certainly be explained in terms of a dotted quarter beat. That leaves the quarter note and eighth note in the middle, and that, too, can fit into the dotted quarter beat pattern. Here's the first bar, with lines drawn around each beat:

The lines are there to help you see the beat groups clearly.

When you look at the rest of the excerpt, you can see that the second bar also fits the dotted quarter beat pattern: the two sixteenths plus two eight rests add up to equal one dotted quarter; obviously the dotted quarter in the middle is easy; and the six sixteenths at the end condense down to form a dotted quarter.

So how do we assign this excerpt a time signature? The beat is a dotted note, so this is compound time. Therefore, the numbers of the time signature will reflect the number of breakdown notes in each bar. As this is compound, the beat breaks down into three parts:

How many breakdown notes in each bar? Nine. What kind of notes are the breakdown notes? Eighth notes. Therefore, the time signature is  .

SYNCOPATION

From time to time in music you will notice occasions where the weak part of a beat, or the notes between beats, are given special emphasis. This accenting of weak beats is called syncopation. It is a very common technique for composers to use, to heighten rhythmic energy and drive. Here is an example of a syncopated passage:

  

I would recommend going over this lesson slowly several times, to make sure you understand it completely before doing the quiz. If you go to The Addition System we will go over counting and rhythm in depth.You can also visit The Elements of Style to assist you in playing music.