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Time signature

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"Common time" redirects here. For the short story, see Common Time. 

"4/4" redirects here. For the class of vehicle drivetrains, see Four-wheel drive. 

Simple example of a 3 

4 time signature: here there are three (3) quarter-notes (4) per measure.

The time signature (also known as meter signature,[1]

 metre signature,[2]

 or measure

signature[3]

) is a notational convention used in Western musical notation to specify how many

 beats (pulses) are to be contained in each  bar  and which note value is to be given one beat. In a

musical score, the time signature appears at the beginning of the piece, as a time symbol or

stacked numerals, such as or3

 

4 (read common time and three-four time, respectively), immediately following the key signature 

or immediately following the clef  symbol if the key signature is empty. A mid-score timesignature, usually immediately following a  barline, indicates a change of meter.

There are various types of time signatures, depending on whether the music follows simple

rhythms or involves unusual shifting tempos, including: simple (such as 3 

4 or 4 

4), compound (e.g., 9 

8 or 12 

8), complex (e.g., 5 

4 or 7  8), mixed (e.g., 5 

8 & 3 

8 or 6 

8 & 3 

4), additive (e.g., 3+2+3 

8), fractional (e.g., 2½ 

4), and irrational meters (e.g., 3 

10 or 5 

24).

Contents  1 Simple time signatures 

o  1.1 Notational variations in simple time 

  2 Compound time signatures 

o  2.1 An example 

  3 Beat and time 

o  3.1 Actual beat divisions 

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o  3.2 Interchangeability, rewriting meters 

o  3.3 Stress and meter  

  4 Most frequent time signatures 

o  4.1 Video samples for the most frequent time signatures 

  5 Complex time signatures 

o 

5.1 Video samples for complex time signatures   6 Mixed meters 

  7 Variants 

o  7.1 Additive meters 

  7.1.1 Video samples for additive meters 

o  7.2 Other variants 

  8 Irrational meters 

o  8.1 Video samples for irrational meters 

  9 Early music usage 

o  9.1 Mensural time signatures 

o  9.2 Proportions 

 

10 See also   11 References 

  12 External links 

Simple time signatures

Basic time signatures: 4 

4, also known as common time ( ); 2 

2, also known as cut time or cut-common time ( ); plus 2 

4; 3 

4; and 6 

8 

Simple time signatures consist of two numerals, one stacked above the other:

  The lower  numeral indicates the note value that represents one beat (the beat unit ).

  The upper  numeral indicates how many such beats there are grouped together in a  bar . 

For instance, 2 

4 means two quarter-note (crotchet) beats per bar  — 3 

8 means three eighth-note (quaver) beats per bar.

The most common simple time signatures are 2 

4, 3