Questions tagged [time-signatures]
Numeric ratio indicating the subdivision of measures according to groups of beats.
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is there a way to notate in a time signature a recurring triplet?
In The Beatles song “Ticket To Ride” the verses use a compound meter of 2/4 + ¼ note triplet. If put in a time signature would it look like this?
2 3
— + —
4 3
Is there a way to notate a triplet ...
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Are the terms time and rhythm interchangeable?
I’ve been reading a few books that are titled as if rhythm is a term that is interchangeable with time. I.e, I would have personally titled them something like the study of time in music or elements ...
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Were there any automatic timekeeping devices prior to the metronome used for setting and maintaining tempo (BPM) and pulse?
I know there's a decent amount of science that goes into creating a device that can set and maintain time, so this may be a very simple question with "no" being the answer, but I'm just ...
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How to count when bass and treble clefs share notes or chords
I'm totally new to piano. I have a background in guitar, programming and some math, therefore I tend to think a little in an "exact number of boxes" fashion or "an array of numbers"...
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Why does the tab below show 4/4 and not 16/16 when there are 1/16th notes, but the next section shows 9/16?
In the below screenshot, we can see that there are 1/16th notes written as 4 groups of 4 1/16th notes.
What difference does it make if it is written as 16/16, does it change the feel of the song, or ...
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Use 4/4 + 2/4 versus 6/4 time signature
I tried to understand and then transcribe the song "Halo on Fire" by Metallica (2016). I noticed there are two sections when the time signature changes from 4/4 to 6/5. I will use the ...
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Measure numbers in alternating time signature with dotted barlines
A piece has an alternating 7/8 and 8/8 pattern a la this answer's second example, notated as 7+8/8 with dotted barlines between.
For the purpose of numbering, does the full 15-beat pattern count as ...
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How do I decide if my piece should be expressed as 3/4, 6/4 or 3/2?
I'm still an amateur composer, but I've been wanting to explore time signatures outside of 4/4. The trouble is, I'm having issues figuring the actual time signature of what I've written. I was ...
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Calculate note timestamps
I'm trying to develop an application that reads data from guitar pro file and then for each note in there, it gives me timestamps (with some other useful infos for sure).
However, it isn't trivial to ...
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I am unsure of what time signature to use for my piece, as I'm pretty sure it changes mid-way through
Here is my piece so far, as you can see in green, the melody is highlighted. It starts on beat one, but I need a write the repeat in a clearer way so that it starts on beat one the second time it is ...
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Tchaikovsky's sleeping beauty Op. 66 introduction measure 28
I was listening to the ballet sleeping beauty.
In the beginning in the introduction, when there is a change of time signature. (measure 28) it felt like three beats.
I looked up the score, and it ...
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What is the correct rest grouping in 6/4 time?
From an ABRSM test paper (G5)
The last rest is incorrect according to the answer. However to me it divides the dotted minim beat into 2+1 for compound time and appears correct.
What is wrong with it ...
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How to write time signatures in emails and texts
Time Signatures
I was always taught that a time signature should be written as a fraction without a line
However, this is a bind, or even impossible, in emails, Word and texts, etc. So, I am ...
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If I've put the notes correctly in the first piano roll image, why does it not sound correct?
I used this video to find the notes of ghost riders in the sky.
Based on this image:
I created this in Fl Studio:
I used to resize all of them together, making them faster or slower.
But it doesn't ...
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Problems with notation in 6/8 and dotted sixteenth
I have been practicing with the Stick Control book by George Lawrence Stone. After a while it starts with the 6/8 time signature, but then I ran into some notation that I can't quite understand. If ...
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Time signatures and music [closed]
My daughter has created a piece of music for her B-Tec music production class in which the time signature changes, but the tutor is trying to argue that this is not correct. Can someone please clarify ...
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Hip-Hop Song Analysis [closed]
A friend and I are delving into some UK Hip-hop and have been listening to the much older songs and analyzing their style. I was wondering if anyone would want to help and provide their detailed input ...
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What pickup time signature is this [closed]
How can you have an eighth note quadruplet and three eighth notes after. And how can you have a quadruplet with a dotted half note and two quarter notes?
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How should I read the timing on this measure of Rachmaninoff 32 10?
I'm working on Rachmaninoff's piano prelude Op 32 No 10, and I'm having trouble combining the left and right hand on m. 47 (screenshot below).
Basically, I can't figure out which right hand notes line ...
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Is a syncopated rhythm in 4/4 time really 4/4 time?
I am working on this score (so far just cellos violas and bassses) which uses a changing rhythm but in modern music this could be notated in 4/4 time too with syncopation. In fact, the rhythm used is ...
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What's the practical differences between 4/4 and 4/8? (or 4/2, and so on) [duplicate]
I read a lot on the web about this topic, but the answer I got mainly is "depends on how composer will write the sheet music", and it seems a convention.
What (in practical) will change? ...
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Is it correct to state that this is 2/3 time signature?
Basically, if this is 4/4 (i.e. 4 beats aka 1 bar, 4 clocks):
and this is 1/4 (i.e. 1 beat aka 1/4 bar, 4 clocks):
is it correct to state that this is 2/3? (i.e. 2 beats aka half bar, 3 clocks):
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time signatures in shuffle funk
I am struggling at understanding how is called the time signature in funk where the eighth note is divided in 3 and only the 1st and 3rd are played...sixteenth note triplets.
In jazz it would be ...
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Changing the time signature so all notes fit in one bar
I'm currently making sheet music for a song that isn't mine and I know it's in 4/4 but as the song progresses, there's no way I can fit all notes in that time signature, so I'm changing it to 6/4, 7/4,...
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Extracting music features from MIDI, storing them in arrays, making new MIDI file from extracted features, how do I get output as similar to original?
I have extracted notes, chords, rests and time signatures from parsed MIDI file. Storing them and again playing them back, I still cannot get the original speed and mix of sounds. What am I doing ...
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Is Queen's Killer Queen in 4/4, 12/8, or both?
I'm writing about Queen songs and have encountered some interesting differences of opinion in respect of the time signature of Killer Queen. I have always heard the song in 4/4, as defined by the five ...
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Can anyone identify what's going on with this rhythm? Is it syncopated, odd time signature or are the instruments out of sync?
I'm currently transcribing the outro section of the song "Even the Gods Must Die" by Nile and I've been trying to figure out how to approach the feel of the rhythm. It seems like the drums ...
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Rubato where there is no indication of rubato
Unless I'm crazy (not impossible, tbh) every performance of Messiaen: Prelude No. 7, Plainte calme that I have heard does not seem to follow the sheet music.
There's a passage where the time signature ...
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Should I tie across beats 2 and 3 in 3/4?
I know that 3/4 is strong-weak-weak. I've also heard that when it comes to rests, if I have a quarter note on 1, I should then have two quarter rests rather than a half rest.
But how about the ...
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What is the meaning of the two added time signatures?
If my understanding (just being based on the number of counts in each measure in the given staff) is right then two added time signatures only mean that in one measure, there will be 6 beats and a ...
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Is there a notation for borrowing a beat from the next measure?
First off, just to be clear, this is a purely historical/theoretical question. In the example I'm going to give, I think it would universally be considered clearer just to write it in 4/4, maybe with ...
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Why did Shostakovich use such long note values for such fast notes?
I've loved Shostakovich's 8th quartet for ages but only just now looked at the score. I imagined the second movement would be a sea of black notes given its breakneck pace and was shocked to see that ...
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cut time vs common time [duplicate]
i understand that 2/2 or cut time has 2 beats as opposed to 4/4 or common time, but how does this actually sound different?
if you took a piece and played if it was notated as being 4/4 and then ...
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Why are time signatures with 7 in the numerator less common?
The time signature 7/8, as well as other time signatures with 7 in the numerator, are less common. However, I have two reasons why this should not be true:
9 is commonly used in the numerator of time ...
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Confusion about BPM and time signature [duplicate]
First of all, is the beat in BPM based on the quarter note or the fundamental beat of each time signature?
For example, if it's 3/2 time and it's 80 BPM, does the half note go in 80 times in a minute?
...
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Time signature vs. Melody [duplicate]
I have a very difficult time understanding the relevance of time signature in music. Does a musician think in terms of time signature when composing a piece, or thinks in terms of melody?
When I play ...
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Jazz Waltz Time Signature
Lately I've been playing (in big band) a couple of 'jazz waltzes' - namely All Blues and Bluesette, as references - and one of my own compositions. They're written in 3/4, but always get counted in ...
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What is it called when the main melody is playing in a different time signature from the harmony?
For example, in the Phantasy Star Online Intro song, the main melody starts to play in 3/4 time, whereas the overall song (and the harmony) remains playing in 4/4 time. (starts after 10 seconds, at ...
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16 eighth notes in a 12/8 measure... How? [duplicate]
Hello, I quite new to music theory. I was writing a code that reads through sheet music and noticed something I didn't understand in some of the measures (like in the image: the leftmost measure, top ...
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Best approach to count Seven Four Signature (7/4)?
I listened Pink Floyd "Money" from the album "Dark Side of the Moon" for a while break after and started to think about Seven Four (7/4) time signature in music theory and how to ...
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Is there a standard way to conduct 5/4 and 7/4, amongst other irregular time signatures?
We expect the downbeat to be signified with exactly that from a conductor - a downstroke of the baton. With 3/4 and 4/4, and often 6/8, that's pretty straightforward to achieve, with a maximum of 4 ...
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How do "dotted-crotchet = one beat" teachers address "irregular compound" meters (e.g., 5/8)?
"Ordinary" Compound Meter
I was taught that 6/8 time, for example, meant "six beats in a measure; the eighth note (quaver) gets one beat." Similarly, 9/8 would be "nine beats ...
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What is the time signature of Symphony No. 9 (Beethoven)?
I found this on Wikipedia:
(in the IV. Finale section)
1 has four crotchets;
2 has two crotchets and one minim
3 has one and a half crotchets, one quaver, and one minim
The total duration of each bar ...
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Notes not adding up to time signature, with weird white oval note
Any idea how to play this piece? The notes doesn't add up to 8/4, and there are some white oval notes, which I've never encountered before. Also, what does "Air" mean on the second staff?
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What is it called when a song starts sounding like the beat is in one place, but is actually somewhere else? [duplicate]
The example that brought this to mind is Lindsey Stirling's "Darkside". At the beginning of the song, plucked notes are played on what we later find out is on the third triplets, but we have ...
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Bottom number on a time signature [duplicate]
My understanding of the bottom number in a time signature is that this is how many beats there are in a whole note. So if the bottom number is 4, a whole note gets 4 beats. If the bottom number is 2 a ...
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Can I use/when can I use dotted rests in time signatures such as 5/8 or 7/8?
I'm writing a song that changes to 7/8 and I'm wondering if or when dotted rests are appropriate (assuming that dotted rests are appropriate for compound meters).
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Are there applications of interval graphs in musical analysis?
For each voice v_j we have notes n_ji (not rests) which are played at times s_ji and end at time e_ji. Now let us collet all intervals of time where the notes of all voices are played:
I_1 = [a_1,b_1],...
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Rewriting a Rhythm in a New Time Signature - differences on music notation softwares
I'm new on Music Theory so probably is a stupid question, but starting from a simple measure in 4/4 like this:
transformed to compound equivalent signature, I should change to 12/8, and add the dot ...
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On the difference between 4/4 and 4/2 time signatures [duplicate]
I am new to music theory and I was going through this video on YouTube to understand time signatures. The author mentions that the top number indicates number of beats. I understand what this means. ...
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