53
votes
Accepted
(1/√π)/√⅔ as a time signature?
I think the author of that Wikipedia page has rather misinterpreted Nancarrow's title page for the Study (linked on Roland Bouman's comment to the question). (1/√π)/√⅔ refers to a tempo ratio between ...
- 864
37
votes
Does 3/4 time signature differ from 6/8?
Time signatures look like fractions, but are not really. I grew up on crotchets and quavers, so I'll use those words, but the American/German number-names drop naturally out of the time signatures.
3/...
- 2,255
34
votes
Accepted
Does 3/4 time signature differ from 6/8?
Actually, in terms of fractions, 3/4 is the same as 6/8. But time signatures are not fractions.
3/4 means each bar has 3 notes of 1/4 each. 6/8 means each bar has 6 notes of 1/8 each. And yes, the ...
- 1,971
34
votes
Accepted
How to notate time signature switching consistently every measure
Yes, one possible way is to clarify a "5+3" meter throughout. Depending on the music, this could be preferable to just writing 8/4 if the meter is clearly a 5+3 layout.
As one example of how this ...
- 78.7k
32
votes
Accepted
Relationship between 3/4 and 4/4
Time signatures and bars are not there arbitrarily, nor just to help count your way through a piece. They are there to provide guidance on the rhythm of the piece. Where it is accented, where it ...
- 35.7k
29
votes
Is it true that cut time means "play twice as fast as written"?
It would be more accurate to say that cut time "will sound twice as fast as the same notes played in 4/4 at the same tempo". That's essentially what they're trying to get across.
But even that ...
- 4,727
28
votes
Why are time signatures not used in this score?
This free-thinking question has already provoked at least
one thoughtful answer.
The sample score happens to have time signatures, however,
beginning with 4 bars of 4⁄4
and going into a bar of ...
- 632
27
votes
Accepted
Notes not adding up to time signature?
They add up fine. The first three notes you see, with the 3 underneath them are to be played on the count of one quarter. These are called triplets. The same for the second three notes and then the ...
- 30.6k
26
votes
Why use odd time signatures?
It basically comes down to how the way the notes/beats are emphasised affects how your ear hears how the beats are grouped. Listening to a piece in 5/4, you'll hear that the beats are audibly in ...
- 45.5k
24
votes
Accepted
How is it that 12 eighth notes fit in a measure labeled as common time?
They are actually eighth note triplets instead of eighth notes. The alternative notation to this would be to group the eighth notes and rests in threes and put a 3 over them like a standard triplet, ...
Dom♦
- 46.1k
24
votes
Is 41/16 a proper time signature?
There aren't really rules around "proper" time signatures, so much as practical considerations. "Is there another way of expressing this?" Yes, there is almost certainly a better ...
- 7,414
23
votes
Accepted
Sheet music time signature question
The first measure is called a pickup measure. The music stars on the fourth beat, so the music would start with rests. Sometimes people will put the rests in, other times (as here) they will leave ...
- 15.2k
22
votes
Accepted
Whole bar rest in 6/8 time?
A semibreve rest CAN be used in 6/8 time - or ANY time (apart from 4/2 - quite unusual)) to represent one bar's rest. At that point, it isn't actually a 'semibreve', but represents just one bar of ...
- 173k
22
votes
Accepted
Why does this time signature have addition?
It is 9/8, BUT the 'normal' 9/8 is three sets of three quavers - thus the bottom number of 8.
2+2+3+2 also equals 9, and it's written that way so the player can understand what the composer wants as ...
- 173k
21
votes
Can music time signatures really be irrational?
He's just showing off.
There's a few major reasons why what he describes doesn't matter. First and foremost, sheet music is a guide. It's not actually the music. You are always expected to put ...
- 1,713
21
votes
Accepted
I don't understand the bottom number in a time signature
To put it very simply, the bottom number tells you what the top number is referring to. It is a little clearer to use the fractional way of discussing notes, so:
minim = half (1/2) note
crotchet = ...
- 6,403
20
votes
Accepted
Does the line between the time signature have a name?
In Printed Music
In typeset music, time signatures are usually not written with a line between the numerator and denominator (at least no more of a line than is already there).
In Text
However, ...
- 20.2k
20
votes
How is it that 12 eighth notes fit in a measure labeled as common time?
The eighth notes in the left hand are all triplets. The ones in the right hand are normal. Note how the note heads line up vertically in measure 4.
On a purely technical level, this is incorrect ...
- 21.2k
20
votes
Accepted
How do you know if a song has triplets in 4/4 or if the tempo is 3/4?
Technically speaking, you can't ever say for certain until you see the composer's original score (if there even is one); a piece could literally be written in an infinite number of time signatures. As ...
- 78.7k
20
votes
Is it true that cut time means "play twice as fast as written"?
That sentence "Played twice as fast as written" indicates that someone must have a misunderstanding. Someone who probably thinks that quarter notes are supposed to be played at a certain speed. That ...
- 4,012
20
votes
Can one use a whole note to span a full 5/4 measure?
I would like to add a detail to Richard's answer.
The bars sometimes has a 3+2 rhythm and other times a 2+3 rhythm. You could notate the long held chords in synchronization with that.
So when it is 3+...
- 4,012
19
votes
Is there any practical difference between 3/4 and 3/8 time?
In the context of Baroque dance music or suites, then there are good reasons to use 3/8 in preference of 3/4 (or vice versa). In the days before metronomes, how the music was notated would be an ...
- 1,240
19
votes
Relationship between 3/4 and 4/4
Your understanding of the math, as it were, is correct. And I would say yes, a multiple of 4 bars of music in 3/4 can be expressed as music in 4/4 (in a multiple of 3 bars), but I would dispute that ...
- 34.4k
19
votes
In 3/2 time why is a whole-note rest used as a bar's rest when a whole-note doesn't fill the measure?
A bar's duration can be represented using the whole note
No, not always! This is the incorrect assumption you're making.
A bar's 'duration' depends on the time signature. So, in a standard 4/4 bar, ...
- 2,447
19
votes
How can I find the length in seconds of a quarter-note (crotchet) if I have a tempo marking?
To find the length in seconds of each beat for any given metronome marking in beats-per-minute (bpm), you would divide 60 (the number of seconds in a minute) by the bpm marking. For instance, if a ...
- 20.9k
19
votes
Accepted
Can music time signatures really be irrational?
I'll give this another spin:
Can music time signatures really be rational?
Which I'd answer: no, not really. Rationality is a mathematical concept, depending on an exact, axiomatic notion of ...
- 33.4k
18
votes
Accepted
Making sense of 5/4 time signatures
Normally, we're told that 5/4 is really 3/4 + 2/4 or 2/4 + 3/4.
Well, I have to ask "told by who?" It is not the case that 5/4 has to be interpreted as either 3/4 + 2/4 or 2/4 + 3/4. It is perfectly ...
- 20.9k
18
votes
Do time signatures make sense?
If you think the denominators are arbitrary, try notating a stately sarabande in 3/8 time - you'll drown in beams and flags. Next, try notating a lively tarantella in 3/1 time - you'll be overwhelmed ...
- 6,833
16
votes
Does 3/4 time signature differ from 6/8?
They are very different.
In 3/4 you are playing in threes: [ONE two three] [ONE two three] [ONE two three].
In 6/8 you are playing twos [[ONE two three] [Four five six]] [[ONE two three] [Four five ...
- 9,676
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible