Time Signature

There are two parts to a Time Signature:

Top: beats per measure
Bottom: what note gets 1 beat


Beats per measure: describes how many counts are contained in each measure.

Example: in the above picture, each measure has 4 beats, so we count to 4 ("1, 2, 3, 4") in each small section of the music.

Note: However, this does not necessarily mean that there must be 4 taps of a key because different notes have different beat values. For example, if 2 half notes (which gets 2 beats each) appear in a measure, then they must be held for down for 2 counts each. This equates to 4 beats in total, but we only pressed the key 2 times. So, just because there are 4 beats per measure doesn't doesn't mean that there must be 4 taps of a key.


What note gets one beat: describes the type of note given the beat value of "one"

Example: in the above picture, quarter notes (4 means quarter; 8 means eighth; 2 means half; etc.) get one beat, so every quarter note is 1 count.

Conceptual Example: if a quarter note gets one beat per measure, then for each quarter note in the music, we hold the key for 1 count. Similarly, if an 8th note gets 1 beat, then for each 8th note that appears, we hold for 1 count. However, if an 8th note gets 1 beat, and a quarter note appears, we must hold for 2 counts (because a quarter note is two times an 8th note).

Also, keep in mind that the beats per measure must depend on what note gets 1 beat. While a quarter note in 4/4 time has one beat, a quarter note in 4/8 time will have 2 beats (because in 4/8 time, 8th notes get 1 beat, and since quarter notes are twice as long as 8th notes, they get 2 beats). If we don't specify which note gets one beat, we won't know how to count to "1 beat." Thus, we can't possibly maintain the same number of beats per measure if not for the bottom number of the Time Signature.


Review

  1. Time Signature has 2 parts: beats per measure and what note gets one beat.
  2. Beats per measure: number of counts per measure
  3. What note gets one beat: what type of note counts as 1 beat
  4. Beats per measure depends on what note gets one beat, so the bottom number is very important in the Time Signature, although it may be harder to understand.

« Beats/Counts