There is a simple way to work out whether a time signature is simple time or compound time. Simple time and compound time signatures can be duple, triple or quadruple. In compound time, the top number is 6 and higher, and can be divided by 3. Duple time has 2 beats, triple time has 3 beats and quadruple time has 4 beats. The bottom number 2 of the time signature represents a minim, number 4 a crotchet, number 8 a quaver and number 16 a semiquaver. The top number represents the number in each bar. So, 2/4 has 2 crotchets in each bar, 6/8 has 6 quavers in each bar and 6/16 has 6 semiquavers in each bar.
Simple Time
Duple: 2/2 2/4 2/8 Triple: 3/2 3/4 3/8 Quadruple: 4/2 4/4 4/8
Compound Time
Duple: 6/4 6/8 6/16 Triple: 9/4 9/8 9/16 Quadruple: 12/4 12/8 12/16
In the piece of music below, the C time signature, also known as common time, is 4/4:
When the C has a line through the middle, also known as cut common time, the time signature is 2/2 or 4/2.
The music below is an example of 2/4 time:
The music below is an example of 6/8 time:
Brown, James Murray. A Handbook Of Musical Knowledge. London: Trinity College of Music, 1987. Print, P.24.
No comments:
Post a Comment