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Telling the time

The time signature tells us where the pulse or accent falls within a bar. The accents are identical for all time signatures with the same upper figure.

The accents in 4/4 time could be sub-divided even further: strong, weak, less-strong, weaker. The main thing to note in all time signatures is that the first beat is always the strongest. In 4/4 time the third beat is the second strongest and beats two and four are weaker.

Compound time signatures

In compound time, the upper number is always a multiple of three so the basic beat is, therefore, a dotted note:

In simple time, the rhythm or pulse is essentially the upper figure. So in 2/4 time there are two pulses to the bar, in 3/4 there are three pulses and in 4/4 there are four. In compound time, divide the upper number by three to find the main beat.

A time signature with a 6 on top has a two-feel, one with a 9 on the top has a three-feel and one with 12 on the top has a four-feel. This is made easier to see by the way the notes in a bar are beamed together.

Let's compare 3/4 and 6/8 time. Both contain the equivalent of six eighth notes but they are grouped and accented differently:

The notes in the 3/4 piece are grouped in three lots of eighth notes while those in the 6/8 piece are grouped in two lots of eighth notes, equivalent to a dotted quarter note. There are various notation rules and conventions to ensure that notes are grouped to make the accent and rhythm easy to read and understand.

6/8 is very common for Irish jigs and marches including Sousa's Liberty Bell March otherwise known as the Monty Python Theme. Ravel's Bolero is in 9/8 and sales of this had a new lease of life after being used in the love scene in the film, 10. Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries is also in 9/8. This piece seems quite fast because of the pulsating melody line but the underlying three-beat isn't fast at all.

Good timing

When you start to analyse time signatures in this way, it can seem rather mechanical and decidedly unmusical but most musicians soon pick up the feel of a time signature once they're played it or heard it a few times.

There's more good news - even though we've listed all the popular time signatures, some are far more popular than others and in practise you're most likely to come across just a handful: 4/4 3/4 6/8 12/8 and 2/2.

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