Time Signature Music Theory

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{ \key c \major \time 3/4 \relative c' { f a c } }

An example of a 3
4 time signature. The time signature indicates that there are three quarter notes
(crotchets) per measure (bar).
A time signature (also known as meter signature,[1] metre signature,[2] and measure
signature)[3] is a convention in Western music notation that specifies how many
note values of a particular type are contained in each measure (bar). The time
signature indicates the meter of a musical movement.
In a music score the time signature appears as two stacked numerals, such as 4
4 (spoken as four–four time), or a time symbol, such as common time (spoken as
common time). It immediately follows the key signature (or if there is no key
signature, the clef symbol). A mid-score time signature, usually immediately
following a barline, indicates a change of meter.
Most time signatures are either simple (the note values are grouped in pairs, like
2
4, 3
4, and 4
4), or compound (grouped in threes, like 6
8, 9
8, and 12
8). Less-common signatures indicate complex, mixed, additive, and irrational
meters.
{
\override Score.SpacingSpanner.strict-note-spacing = ##t
\set Score.proportionalNotationDuration = #(ly:make-moment 1/1)
\key c \major
\relative c' {
\numericTimeSignature \time 4/4 s1
\defaultTimeSignature \time 4/4 s1
\numericTimeSignature \time 2/2 s1
\defaultTimeSignature \time 2/2 s1
\time 2/4 s2
\time 3/4 s2.
\time 6/8 s2.
} }
Basic time signatures: 4
4, also known as common time (common time); 2
2, alla breve, also known as cut time or cut-common time (cut time); 2
4; 3
4; and 6
8
Time signature notation
Most time signatures consist of two numerals, one stacked above the other:
The lower numeral indicates the note value that the signature is counting. This
number is always a power of 2 (unless the time signature is irrational), usually 2,
4 or 8, but less often 16 is also used, usually in Baroque music. 2 corresponds to
the half note (minim), 4 to the quarter note (crotchet), 8 to the eighth note
(quaver), 16 to the sixteenth note (semiquaver).
The upper numeral indicates how many such note values constitute a bar.
For instance, 2
4 means two quarter-notes (crotchets) per bar, while 4
8 means four eighth-notes (quavers) per bar. The most common time signatures are 2
4, 3
4, and 4
4.
Symbolic signatures
"Common time" redirects here. For the short story, see Common Time. For the Field
Music album, see Commontime (album). For the time period, see Common Era.
By convention, two special symbols are sometimes used for 4
4 and 2
2:
The symbol common time is sometimes used for 4

4 time, also called common time or imperfect time.
The symbol cut time is sometimes used in place of 2
2 and is called alla breve or, colloquially, cut time or cut common time.
These symbols derive from mensural time signatures, described below.
Frequently used time signatures

Simple versus compound
Simple meters are those whose upper number is 2, 3, or 4, sometimes described as
duple meter, triple meter, and quadruple meter respectively.
In compound meter, the note values specified by the bottom number are grouped into
threes, and the upper number is a multiple of 3, such as 6, 9, or 12. The lower
number is most commonly an 8 (an eighth-note or quaver): as in 9
8 or 12
8.
Other upper numbers correspond to irregular meters.
Beat and subdivision

Main article: Beat (music)
Musical passages commonly feature a recurring pulse, or beat, usually in the range
of 60–100 beats per minute. Depending on the tempo of the music, this beat may
correspond to the note value specified by the time signature, or to a grouping of
such note values. Most commonly, in simple time signatures, the beat is the same as
the note value of the signature, but in compound signatures, the beat is usually a
dotted note value corresponding to three of the signature's note values. Either
way, the next lower note value shorter than the beat is called the subdivision.
On occasion a bar may seem like one singular beat. For example, a fast waltz,
notated in 3
4 time, may be described as being one in a bar. Conversely, at slow tempos, the
beat might even be a smaller note value than the one enumerated by the time
signature. [example needed]
Mathematically the time signatures of, e.g., 3

4 and 3
8 are interchangeable. In a sense all simple triple time signatures, such as 3
8, 3
4, 3
2, etc.—and all compound duple times, such as 6
8, 6
16 and so on, are equivalent. A piece in 3
4 can be easily rewritten in 3
8, simply by halving the length of the notes.
\new Staff <<

\new voice \relative c' {
\clef percussion
\time 3/4
\tempo 4 = 100
\stemDown \repeat volta 2 { g4 d' d }
\time 3/8
\tempo 8 = 100
\stemDown \repeat volta 2 { g,8 d' d }
}
\new voice \relative c'' {
\override NoteHead.style = #'cross
\stemUp \repeat volta 2 { a8[ a] a[ a] a[ a] }
\stemUp \repeat volta 2 { a16 a a a a a }
}
>>
Duration: 8 seconds.0:08
Other time signature rewritings are possible: most commonly a simple time-signature
with triplets translates into a compound meter.
\new Staff <<

\clef percussion
\time 12/8
\tempo 4. = 66
\stemDown \repeat volta 2 { g4. d' g, d' }
\numericTimeSignature
\time 4/4
\tempo 4 = 66
\stemDown \repeat volta 2 { g,4 d' g, d' }
}
\stemUp \repeat volta 2 { a8 a a a a a a a a a a a }
\stemUp \repeat volta 2 { \tuplet 3/2 { a8 a a } \tuplet 3/2 { a8 a
a } \tuplet 3/2 { a8 a a } \tuplet 3/2 { a8 a a } }
}
>>
The choice of time signature in these cases is largely a matter of tradition.

Particular time signatures are traditionally associated with different music styles
—it would seem strange to notate a conventional rock song in 4
8 or 4
2, rather than 4
4.
Examples
In the examples below, bold denotes the primary stress of the measure, and italics
denote a secondary stress. Syllables such as "and" are frequently used for pulsing
in between numbers.
Simple: 3
4 is a simple triple meter time signature that represents three quarter notes
(crotchets), usually perceived as three beats. In this case the subdivision would
be the eighth note (quaver). It is felt as
3
4: one and two and three and ...
Compound: Most often, 6
8 is felt as two beats, each being a dotted quarter note (crotchet), and each
containing subdivisions of three eighth notes (quavers). It is felt as
6
8: one two three four five six ... (or, if counting dotted-quarter beats, one and a
two and a)
The table below shows the characteristics of the most frequently used time
signatures.
Simple time signatures

Time signature Common uses Simple drum pattern Video representation
4
4 or common time
(quadruple)
Common time: Widely used in classical music and most forms of popular music. Most
common time signature in rock, blues, country, funk, and pop.[4]
\new Staff <<
\clef percussion
\time 4/4
\set Score.tempoHideNote = ##t \tempo 4 = 100
\stemDown \repeat volta 2 { g4 d' g, d' }
}
\stemUp \repeat volta 2 { a8 a a a a a a a }
}
>>
2
2 or cut time
(duple)
Alla breve, cut time: Used for marches and fast orchestral music.
\new Staff <<
\clef percussion
\time 2/2
\stemDown \repeat volta 2 { g2 d' }
}
\stemUp \repeat volta 2 { a4 a a a }
}
>>
2
4
(duple)
Used for polkas, galops, marches, and many styles of Latin music (including bolero,
cumbia, and merengue).
\new Staff <<
\clef percussion
\time 2/4
\stemDown \repeat volta 2 { g4 d' }
}
\stemUp \repeat volta 2 { a8 a a a }
}
>>
3
4
(triple)
Used for waltzes, minuets, scherzi, polonaises, mazurkas, country & western
ballads, R&B, and some pop
\new Staff <<
\clef percussion
\time 3/4
\stemDown \repeat volta 2 { g4 d' d }
}
\stemUp \repeat volta 2 { a8[ a] a[ a] a[ a] }
}
>>
3
8
(triple)
Also used for the above but usually suggests higher tempo or shorter hypermeter.
Sometimes preferred for certain folk dances such as cachucha
\new Staff <<
\clef percussion
\time 3/8
\set Score.tempoHideNote = ##t \tempo 4. = 80
\stemDown \repeat volta 2 { g4. }
}
\stemUp \repeat volta 2 { a8 a a }
}
>>
Compound time signatures
Time signature Common uses Simple drum pattern Video representation
6
8
(duple)
Double jigs, jotas, zortzikos, polkas, sega, salegy, tarantella, marches,

barcarolles, loures, and some rock music. Anapestic tetrameter poetry also fits
into 6/8 time when said aloud. \new Staff <<
\clef percussion
\time 6/8
\stemDown \repeat volta 2 { g4. d' }
}
\stemUp \repeat volta 2 { a8 a a a a a }
}
>>
9
8
(triple)
Compound triple time: Used in slip jigs; otherwise occurring rarely ("The Ride of
the Valkyries", Tchaikovsky's Fourth Symphony, and the final movement of J.S.
Bach's Violin Concerto in A minor (BWV 1041)[5] are familiar examples. Debussy's
"Clair de lune" and the opening bars of Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune are also
in 9
8) \new Staff <<
\clef percussion
\time 9/8
\stemDown \repeat volta 2 { g4. d' d }
}
\stemUp \repeat volta 2 { a8 a a a a a a a a }
}
>>
12
8
(quadruple)
Also common in slower blues (where it is called a shuffle) and doo-wop; also used
more recently in rock music. Can also be heard in some jigs like "The Irish
Washerwoman". This is also the time signature of the second movement of Beethoven's
Pastoral Symphony. \new Staff <<
\clef percussion
\time 12/8
\stemDown \repeat volta 2 { g4. d' g, d' }
}
\stemUp \repeat volta 2 { a8 a a a a a a a a a a a }
}
>>
Tempo giusto
Main article: Tempo giusto
While changing the bottom number and keeping the top number fixed only formally
changes notation, without changing meaning – 3
8, 3
4, 3
2, and 3
1 are all three beats to a meter, just noted with eighth notes, quarter notes, half
notes, or whole notes – these conventionally imply different performance and
different tempi. Conventionally, larger numbers in the bottom correspond to faster
tempi and smaller numbers correspond to slower tempi. This convention is known as
tempo giusto, and means that the tempo of each note remains in a narrower, "normal"
range. For illustration, a quarter note might correspond to 60–120 bpm, a half note
to 30–60 bpm, a whole note to 15–30 bpm, and an eighth note to 120–240 bpm; these
are not strict, but show an example of "normal" ranges.
This convention dates to the Baroque era, when tempo changes were indicated by
changing time signature during the piece, rather than by using a single time
signature and changing tempo marking.[6] For example, while 3
8, 3
4, 3
2, and 3
1 have the same beat pattern, they would conventionally be used for increasingly
slow music. A 20th century example is "O Fortuna" (1935–1936) by Carl Orff, which
begins slowly in 3
1, and then speeds up and changes to 3
2.
Complex time signatures

See also: List of musical works in unusual time signatures, Quintuple meter, and
Septuple meter
"13/8" redirects here. For the date, see August 13.
19
16 Time Drum Beat
Problems playing this file? See media help.
Signatures that do not fit the usual simple or compound categories are called
complex, asymmetric, irregular, unusual, or odd—though these are broad terms, and
usually a more specific description is any meter which combines both simple and
compound beats.[7][8] The term odd meter, however, sometimes describes time
signatures in which the upper number is simply odd rather than even, including 3
4 and 9
8.[9]
Irregular meters are common in some non-Western music, and in ancient Greek music
such as the Delphic Hymns to Apollo, but the corresponding time signatures rarely
appeared in formal written Western music until the 19th century. Early anomalous
examples appeared in Spain between 1516 and 1520,[9] plus a small section in
Handel's opera Orlando (1733).
The third movement of Frédéric Chopin's Piano Sonata No. 1 (1828) is an early, but
by no means the earliest, example of 5
4 time in solo piano music. Anton Reicha's Fugue No. 20 from his Thirty-six Fugues,
published in 1803, is also for piano and is in 5
8. The waltz-like second movement of Tchaikovsky's Pathétique Symphony (shown
below), often described as a "limping waltz",[10] is a notable example of 5
4 time in orchestral music.
\relative c {
\set Staff.midiInstrument = #"cello"
\clef bass
\key d \major
\time 5/4
fis4\mf(^\markup { \bold { Allegro con grazia } }
g) \tuplet 3/2 { a8(\< g a } b4 cis)\!
d( b) cis2.\>
a4(\mf b) \tuplet 3/2 { cis8(\< b cis } d4 e)\!
\clef tenor
fis(\f d) e2. \break
g4( fis) \tuplet 3/2 { e8( fis e } d4 cis)
fis8-. [ r16 g( ] fis8) [ r16 eis( ] fis2.)
fis4( e) \tuplet 3/2 { d8( e d } cis4) b\upbow(\<^\markup { \italic
gliss. }
b'8)\ff\> [a( g) fis-. ] e-. [ es-.( d-. cis-. b-. bes-.) ]
a4\mf
}
Examples from 20th-century classical music include:
Gustav Holst's "Mars, the Bringer of War" and "Neptune, the Mystic" from The
Planets (both in 5
4)
Paul Hindemith's "Fuga secunda" in G from Ludus Tonalis (5
8)
the ending of Stravinsky's The Firebird (7
4)
the fugue from Heitor Villa-Lobos's Bachianas Brasileiras No. 9 (11
8)
the themes for the Mission: Impossible television series by Lalo Schifrin (in 5
4) and for Room 222 by Jerry Goldsmith (in 7
4)
In the Western popular music tradition, unusual time signatures occur as well, with
progressive rock in particular making frequent use of them. The use of shifting
meters in The Beatles' "Strawberry Fields Forever" and the use of quintuple meter
in their "Within You, Without You" are well-known examples,[11] as is Radiohead's
"Paranoid Android" (includes 7
8).[12]
Paul Desmond's jazz composition "Take Five", in 5

4 time, was one of a number of irregular-meter compositions that The Dave Brubeck
Quartet played. They played other compositions in 11
4 ("Eleven Four"), 7
4 ("Unsquare Dance"), and 9
8 ("Blue Rondo à la Turk"), expressed as 2+2+2+3
8. "Blue Rondo à la Turk" is an example of a signature that, despite appearing
merely compound triple, is actually more complex. Brubeck's title refers to the
characteristic aksak meter of the Turkish karşılama dance.[13]
However, such time signatures are only unusual in most Western music. Traditional
music of the Balkans uses such meters extensively. Bulgarian dances, for example,
include forms with 5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, 22, 25 and other numbers of beats per
measure. These rhythms are notated as additive rhythms based on simple units,
usually 2, 3 and 4 beats, though the notation fails to describe the metric "time
bending" taking place, or compound meters. See Additive meters below.
Some video samples are shown below.
Duration: 2 minutes and 41 seconds.2:41

5
4 at 60 bpm
7
4 at 60 bpm
11
4 at 60 bpm
Mixed meters
While time signatures usually express a regular pattern of beat stresses continuing
through a piece (or at least a section), sometimes composers change time signature
so much, resulting in music with an extremely irregular rhythm. The time signature
may switch so much that a piece may not be best described as being in one meter,
rather as having a switching mixed meter. In this case, the time signatures are an
aid to the performers and not necessarily an indication of meter. The Promenade
from Modest Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition (1874) is a good example. The
opening measures are shown below:
{ \new PianoStaff <<

\new Staff <<
\clef treble \key bes \major
\time 5/4
g4--_\f^\markup { \bold {Allegro giusto, nel modo russico; senza
allegrezza, ma poco sostenuto. } } f-- bes-- c8--( f d4--)
\time 6/4
c8--( f d4--) bes-- c-- g-- f--
\time 5/4
<bes, d g>4 <a c f> <bes d bes'> \stemDown <c a'> \
stemNeutral <f a d>
\time 6/4
\stemDown <c a'> \stemNeutral <f bes d> <d g bes> <e
g c> <g, c g'> <a c f>
}
\new Voice \relative c'' {
\time 5/4
s1 s4
\time 6/4
s1.
\time 5/4
s2. \stemUp c8^( f d4)
\time 6/4
\stemUp c8^( f d4) s1
}
>>
\new Staff <<
\clef bass \key bes \major
\relative c {
\time 5/4
R1*5/4
\time 6/4
R1*6/4
\time 5/4
<g g'>4 <a f'> <g g'> <f f'> <d d'>
\time 6/4
<f f'> <bes bes'> <g g'> <c, c'> <e e'> <f f'>
}
>>
>> }
Igor Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring (1913) is famous for its "savage" rhythms.
Five measures from "Sacrificial Dance" are shown below:
{ \new PianoStaff << \new Staff \relative c'' { \set Staff.midiInstrument =

#"violin" \clef treble \tempo 8 = 126 \override DynamicLineSpanner.staff-padding =
#4 \time 3/16 r16 <d c a fis d>-! r16\fermata | \time 2/16 r <d c a fis d>-! \time
3/16 r <d c a fis d>8-! | r16 <d c a fis d>8-! | \time 2/8 <d c a fis>16-! <e c bes
g>->-![ <cis b aes f>-! <c a fis ees>-!] } \new Staff \relative c { \set
Staff.midiInstrument = #"violin" \clef bass \time 3/16 d,16-! <bes'' ees,>^\f-! r\
fermata | \time 2/16 <d,, d,>-! <bes'' ees,>-! | \time 3/16 d16-! <ees cis>8-! |
r16 <ees cis>8-! | \time 2/8 d16^\sf-! <ees cis>-!->[ <d c>-! <d c>-!] } >> }
In such cases, a convention that some composers follow (e.g., Olivier Messiaen, in
his La Nativité du Seigneur and Quatuor pour la fin du temps) is to simply omit the
time signature. Charles Ives's Concord Sonata has measure bars for select passages,
but the majority of the work is unbarred.
Some pieces have no time signature, as there is no discernible meter. This is

sometimes known as free time. Sometimes one is provided (usually 4
4) so that the performer finds the piece easier to read, and simply has "free time"
written as a direction. Sometimes the word FREE is written downwards on the staff
to indicate the piece is in free time. Erik Satie wrote many compositions that are
ostensibly in free time but actually follow an unstated and unchanging simple time
signature. Later composers used this device more effectively, writing music almost
devoid of a discernibly regular pulse.
If two time signatures alternate repeatedly, sometimes the two signatures are
placed together at the beginning of the piece or section, as shown below:
Detail of a score of Tchaikovsky's String Quartet No. 2 in F major, showing a

multiple time signature
Additive meters
To indicate more complex patterns of stresses, such as additive rhythms, more
complex time signatures can be used. Additive meters have a pattern of beats that
subdivide into smaller, irregular groups. Such meters are sometimes called
imperfect, in contrast to perfect meters, in which the bar is first divided into
equal units.[14]
For example, the time signature 3+2+3
8 means that there are 8 quaver beats in the bar, divided as the first of a group
of three eighth notes (quavers) that are stressed, then the first of a group of
two, then first of a group of three again. The stress pattern is usually counted as
3+2+3
8: one two three one two one two three ...
This kind of time signature is commonly used to notate folk and non-Western types
of music. In classical music, Béla Bartók and Olivier Messiaen have used such time
signatures in their works. The first movement of Maurice Ravel's Piano Trio in A
Minor is written in 8
8, in which the beats are likewise subdivided into 3+2+3 to reflect Basque dance
rhythms.
Romanian musicologist Constantin Brăiloiu had a special interest in compound time

signatures, developed while studying the traditional music of certain regions in
his country. While investigating the origins of such unusual meters, he learned
that they were even more characteristic of the traditional music of neighboring
peoples (e.g., the Bulgarians). He suggested that such timings can be regarded as
compounds of simple two-beat and three-beat meters, where an accent falls on every
first beat, even though, for example in Bulgarian music, beat lengths of 1, 2, 3, 4
are used in the metric description. In addition, when focused only on stressed
beats, simple time signatures can count as beats in a slower, compound time.
However, there are two different-length beats in this resulting compound time, a
one half-again longer than the short beat (or conversely, the short beat is 2⁄3 the
value of the long). This type of meter is called aksak (the Turkish word for
"limping"), impeded, jolting, or shaking, and is described as an irregular
bichronic rhythm. A certain amount of confusion for Western musicians is
inevitable, since a measure they would likely regard as 7
16, for example, is a three-beat measure in aksak, with one long and two short
beats (with subdivisions of 2+2+3, 2+3+2, or 3+2+2).[15]
Folk music may make use of metric time bends, so that the proportions of the
performed metric beat time lengths differ from the exact proportions indicated by
the metric. Depending on playing style of the same meter, the time bend can vary
from non-existent to considerable; in the latter case, some musicologists may want
to assign a different meter. For example, the Bulgarian tune "Eleno Mome" is
written in one of three forms: (1) 7 = 2+2+1+2, (2) 13 = 4+4+2+3, or (3) 12 =
3+4+2+3, but an actual performance (e.g., "Eleno Mome"[16][original research?]) may
be closer to 4+4+2+3.[clarification needed] The Macedonian 3+2+2+3+2 meter is even
more complicated, with heavier time bends, and use of quadruples on the threes. The
metric beat time proportions may vary with the speed that the tune is played. The
Swedish Boda Polska (Polska from the parish Boda) has a typical elongated second
beat.
In Western classical music, metric time bend is used in the performance of the
Viennese waltz. Most Western music uses metric ratios of 2:1, 3:1, or 4:1 (two-,
three- or four-beat time signatures)—in other words, integer ratios that make all
beats equal in time length. So, relative to that, 3:2 and 4:3 ratios correspond to
very distinctive metric rhythm profiles. Complex accentuation occurs in Western
music, but as syncopation rather than as part of the metric accentuation.[citation
needed]
Brăiloiu borrowed a term from Turkish medieval music theory: aksak. Such compound
time signatures fall under the "aksak rhythm" category that he introduced along
with a couple more that should describe the rhythm figures in traditional music.
[17] The term Brăiloiu revived had moderate success worldwide, but in Eastern
Europe it is still frequently used. However, aksak rhythm figures occur not only in
a few European countries, but on all continents, featuring various combinations of
the two and three sequences. The longest are in Bulgaria. The shortest aksak rhythm
figures follow the five-beat timing, comprising a two and a three (or three and
two).

3+2+3
8 at 120 bpm
Duration: 1 minute and 24 seconds.1:24
The rhythm of Dave Brubeck's "Blue Rondo à la Turk": It consists of three measures
of 2+2+2+3 followed by one measure of 3+3+3 and the cycle then repeats. Taking the
smallest time unit as eighth notes, the arrows on the tempo dial show the tempi for
♪, ♩, ♩. and the measure beat. Starts slow, speeds up to usual tempo
A method to create meters of lengths of any length has been published in the
Journal of Anaphoria Music Theory[18] and Xenharmonikon 16[19] using both those
based on the Horograms of Erv Wilson and Viggo Brun's algorithm written by Kraig
Grady.
Irrational meters
{
\time 4/3
\times 2/3 {c''2 d'' e'' f''}
\time 4/2
c'' d'' e'' f''
}
Example of an irrational 4
3 time signature: here there are four (4) third notes (3) per measure. A "third
note" would be one third of a whole note, and thus is a half-note triplet. The
second measure of 4
2 presents the same notes, so the 4
3 time signature serves to indicate the precise speed relationship between the
notes in the two measures.
Irrational time signatures (rarely, "non-dyadic time signatures") are used for so-
called irrational bar lengths,[20] that have a denominator that is not a power of
two (1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, etc.). These are based on beats expressed in terms of
fractions of full beats in the prevailing tempo—for example 3
10 or 5
24.[20] For example, where 4
4 implies a bar construction of four quarter-parts of a whole note (i.e., four
quarter notes), 4
3 implies a bar construction of four third-parts of it. These signatures are of
utility only when juxtaposed with other signatures with varying denominators; a
piece written entirely in 4
3, say, could be more legibly written out in 4
4.
{
\time 4/2
c''2 d'' e'' f'' |
c''^\markup {
\note {1.} #1
=
\note {1} #1
} d'' e'' f''
}
The same example written using metric modulation instead of irrational time
signatures. Three half notes in the first measure (making up a dotted whole note)
are equal in duration to two half notes in the second (making up a whole note).
{
\time 4/2
c''2 d'' e'' f'' |
\time 12/4
c''2. d'' e'' f''
}
The same example written using a change in time signature.
According to Brian Ferneyhough, metric modulation is "a somewhat distant analogy"
to his own use of "irrational time signatures" as a sort of rhythmic dissonance.
[20] It is disputed whether the use of these signatures makes metric relationships
clearer or more obscure to the musician; it is always possible to write a passage
using non-irrational signatures by specifying a relationship between some note
length in the previous bar and some other in the succeeding one. Sometimes,
successive metric relationships between bars are so convoluted that the pure use of
irrational signatures would quickly render the notation extremely hard to
penetrate. Good examples, written entirely in conventional signatures with the aid
of between-bar specified metric relationships, occur a number of times in John
Adams' opera Nixon in China (1987), where the sole use of irrational signatures
would quickly produce massive numerators and denominators.[citation needed]
Historically, this device has been prefigured wherever composers wrote tuplets. For
example, a 2
4 bar of 3 triplet quarter notes could be written as a bar of 3
6. Henry Cowell's piano piece Fabric (1920) employs separate divisions of the bar
(1 to 9) for the three contrapuntal parts, using a scheme of shaped noteheads to
visually clarify the differences, but the pioneering of these signatures is largely
due to Brian Ferneyhough, who says that he finds that "such 'irrational' measures
serve as a useful buffer between local changes of event density and actual changes
of base tempo".[20] Thomas Adès has also used them extensively—for example in
Traced Overhead (1996), the second movement of which contains, among more
conventional meters, bars in such signatures as 2
6, 9
14 and 5
24.
A gradual process of diffusion into less rarefied musical circles seems underway.
[citation needed] For example, John Pickard's Eden, commissioned for the 2005
finals of the National Brass Band Championships of Great Britain, contains bars of
3
10 and 7
12.[21]
Notationally, rather than using Cowell's elaborate series of notehead shapes, the
same convention has been invoked as when normal tuplets are written; for example,
one beat in 4
5 is written as a normal quarter note, four quarter notes complete the bar, but the
whole bar lasts only 4⁄5 of a reference whole note, and a beat 1⁄5 of one (or 4⁄5
of a normal quarter note). This is notated in exactly the same way that one would
write if one were writing the first four quarter notes of five quintuplet quarter
notes.
These video samples show two time signatures combined to make a polymeter, since 4
3, say, in isolation, is identical to 4
4.
Polymeter 4
4 and 4
3 played together has three beats of 4
3 to four beats of 4
4
Polymeter 2
6 and 3
4 played together has six beats of 2
6 to four beats of 3
4
Polymeter 2
5 and 2
3 played together has five beats of 2
5 to three beats of 2
3. The displayed numbers count the underlying polyrhythm, which is 5:3
Variants
Some composers have used fractional beats: for example, the time signature 2+1⁄2
4 appears in Carlos Chávez's Piano Sonata No. 3 (1928) IV, m. 1. Both 2+1⁄2
4 and 1+1⁄2
4 appear in the fifth movement of Percy Grainger's Lincolnshire Posy.
Example of Orff's time signatures (traditionally, these would be notated 3

8 and 6
8 respectively)
Music educator Carl Orff proposed replacing the lower number of the time signature
with an actual note image, as shown at right. This system eliminates the need for
compound time signatures, which are confusing to beginners. While this notation has
not been adopted by music publishers generally (except in Orff's own compositions),
it is used extensively in music education textbooks. Similarly, American composers
George Crumb and Joseph Schwantner, among others, have used this system in many of
their works. Émile Jaques-Dalcroze proposed this in his 1920 collection, Le Rythme,
la musique et l'éducation.[22]
Another possibility is to extend the barline where a time change is to take place
above the top instrument's line in a score and to write the time signature there,
and there only, saving the ink and effort that would have been spent writing it in
each instrument's staff. Henryk Górecki's Beatus Vir is an example of this.
Alternatively, music in a large score sometimes has time signatures written as very
long, thin numbers covering the whole height of the score rather than replicating
it on each staff; this is an aid to the conductor, who can see signature changes
more easily.
Early music usage

Time Signature Music Theory

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Time Signature Music Theory

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Time signature

{ \key c \major \time 3/4 \relative c' { f a c } }

The symbol common time is sometimes used for 4

Frequently used time signatures

Other upper numbers correspond to irregular meters.

Beat and subdivision

Mathematically the time signatures of, e.g., 3

\new Staff <<

\new Staff <<

The choice of time signature in these cases is largely a matter of tradition.

Simple time signatures

Double jigs, jotas, zortzikos, polkas, sega, salegy, tarantella, marches,

Complex time signatures

Paul Desmond's jazz composition "Take Five", in 5

Some video samples are shown below.

Duration: 2 minutes and 41 seconds.2:41

{ \new PianoStaff <<

{ \new PianoStaff << \new Staff \relative c'' { \set Staff.midiInstrument =

Some pieces have no time signature, as there is no discernible meter. This is

Detail of a score of Tchaikovsky's String Quartet No. 2 in F major, showing a

Romanian musicologist Constantin Brăiloiu had a special interest in compound time

Some video samples are shown below.

Duration: 2 minutes and 9 seconds.2:09

Some video samples are shown below.

Example of Orff's time signatures (traditionally, these would be notated 3

Early music usage

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