Time signatures and feel

Reading the numbers

A time signature has two numbers:

• Top: how many beats in each bar.
• Bottom: which note value counts as one beat (4 = quarter note, 8 = eighth note).

So 3/4 means three quarter-note beats per bar (a waltz), and 4/4 means four.

Simple and compound

In simple time each beat splits in two (4/4, 3/4). In compound time each beat splits in three. 6/8 is felt as two big pulses of three eighths; 12/8 as four.

Triplets

A triplet squeezes three equal notes into the time of two.

Syncopation

Syncopation stresses weak beats or off-beats, so the rhythm feels pushed forward.

Hemiola

In a hemiola, six beats that normally feel like 3+3 are felt as 2+2+2, creating a brief change of metre.