Timing in Music

Well you see, most western music is comprised of "beats" which are organized into "measures".

Beats are the pulse of the song, meaning...when you tap your foot to what the "average" pulse of a song that your listening to.

A measure is a collection of beats, usually thought of as a brief phrase of music which can be extended, but are used so a musician can keep track of his or her place in a score.

This is usually illustrated in notation as what looks like a mathematical fraction; 2/4, 3/4. 4/4, 5/4 etc.

The top number in the fraction is how many beats are in a measure of music. The bottom number is what type of subdivision each beat is. Generally the bottom number is some sort of even multiple of 4.

Most pop music/ "danceable music" is written in 4/4, or standard time. Music like this you can easily discern, because it is very simple to find a downbeat and count evenly like this.

1,2,3,4. 1,2,3,4. 1,2,3,4. 1,2,3,4.

Other common times include 3/4
1,2,3. 1,2,3. 1,2,3. 1,2,3.
and 2/4
1,2. 1,2. 1,2.

Progressive music often uses less conventional time sigs that use smaller subdivision beats or which place emphasis on beats that ordinarily wouldn't be considered strong, giving the music an off balance sort of quality or one of transition, movement, etc.

Time sigs like 7/8, 5/4, 6/8, 9/8, and some much stranger occasionally show up in many artists songs.

Take for example Supper's Ready by Genesis, and the section "Apocalypse in 9/8" which features the reoccuring pattern of:
(1,2,3) (4,5,) (6,7,8,9.)

Note that there are 9 total beats, (3+2+4) and that each subdivison must be counted as an 8th note, because it's hard to count 4.5/4.


Sorry for the crap explanation, but hopefully that will help you figure it out.
    
    

Edited by Vodkagunblast - September 12 2006 at 04:40

Hmm...well. This might help.

Ok, in western notated music there are different varieties of note lengths. Starting with a whole note, then half, then quarter, then 8th, etc... going down to 64th notes, typically. (Those are rare.)

In 4/4, there are four (top number) quarter notes (bottom number) in a measure.

If one were to place a whole note in a 4/4 measure it would hold four counts, and be the only note that was in the measure, as it takes up the space of the four quarter notes that are allowed in the measure. (four quarter notes make one whole, two halves, Eight 8ths, etc.)

Downbeats, which are generally the rhythmic weight of a piece, come on the first note of a measure. Each count is of the same length, equally subdivided, more emphasis is just given on each down beat. In pop music often the emphasis is given on one and three.

In four four, (4/4) this is usually counted as something like:

ONE two three four | ONE two three four | ONE two three four.

3/4

ONE two three | ONE two three | ONE two three. (3/4 is known as a "waltz" in classical theory)

SO on and so forth.

Time signatures that aren't even are often grouped into smaller packages, if you will. Like the afforementioned supper's ready example I gave, it's often easier to count in more normal, though shorter sub-measure length phrases that add up to the desired count (in supper's ready, 9 8th notes)

For Example

In 7/8, one might count

ONE Two Three Four Five Six Seven | ONE Two Three Four Five Six Seven

Or one could count

ONE two ONE two ONE two three.| ONE two ONE two ONE two three.
(Note that there are 7 total counts per measure)

Vodkagunblast wrote: Take for example Supper's Ready by Genesis, and the section "Apocalypse in 9/8" which features the reoccuring pattern of: (1,2,3) (4,5,) (6,7,8,9.)

Bob Greece wrote: Vodkagunblast wrote: Take for example Supper's Ready by Genesis, and the section "Apocalypse in 9/8" which features the reoccuring pattern of: (1,2,3) (4,5,) (6,7,8,9.)           Couldn't 9/8 also be (1,2,3) (4,5,6) (7,8,9)?

    
Since 9/8 is compound time, its "proper" use is exactly that - three lots of triplets.

Certif1ed wrote: Bob Greece wrote: Vodkagunblast wrote: Take for example Supper's Ready by Genesis, and the section "Apocalypse in 9/8" which features the reoccuring pattern of: (1,2,3) (4,5,) (6,7,8,9.)           Couldn't 9/8 also be (1,2,3) (4,5,6) (7,8,9)?        Since 9/8 is compound time, its "proper" use is exactly that - three lots of triplets.

EssentialFaris wrote: I'm in a music theory a.p. class, and I know meter signatures very well, but I always forget what certain terms like compound meter means, does it even matter? haha.

    
Of course it matters for the purposes of discussions like this.

If you don't understand the difference between simple and compound time, you could mistake metre for the time signature
    

Edited by Certif1ed - September 18 2006 at 03:05

R o V e R wrote: One of my favourite track by Rush is Cygnus-X1 from"Farewell to Kings" i heard that there is nice timing in there, if anybody could disuss about this one will be helpfull thanks