Time Signatures
This lesson shows you how to read a time signature and say it aloud, and introduces the two signs for common time and cut time.
Meters are shown by two numbers, stacked like a fraction but without the fraction bar, and in this fraction the whole note, or semibreve, is the unit. Together, these two numbers form the time signature.
You write the time signature at the start of the piece, right after the key signature. If the meter changes during the piece, the new time signature is written after a double bar line.
Top number and bottom number
- The top number, the numerator, tells you the quantity of values that make up one measure.
- The bottom number, the denominator, tells you the kind of value, that is, what fraction of a whole note each one counts as.
| Bottom number | Fraction of a whole note | Note value |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | the whole | whole note (semibreve) |
| 2 | one half | half note (minim) |
| 4 | one quarter | quarter note (crotchet) |
| 8 | one eighth | eighth note (quaver) |
| 16 | one sixteenth | sixteenth note (semiquaver) |
| 32 | one thirty-second | 32nd note (demisemiquaver) |
Let's take two examples. 2/4 means a measure made of two quarters of a whole note, so two quarter notes: the 2 gives the number of values, and the 4 tells you they are quarters of a whole note. 12/8 means a measure made of twelve eighths of a whole note, so twelve eighth notes. Notice how the American note names say it outright: a 4 means quarter notes, and an 8 means eighth notes.
How to say them
To name a meter, you simply read its numbers from top to bottom: 2/4 is “two-four time”, 12/8 is “twelve-eight time”, 3/8 is “three-eight time”, and so on.
Common time and cut time
Two meters are so frequent that they usually get a shorthand sign of their own:
- 4/4 is shown by the sign C, called common time; Danhauser adds that it can also be shown by a single 4.
- 2/2 is shown by a C with a vertical stroke through it, called cut time or alla breve; it can also be shown by a single 2.
1. Give the contents of a measure in each of these meters: 12/8, 3/2, 6/16, cut time, 9/4, 2/8, 3/1, C, 12/16, 4/2.
2. Write the time signatures that express: nine eighths of a whole note; twelve quarters of a whole note; four whole notes; four quarter notes; six sixteenth notes; three eighth notes; two half notes; two quarter notes; three quarter notes; six eighth notes.
You can now read any time signature. In the next lesson, we'll go through the twelve simple meters one by one.