Time signature

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The time signature (also known as meter signature,[1] metre signature,[2]

or measure signature[3]) is a notational convention used in Western musical
notation to specify how many beats (pulses) are to be contained in each bar
and which note value is to be given one beat. In a musical score, the time Simple example of a 3 4 time
signature appears at the beginning of the piece, as a time symbol or stacked signature: here there are three (3)
numerals, such as or 3 4 (read common time and three-four time, quarter-notes (4) per measure.
respectively), immediately following the key signature or immediately
following the clef symbol if the key signature is empty. A mid-score time
signature, usually immediately following a barline, indicates a change of meter.

There are various types of time signatures, depending on whether the music follows simple rhythms or involves
unusual shifting tempos, including: simple (such as 3 4 9 12 5 7
4 or 4), compound (e.g., 8 or 8 ), complex (e.g., 4 or 8),
1
mixed (e.g., 5 3 6 3 3+2+3 ), fractional (e.g., 2 2), and irrational meters (e.g., 3 or 5
8 & 8 or 8 & 4), additive (e.g., 8 4 10 24
).

Contents
1 Simple time signatures
1.1 Notational variations in simple time
2 Compound time signatures
2.1 An example
3 Beat and time
3.1 Actual beat divisions
3.2 Interchangeability, rewriting meters
3.3 Stress and meter
4 Most frequent time signatures
4.1 Video samples for the most frequent time signatures
5 Complex time signatures
5.1 Video samples for complex time signatures
6 Mixed meters
7 Variants
7.1 Additive meters
7.1.1 Video samples for additive meters
7.2 Other variants
8 Irrational meters
8.1 Video samples for irrational meters
9 Early music usage
9.1 Mensural time signatures
9.2 Proportions
10 See also
11 References
12 External links

Simple time signatures

Simple time signatures consist of two numerals, one stacked above the other:
 The lower numeral indicates the note value that represents one
beat (the beat unit).
The upper numeral indicates how many such beats there are
grouped together in a bar.

For instance, 2 3
4 means two quarter-note (crotchet) beats per bar8
means three eighth-note (quaver) beats per bar. Basic time signatures: 4
4, also known as
2
common time ( ); 2, alla breve, also
The most common simple time signatures are 2 3 4
4, 4, and 4.
known as cut time or cut-common time (
); plus 2 3 6
4; 4; and 8
Notational variations in simple time

The symbol is sometimes used for 4 4 time, also called common time or imperfect time. The symbol is derived
from a broken circle used in music notation from the 14th through 16th centuries, where a full circle represented
what today would be written in 3 3 [4]
2 or 4 time, and was called tempus perfectum (perfect time). The symbol is
also a carry-over from the notational practice of late-Medieval and Renaissance music, where it signified tempus
imperfectum diminutum (diminished imperfect time)more precisely, a doubling of the speed, or proportio
dupla, in duple meter.[5] In modern notation, it is used in place of 2
2 and is called alla breve or, colloquially, cut
time or cut common time.

Compound time signatures

In compound meter, subdivisions (which are what the upper number represents in these meters) of the main beat
are in three equal parts, so that a dotted note (half again longer than a regular note) becomes the beat unit.
Compound time signatures are named as if they were simple time signatures, in which the one-third part of the
beat unit is the beat, so the top number is commonly 6, 9 or 12 (multiples of 3). The lower number is most
commonly an 8 (an eighth-note): as in 9 12
8 or 8 .

An example
3 is a simple signature that represents three quarter notes. It has a basic feel of (Bold denotes a stressed beat):
4

one two three (as in a waltz)

Each quarter note might comprise two eighth-notes (quavers) giving a total of six such notes, but it still retains
that three-in-a-bar feel:

one and two and three and

In principle, 6 3
8 can be thought of as the same as the six-quaver form of 4 above, the only difference being that the
3
eighth note is selected as the beat unit. But whereas the six quavers in 4 had been in three groups of two, in
practice 6
8 is understood to mean that they are in two groups of three, with a two-in-a-bar feel (Bold denotes a
stressed beat):

one and a, two and a

or

one two three, four five six

Beat and time

Time signatures indicating two beats per bar (whether it is simple or compound) are called duple time; those with
three beats to the bar are triple time. To the ear, 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. Terms such as quadruple (4), quintuple (5), and so on
are also occasionally used.

Actual beat divisions

As mentioned above, though the score indicates a 3 4 time, the actual beat division can be the whole bar,
particularly at faster tempos. Correspondingly, at slow tempos the beat indicated by the time signature could in
actual performance be divided into smaller units.

Interchangeability, rewriting meters

On a formal mathematical level the time signatures

of, e.g., 3 3
4 and 8 are interchangeable. In a sense, all
simple triple time signatures, such as 3 3 3
8, 4, 2, etc.
6
and all compound duple times, such as 8, 16 6 and so
on, are equivalent. A piece in 34 can be easily
rewritten in 38 , simply by halving the length of the
notes. Other time signature rewritings are possible: 3 equals 3 time
most commonly a simple time signature with triplets 4 8 at a different tempo Play
translates into a compound meter.

Though formally interchangeable, for a composer or

performing musician, different time signatures often
have different connotations. First, a smaller note
value in the beat unit implies a more complex
notation, which can affect ease of performance. 12 equals 4 time at a different tempo and requires the use of
8 4
Second, beaming affects the choice of actual beat tuplets Play
divisions. It is, for example, more natural to use the
quarter note/crotchet as a beat unit in 6 2
4 or 2 than the
6 2
eight/quaver in 8 or 4. Third, time signatures are traditionally associated with different music stylesit might
seem strange to notate a rock tune in 4 4
8 or 2.

Stress and meter

For all meters, the first beat (the downbeat, ignoring any anacrusis) is usually stressed with generally a greater
activity before arriving at the downbeat (though not always, for example in reggae where the offbeats are
stressed); in time signatures with four groups in the bar (such as 4 12
4 and 8 ), the second and third beat are often
quieter while the fourth beat gets active, releasing its energy on the next downbeat. The cut common time (2/2)
instead has a stressed down beat moving to the next down beat, giving a feel of one beat per measure. This gives
a regular pattern of stressed and unstressed beats, though notes on stressed beats are not necessarily louder or
more important, indeed it is the energy of the music's flow that counts.

Most frequent time signatures

 Simple time signatures

Simple quadruple drum pattern: divides

4 Common time: widely used in most forms of Western each of four beats into two Play
4 popular music. Most common time signature in rock,
(quadruple)
blues, country, funk, and pop[6]

Simple duple drum pattern (notated as 4

4):
divides each of two beats into two Play

Alla breve, cut time: used for marches and fast orchestral
2 (duple) music. Frequently occurs in musical theater. The same
2
effect is sometimes obtained by marking a 44 meter "in 2"

2 (duple) Used for polkas or marches

4

Simple duple drum pattern: divides each of

two beats into two

3 Used for waltzes, minuets, scherzi, country & western

4 (triple) ballads, R&B, sometimes used in pop

Simple triple drum pattern: divides each of

three beats into two Play

3 Also used for the above, but usually suggests higher

8 (triple)
tempo or shorter hypermeter
Compound time signatures

6 Double jigs, polkas, sega, salegy, tarantella, marches,

8 (duple)
barcarolles, loures, and some rock music

Compound duple drum pattern: divides

each of two beats into three Play

9 (triple) Compound triple time, used in triple ("slip") jigs,

8
otherwise occurring rarely (The Ride of the Valkyries,
 Tchaikovsky's Fourth Symphony, and the final
movement of the Bach Violin Concerto in A minor
(BWV 1041)[7] are familiar examples. Debussy's Clair
de lune and Prlude l'aprs-midi d'un faune (opening
bars) are in 9
8)
Compound triple drum pattern: divides
each of three beats into three Play

Also common in slower blues (where it is called a

shuffle) and doo-wop; also used more recently in rock
12 music. Can also be heard in some jigs like The Irish
8
(quadruple) Washerwoman. This is also the time signature of the
Movement II By the Brook of Beethoven's Symphony No Compound quadruple drum pattern: divides
6 (the Pastoral) each of four beats into three Play

Video samples for the most fr equent time signatur es

For larger versions of the videos, click play, then go to More than About this file

Play media Play media Play media

2 at a tempo of 60 bpm 3 at a tempo of 60 bpm 4 at a tempo of 60 bpm
4 4 4

Play media Play media Play media

6 at tempo of 90 bpm 9 at tempo of 90 bpm 12 at tempo of 90 bpm
8 8 8

Complex time signatures

Signatures that do not fit the usual duple or triple categories 19 Time Drum Beat
are called complex, asymmetric, irregular, unusual, or odd 16
though these are broad terms, and usually a more specific 0:00
description is appropriate. The term odd meter, however,
sometimes describes time signatures in which the upper Problems playing this file? See media help.
3
number is simply odd rather than even, including 4 and 8. 9 [8]
The irregular meters (not fitting duple or triple categories) are common in
some non-Western music, but rarely appeared in formal written Western
music until the 19th century. Early anomalous examples appeared in
Spain between 1516 and 1520,[8] but the Delphic Hymns to Apollo (one
by Athenaeus is entirely in quintuple meter, the other by Limenius
predominantly so), carved on the exterior walls of the Athenian Treasury
at Delphi in 128 BC are in the relatively common cretic meter, with five Multiples of two evenly divide 2/4
[9]
beats to a foot. The third movement (Larghetto) of Chopin's Piano (usual), and multiples of three evenly
Sonata No. 1 (1828) is an early, but by no means the earliest, example of divide 3/4 (usual), but multiples of
5 time in solo piano music. Reicha's Fugue 20 from his Thirty-six two and multiples of three will not
4
Fugues, published in 1803, is also for piano and is in 5 evenly divide 5/4 (unusual) Play
8. The waltz-like
second movement of Tchaikovsky's Pathtique Symphony, often first rhythm at 150 bpm or the second
rhythm at 225 bpm
described as a limping waltz,[10] is a notable example of 54 time in
orchestral music. Examples from the 20th century include Holst's Mars,
the Bringer of War and Neptune, the Mystic (both in 5 4) from the orchestral suite The Planets, Paul Hindemith's
Fugue Secunda in G,(5 8 ) from Ludus Tonalis, the ending of Stravinsky's Firebird (74), the fugue from Heitor Villa-
11
Lobos's Bachianas Brasileiras No. 9 ( 8 ) and the themes for the Mission Impossible television series by Lalo
Schifrin (in 5
4) and Jerry Goldsmith's theme for Room 222 (in 4).
7

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" (1967) and
the use of quintuple meter in their "Within You, Without You" (1967) are well-known examples,[11] as is
Radiohead's "Paranoid Android" (includes 7 [12]
8).

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 7
4 (Eleven Four), 4 (Unsquare Dance)
9
and 8 (Blue Rondo la Turk), expressed as 2+2+2+3 . This last is an example of a work in a signature that,
8
despite appearing merely compound triple, is actually more complex. Brubeck's title refers to the characteristic
aksak meter of the Turkish karlama 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.
For example, the Bulgarian Sedi Donka consists of 25 beats divided 7+7+11, where 7 is subdivided 3+2+2 and
11 is subdivided 2+2+3+2+2 or 4+3+4. See Variants below.

Video samples for complex time signatures

Play media Play media Play media

5 at 60 bpm 7 at 60 bpm 11 at 60 bpm
4 4 4
 Play media
Rhythm of "Blue Rondo La Turk" 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

Mixed meters
While time signatures usually express a regular pattern of beat stresses continuing through a piece (or at least a
section), sometimes composers place a different time signature at the beginning of each bar, resulting in music
with an extremely irregular rhythmic feel. In this case the time signatures are an aid to the performers, and not
necessarily an indication of meter. The Promenade from Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition (1874) is a good
example:

Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition Promenade Play

Igor Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring (1913) is famous for its "savage" rhythms:

In such cases, a convention that some composers follow (e.g., Olivier Messiaen, in his La Nativit 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 commonly 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 score of Tchaikovsky's String Quartet No. 2 in F major, showing a

multiple time signature

Variants
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 signature

which can be written (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 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, Bla Bartk 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 Briloiu 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 23 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 16 7 , 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 as 7=2+2+1+2, 13=4+4+2+3,
12=3+4+2+3, but an actual performance (e.g., Smithsonian Eleno Mome) may be closer to 4+4+2+3.5. 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.

Briloiu borrowed a term from Turkish medieval music theory: aksak (Turkish for crippled). 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.[16] The term Briloiu 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).

Video samples for additive meters

Play media
Time Signature 3 + 2 + 3 at 120 bpm

Other variants
1
Some composers have used fractional beats: for example, the time signature 242 appears in Carlos Chvez's
Piano Sonata No. 3 (1928) IV, m. 1.

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 (described above), 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
Example of
and Joseph Schwantner, among others, have used this system in many of their works.
Orff's time
Another possibility is to extend the barline where a time change is to take place above the signatures
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 Grecki'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.

Irrational meters
These are time signatures, used for so-called
irrational bar lengths,[17] that have a
denominator that is not a power of two (1, 2, 4,
8, 16, 32, etc.) (or, mathematically speaking, is
not a dyadic rational). These are based on beats 0:00
expressed in terms of fractions of full beats in
the prevailing tempofor example 10 3 or 5 Example of an irrational 43 time signature: here there are four (4)
24
third notes (3) per measure. A "third note" would be one third of a
.[17] For example, where 4 4 implies a bar whole note, and thus is a half-note triplet. The second measure of4 2
construction of four quarter-parts of a whole 4 time signature serves to indicate
presents the same notes, so the
note (i.e., four quarter notes), 4
3 implies a bar
3
the precise speed relationship between the notes in the two
construction of four third-parts of it. These
measures.
signatures are only of utility 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

Metric modulation is "a somewhat distant

analogy".[17] It is arguable whether the use of
these signatures makes metric relationships
clearer or more obscure to the musician; it is The same example written using metric modulation instead of
always possible to write a passage using non- irrational time signatures. Three half notes in the first measure
irrational signatures by specifying a (making up a dotted whole note) are equal in duration to two half
relationship between some note length in the notes in the second (making up a whole note).
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 The same example written using a change in time signature.
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.

Historically, this device has been prefigured wherever composers wrote tuplets. For example, a 2 4 bar of 3 triplet
crotchets could arguably be written as a bar of 3 6 . Henry Cowell's piano piece Fabric (1920) employs separate
divisions of the bar (anything from 1 to 9) for the three contrapuntal parts, using a scheme of shaped note heads
to visually clarify the differences, but the pioneering of these signatures is largely due to Brian Ferneyhough,
who says that he "find[s] that such 'irrational' measures serve as a useful buffer between local changes of event
density and actual changes of base tempo.[17] Thomas Ads has also used them extensivelyfor example in
Traced Overhead (1996), the second movement of which contains, among more conventional meters, bars in
such signatures as 2 9 5
6, 14 and 24.

A gradual process of diffusion into less rarefied musical circles seems underway. For example, John Pickard's
Eden, commissioned for the 2005 finals of the National Brass Band Championships of Great Britain contains
3 and 7 .[18]
bars of 10 12

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 5 of a reference whole note, and a beat 15 of one (or
4

4 of a normal quarter note). This is notated in exactly the same way that one would write if one were writing the
5
first four quarter notes of five quintuplet quarter notes.
This article uses irrational in the music theory sense, not the mathematical sense, where an irrational number is
one that cannot be written as a ratio of whole numbers. However, a few pieces from Conlon Nancarrow's Studies
for Player Pianouse a time signature that is irrational in the mathematical sense. A piece contains a canon with
a part augmented in the ratio 42:1 (approximately 6.48:1). Another one has a time signature of e , amongst
others.

Video samples for irrational me ters

These video samples show two time signatures combined to make a polymeter, since 4
3, say, in isolation, is
4
identical to 4.

Play media Play media Play media

Polymeter 4 4
4 and 3 played together Polymeter 2 3
6 and 4 played together Polymeter 2 2
5 and 3 played together
Has three beats of 4 4
3 to four beats of 4
Has six beats of 2 3
6 to four beats of 4 Has five beats of 2 2
5 to three beats of 3.
The displayed numbers count the
underlying polyrhythm, which is 5:3

Early music usage

Mensural time signatur es

In the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries, a period in which mensural notation was used, four basic mensuration signs
determined the proportion between the two main units of rhythm. There were no measure or bar lines in music of
this period; these signs, the ancestors of modern time signatures, indicate the ratio of duration between different
note values. The relation between the breve and the semibreve was called tempus, and the relation between the
semibreve and the minim was called prolatio. The breve and the semibreve use roughly the same symbols as our
modern double whole note (breve) and whole note (semibreve), but they were not limited to the same
proportional values as are in use today. There are complicated rules concerning how a breve is sometimes three
and sometimes two semibreves. Unlike modern notation, the duration ratios between these different values was
not always 2:1; it could be either 2:1 or 3:1, and that is what, amongst other things, these mensuration signs
indicated. A ratio of 3:1 was called complete, perhaps a reference to the Trinity, and a ratio of 2:1 was called
incomplete.

A circle used as a mensuration sign indicated tempus perfectum (a circle being a symbol of completeness), while
an incomplete circle, resembling a letter C, indicated tempus imperfectum. Assuming the breve is a beat, this
corresponds to the modern concepts of triple meter and duple meter, respectively. In either case, a dot in the
center indicated prolatio perfecta (compound meter) while the absence of such a dot indicated prolatio
imperfecta (simple meter).

A rough equivalence of these signs to modern meters would be:

corresponds to 9
8 meter;
corresponds to 3
4 meter;

corresponds to 6 meter;
 corresponds to 6
8 meter;
corresponds to 2
4 meter.

N.B.: in modern compound meters the beat is a dotted note value, such as a dotted quarter, because the ratios of
the modern note value hierarchy are always 2:1. Dotted notes were never used in this way in the mensural period;
the main beat unit was always a simple (undotted) note value.

Proportions

Another set of signs in mensural notation specified the metric proportions of one section to another, similar to a
metric modulation. A few common signs are shown:[19]

tempus imperfectum diminutum, 1:2 proportion (twice as fast);

tempus perfectum diminutum, 1:2 proportion (twice as fast);
or just proportio tripla, 1:3 proportion (three times as fast, similar to triplets).

Often the ratio was expressed as two numbers, one above the other,[20] looking similar to a modern time
signature, though it could have values such as 4
3, which a conventional time signature could not.

Some proportional signs were not used consistently from one place or century to another. In addition, certain
composers delighted in creating "puzzle" compositions that were intentionally difficult to decipher.

In particular, when the sign was encountered, the tactus (beat) changed from the usual semibreve to the breve,
a circumstance called alla breve. This term has been sustained to the present day, and though now it means the
beat is a minim (half note), in contradiction to the literal meaning of the phrase, it still indicates that the beat has
changed to a longer note value.

See also
Schaffel
Tala

References
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3. Edwin Gordon, Rhythm: Contrasting the Implications of Audiation and Notation(Chicago: GIA Publications, 2000): 11.
ISBN 1579990983.
4. G. Augustus Holmes (1949).The Academic Manual of the Rudiments of Music . London: A. Weekes; Stainer & Bell. p. 17.
ISBN 9780852492765.
5. Willi Apel, The Notation of Polyphonic Music 9001600 , fifth edition, revised and with commentary; The Medieval
Academy of America Publication no. 38 (Cambridge, Massachusetts: The Medieval Academy of America, 1953): 14748.
6. Scott Schroedl, Play Drums Today! A Complete Guide to the Basics: Level One(Milwaukee: Hal Leonard Corporation,
2001), p. 42. ISBN 0-634-02185-0.
7. See File:Bach BVW 1041 Allegro Assai.pngfor an excerpt from the violin part of the final movement.
 8. Tim Emmons, Odd Meter Bass: Playing Odd Time Signatures Made Easy (Van Nuys: Alfred Publishing, 2008): 4.ISBN
978-0-7390-4081-2. "What is an 'odd meter'?...A complete definition would begin with the idea of music ganized
or in
repeating rhythmic groups of three, five, seven, nine, eleven, thirteen, fifteen, etc."
9. Egert Phlmann and Martin L. West, Documents of Ancient Greek Music: The Extant Melodies and Fragments, edited and
transcribed with commentary by Egert Phlmann and Martin L. W est (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2001): 7071 and 85.
ISBN 0-19-815223-X.
10. "Tchaikovsky's Symphony # 6 (Pathetique), Classical Classics, Peter Gutmann"(http://www.classicalnotes.net/classics/pa
thetique.html). Classical Notes. Retrieved 2012-04-20.
11. Edward Macan, Rocking the Classics: English Progressive Rock and the Counterculture (New York: Oxford University
Press, 1997): 48. ISBN 978-0-19-509888-4.
12. Radiohead (musical group).OK Computer, vocal score with guitar accompaniment and tablature (Essex, England: IMP
International Music Publications; Miami, FL: W arner Bros. Publications; Van Nuys, Calif.: Alfred Music Co., Inc.,
1997):. ISBN 0-7579-9166-1.
13. Manuel, Peter (1988).Popular Musics of the Non-Western World: An Introductory Survey (https://books.google.com/book
s?id=Ou7UQpV1KtwC&lpg=PA131&pg=PA131#v=onepage&q&f=false)(rev. ed.). Oxford University Press. p. 131.
ISBN 9780195063349.
14. Gardner Read, Music Notation: A Manual of Modern Practice(Boston: Allyn and Bacon, Inc., 1964):.
15. Constantin Briloiu,Le rythme Aksak, Revue de Musicologie33, nos. 99 and 100 (December 1951): 71108. Citation on
pp. 7576.
16. Gheorghe Oprea, Folclorul muzical romnesc (Bucharest: Ed. Muzicala, 2002),. ISBN 973-42-0304-5.
17. "Brian Ferneyhough"(http://web.archive.org/web/20110721014850/http://www.sospeso.com/contents/articles/ferneyhoug
h_p1.html), The Ensemble Sospeso
18. John Pickard: Eden, full score, Kirklees Music, 2005.
19. Willi Apel, The Notation of Polyphonic Music 9001600 , fifth edition, revised with commentary; The Medieval Academy
of America Publication no. 38 (Cambridge, Massachusetts: The Mediaeval Academy of America, 1953), p. 148.
20. Willi Apel, The Notation of Polyphonic Music 9001600 , fifth edition, revised with commentary; The Medieval Academy
of America Publication no. 38 (Cambridge, Massachusetts: The Mediaeval Academy of America, 1953), p. 147.

External links
Grateful Dead songs with unusual time signatures (Grateful Dead)
"Funky Vergina" - a tune in 15/16 by Mode Plagal
Odd Time Obsessed Internet Radio - dedicated to "odd" meters
More video samples of many time signatures - made with Bounce Metronome Pro a program that can play
all the time signatures mentioned in this article, even the ones that are irrational in the mathematical sense,

like 4

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Categories: Musical notation Time signatures

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