the number at the top of a time signature tells us how many beats are in a bar. what about the bottom number? what does it do?
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Time signatures in Western music is mostly based on dividing a bar into a number of beats of even temperament, so each beat is the same amount of time in seconds (or milliseconds) away from the beats before and after it. So if we have 4 beats in a bar, that’s these would the crotchets or quarter notes as there are 4 of them. If we count 8 beats in a bar of 4, those would be the quavers or 8th notes, because there are 8 of them.
This is what the bottom number is telling us, the value of the notes that will be counted as the beat. So 4/4 is 4 crotchets/quarter notes. 3/4 would be 3 quarter notes.
Or we could have 8 as the bottom number. For me, times signatures with 8 on the bottom work better with odd numbers on top. 5, 7 ect.
The difference between 4 and eight on the bottom can be quite a controversial topic at times but it’s generally to convey where the strong and weak beats fall. In 4/4 the strong beats are 1 and 3. The strong and weak beats In 6/8 would be 1 and 4.
So the top number is how many counts there are in a measure, and the bottom number is how long each of those counts take.
So to really make this make sense you have to understand tempo. Tempo is how many whole notes there are in a second, more or less. The slower the piece the longer a whole note.
Playing a series of whole notes is to plod along through a piece of music.
So the bottom number is how many times we divide up a whole note. It’s always a power of two, and it’s always bigger than one. So the bottom number is always 2, 4, 8, 16, or 32. It can be higher but people can’t really process higher than 32.
So that’s how long it takes to get from one bar to the next as per measured in fractions of a whole note.
The top number is how many notes you’re going to play or skip in that time.
So if someone else is playing a whole note to fill their measure, and you’re playing in 3/4 time, You’re going to play three notes in the time it takes them to play one whole note. This is what a waltz basically is. To count a waltz you say 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3 with stress on each 1.
So tempo is how fast you’re playing your notes, the lower number of the time signature is how you synchronize with other players, and the upper number is how many nodes you actually play.
Keep in mind that the measures set by the bars are more about synchronizing you with the other musicians. And then your time signature is your instruction on how fast to play, how many notes to consume relative to this theoretical baseline of measures.
So for instance the strings might be playing at 3/4 time but the woodwinds might be chopping along at 6/8.
And as we all watch the conductor we all stress the note numbered one, at the moment that the baton comes down from its peak.
It tells us what note gets the beat. So 4/4 would be 4 beats and the quarter note gets the beat
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