2. Time to look at some proper music!
Music is divided up into bars by
vertical lines on the stave like
this:
This shows you the rhythm of the
music depending on how many beats are
in a bar. In this piece there are
four beats in each bar.
3. The numbers at the start tell you the time
signature, that is the number of beats and
what length of beats there are in each bar.
The most common time signature is 4/4.
The top number tells you
there are 4 beats in a bar
The bottom number shows that we
are counting in 1 beat notes,
i.e. the notes in the bar must
be equal to 4 of these:
4. So if this were the time
Signature there would be
3 beats in a bar:
But here we have an 8 at the
bottom! This means we’re
counting in half beats so
there are actually the
equivalent of six of these
in a bar.
So technically there are the same number of
beats as in ¾ but the rhythm is different
because they are divided into six.
5. And if you see a 2 at the
bottom then we’re counting
in 2-beat notes, so there
will be two of these in a
bar: - the same number
as in 4/4
You can get all sorts of strange
time signatures but the good news is
that it’s much more common to have a
4 at the bottom and a 3 or 4 on top
so we’re going to stick to that!
6. So, let’s go back to the 4/4 time
signature we saw earlier. This is the
most common which is why it’s also
called ‘common time’. Sometimes it’s
denoted with a c-shaped symbol like
this:
But it’s still the same thing: 4
1-beat notes in a bar.
7. But what difference does it make how the
bars are divided up? It’s what gives a
piece its rhythm, that’s what! The 1st beat
of every bar is the strongest beat so to
play in 4/4 time you have to count like
this:
ONE two three four ONE two three four
There are thousands of songs written in 4/4
time but to use a well-known example, think
of ‘Frere Jacques’:
8. Fre- re Ja- cques / Fre- re Ja- cques,/
Dor- mez vous____?/ Dor- mez vous____?/
It fits perfectly into a 4 beat bar:
Fre- re Ja- cques, Fre- re Ja- cques, Dor- mez vous? Dor- mez vous?
Son-nez les mat-in- es, Son-nez les mat-in- es, Ding dang dong, Ding, dang, dong
Can you follow it?
9. Another common time signature is 3/4 - this
is the time signature that waltzes usually
use. So, think of a waltz such as Strauss’
‘Blue Danube’ as you count this one:
ONE two three ONE two three ONE two three
For an example with words (to make it easier
to follow) think of ‘Oranges and Lemons’:
Oran-ges and / le-mons Say the/
bells of St/ Cle-ment’s
10. Or-an-ges and le-mons, say the bells of St Cle-ment’s. You
owe me five far-things, say the bells of St Mar-tins.
Hope it’s starting to make sense! There’s
just one more thing to mention...
11. ...that is that you don’t have to start on
the first beat of the bar! Sometimes music
has what’s called an upbeat which means
there’s a note (or two) leading up to the
first bar, e.g:
Upbeat!
12. 1) Baa baa black sheep
2) What shall we do with the drunken
sailor?
3) Away in a manger
4) Hot cross buns
5) Amazing grace
Have a go at guessing the time signatures of
these songs – sing the tune (or listen to it
on youtube!) and try to count the beats at
the same time. Does it fit better into 3 or 4
beats? (Remember, there could be an upbeat or
two first!)
13. Answers
3/4
4/4
A- way in a-a man-ger, no-o crib for a bed, the-e
What shall we do with the drunk-en sail- or? What shall we do with the
