Last week, when I explained rhythm syllables, you may have noticed that I never included a breakdown of time signatures, the different note types, and their values. That was on purpose. The two topics (reading rhythm and time signatures) are related, but they are distinct in a couple of important ways.
Let’s start by looking at a time signature and defining its parts:
Time signatures always consist of two numbers stacked on top of each other. The top number tells you how many beats there are in a full measure in the piece of music you are looking at. The bottom number tells you what type of note is equal to one beat.
In the example above, a 4/4 (read as four-four) time signature, the top 4 tells you that there are four beats in a full measure. The bottom four tells you that a quarter note receives one beat.
You can think of it as a fraction. A four on the bottom of a fraction means you are dealing with fourths, or quarters, so a time signature with a 4 on the bottom means quarter notes are your reference notes – the notes that equal one beat.
Likewise, a time signature with an 8 on the bottom means eighth notes get one beat, and a time signature with a 2 on the bottom means half notes get one beat. You won’t often see time signatures with anything other than a 2, 4, or 8 on the bottom.
Let’s look at the most common time signatures you will run across on this site and in music in general.
4/4 Time
Number of Beats in a Full Measure: 4
Note Type That Receives One Beat: Quarter
At some point in school or on your own, you may have learned a simplified way of counting notes where a quarter note gets one beat, a half note gets two beats, an eighth note gets half a beat, etc. This is true in the most common time signature, 4/4, also known as common time.
4/4 time is so common, in fact, that you will sometimes see a time signature that is just the letter “C” – for “common time.” Common time and 4/4 time are the same thing, so don’t get thrown off if you see them used interchangeably.
A standard measure in 4/4 time is counted as “1-2-3-4,” with each number representing a quarter note. Eighth notes are counted as “and” between each number (“1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and”), and 16th notes are counted as an “e” and an “a” on either side of an “and” (1 e and a 2 e and a…).
2/2 Time
Number of Beats in a Full Measure: 2
Note Type That Receives One Beat: Half
2/2 (two-two) time is also known as “cut time” because it is common time cut in half. You sometimes will see a time signature with the common time “C” with a vertical line through it, indicating cut time:
Cut time is functionally very similar to common time. Each measure can still have four quarter notes or eight eighth notes, but the way you count is different. Quarter notes are the “and”s between each beat, and eighth notes are the “e” and “a.” The 1 and 2 are half notes.
The main place I run across cut time is in older (and typically more complex) folk arrangements, specifically reels. Cut time keeps the emphasis on the important beats of a reel (the 1 and the 3 in 4/4 time) by making them the only numbered beats. It also allows for difficult arrangements that would be full of 16th notes in 4/4 time to look a bit less cluttered by shifting them up to eighth notes.
A standard measure in 2/2 time is counted as “1-2,” with each number representing a half note. Quarter notes are counted as “and” between each number (“1 and 2 and”), and eighth notes are counted as an “a” and an “e” on either side of an “and” (‘1 e and a 2 e and a”).
2/4 Time
Number of Beats in a Full Measure: 2
Note Type That Receives One Beat: Quarter
2/4 (two-four) time is essentially half of common time. Quarter notes are still your reference beat, but there are only two of them in a full measure. 2/4 time is the standard time signature for polkas with their characteristic oom-pa beat. Each oom-pa is one measure.
A standard measure in 2/4 time is counted as “1-2,” with each number representing a quarter note. Eighth notes are counted as “and” between each number (“1 and 2 and”), and 16th notes are counted as an “a” and an “e” on either side of an “and” (“1 e and a 2 e and a”).
3/4 Time
Number of Beats in a Full Measure: 3
Note Type That Receives One Beat: Quarter
3/4 (three-four) time is often referred to as “waltz time” because it is so closely associated with the dance. Quarter notes are your reference note, and there are three in a measure. Pieces in 3/4 time almost always put emphasis on the first beat of each measure, counting them as ONE-two-three, ONE-two-three.
A standard measure in 3/4 time is counted as “1-2-3,” with each number representing a quarter note. Eighth notes are counted as “and” between each number (“1 and 2 and 3 and”), and 16th notes are counted as an “a” and an “e” on either side of an “and” (“1 e and a 2 e and a…”).
6/8 Time
Number of Beats in a Full Measure: 6
Note Type That Receives One Beat: Eighth
6/8 (six-eight) is also known as jig time because of the traditional dance style that uses it. It is a type of “duple” time, meaning that you are actually counting two beats per measure, just like 2/2 and 2/4 time.
So why is there a six, then? In 6/8 time, the two beats are each divided into three notes (triplets), giving you six eighth notes in a complete measure, essentially making an eighth note worth 1/3 of a beat instead of half a beat.
This is less confusing than it sounds in practice. When you’re in 6/8 time, you count your main beats (1-2) and then also count to three between each beat, putting emphasis on the main beats (1-2-3 2-2-3).
9/8 and 12/8 Time
These less common time signatures pop up in folk tunes, specifically Irish folk. A tune in 9/8 (nine-eight) is referred to as a slip jig. Each measure has three triplets instead two like in a regular jig (1-2-3 2-2-3 3-2-3).
A tune in 12/8 time is called a slide in Irish music. Each measure consists of four triplets (1-2-3 2-2-3 3-2-3 4-2-3).
There are nuances to the way these types of tunes are played, but that is better left to individual song pages. For now, just be aware that these time signatures do exist and there’s nothing particularly scary about them, even though they do look a bit different.
Wrap-Up
Time signatures can seem confusing if you only ever see them written down and don’t know how they match up to what you hear when you listen to music. The best way to get to know your time signatures is to keep exploring music.
Find a piece of sheet music with a particular time signature, and then find a performance of the piece on YouTube or elsewhere. It won’t take long for you to start to be able to hear the difference between the time signatures. They all have a particular feel to them.
What have I missed? What was confusing? Let me know in the comments!
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