L.O. - 3. Know about simple and complex rhythms.

• Time signatures, Synonymous with meter signature.

The Lower Number

The lower number tells you what value of note to count:

The lower number 4 tells you that the kind of note we must count is a crotchet because the number 4 (in the lower position) stands for crotchet.

The numbers you can find in the lower position are:

1=	Semibreve (rare)		2=	Minim
4=	Crotchet		8=	Quaver
16=	Semiquaver		32=	Demisemiquaver (rare)

The Upper Number

The upper number tells you how many of these beats you need. So,
means we have 2 crotchets per bar
means we have 6 quavers per bar, and
means we have 4 minims per bar.

 

	Duple	Triple	Quadruple
Simple	2	3	4
Compound	6	9	12

• Duple, A group of two notes performed in the time of three of the same kind.

A whole bar is always divided into beats. There can be 2, 3 or 4 main beats in a bar, (except in complex time- see below).

• Duple=2 beats per bar
• Triple=3 beats per bar
• Quadruple=4 beats per bar

There are never usually have more than 4 main beats in a bar. If the upper number in a time signature is higher than 4, you can divide it by 3 to find out how many beats there are:

Upper number		=beats per bar
6                       /3		2 (duple)
9                       /3		3 (triple)
12                    /3		4 (quadruple)

Complex time signatures are a combination of duple, triple and/or quadruple times.
e.g. 5/4 has five crotchets per bar. These crotchets can be grouped as 2+3, or 3+2. 7/8 has seven quavers per bar. These can be grouped as 3+4, 4+3 or even 2+3+2. The composer will use phrasing marks, (and beams on quavers or smaller notes), to indicate the groupings he/she wants.

for instance this is 3+4
 

• Triple, A group of three notes performed in the time of two of the same kind.

• Compound, In compound meter, subdivisions of the main beat (the upper number) split into three, not two, 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 9/8 or 6/8

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  Beat	Sub-beat	Example:

• Complex, A complex time signature is something outside of the regular time signatures, it has values like 7/8, 5/8, 9/8, 3/8.  
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• Complex time signature - simple time

• Complex time signature - compound time