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The time signature indicates the meter of a musical movement at the bar level. In a music score the time signature appears as two stacked numerals, such as 4. 4 (spoken as four–four time), or a time symbol, such as (spoken as common time). It immediately follows the key signature (or if there is no key signature, the clef symbol).
Simple time signatures Simple time signatures are usually classified as those with an upper number of 2, 3, or 4. This example shows that each measure is the length of three quarter notes (crotchets). 3 4 is pronounced as "three-four" or "three-quarter time". Compound time signatures
Examples of time signatures for common time. Alla breve [alla ˈbrɛːve] – also known as cut time or cut common time – is a musical meter notated by the time signature symbol (a C with a vertical line through it), which is the equivalent of 2. 2. [1] The term is Italian for "on the breve", originally meaning that the beat was counted on ...
Following the key signature is the time signature. The time signature typically consists of two numbers, with one of the most common being 4 4. The top "4" indicates that there are four beats per measure (also called bar). The bottom "4" indicates that each of those beats are quarter notes. Measures divide the piece into groups of beats, and ...
A rest is the absence of a sound for a defined period of time in music, or one of the musical notation signs used to indicate that. The length of a rest corresponds with that of a particular note value, thus indicating how long the silence should last. Each type of rest is named for the note value it corresponds with (e.g. quarter note and ...
In popular music, half-time is a type of meter and tempo that alters the rhythmic feel by essentially doubling the tempo resolution or metric division /level in comparison to common-time. Thus, two measures of 44 approximate a single measure of 88, while a single measure of 4/4 emulates 2/2. Half-time is not to be confused with alla breve or ...
Free time (music) Free time is a type of musical anti-meter free from musical time and time signature. It is used when a piece of music has no discernible beat. Instead, the rhythm is intuitive and free-flowing. In standard musical notation, there are seven ways in which a piece is indicated to be in free time: There is simply no time signature ...
Sometimes a piece is written with multiple time signatures simultaneously. For example, it might specify 4/4 2/4 3/4 5/4, meaning that the length of measures is irregular and can be 4, 2, 3 or 5 quarter-notes. The time signature of the first measure is always specified first, and the others are placed in increasing order of length.