5

Meter signatures

Most of the music we listen to has an underlying beat (or pulse), which continues throughout the composition.  The beat measures equal amounts of time; it is the beat that encourages us to tap our feet or clap our hands.  In addition, the beat is often organized into patterns of accented and unaccented beats.  This is what we call meter.

Following are the simple metrical patterns:

Try the following exercise in order to hear and feel these patterns:

• Tap your foot to create a steady beat.
  
  
• Next, count aloud a duple pattern with your beat ("ONE two;  ONE two;  ONE two; etc.").
  
  
• Now clap your hands every time you say "ONE" to create an accented beat.

Do this exercise with each of the other patterns as well, always clapping on beat ONE.  Do you hear and feel a difference among the various patterns?

The recurring patterns are grouped into measures or bars on the staff and separated from each other by vertical lines called bar lines.  Single lines separate individual measures, and double bar lines denote the end of a major section of a composition.

At the beginning of a composition, the meter is identified by a meter signature (or time signature), which consists of two numbers, one above the other.  The top number designates the number of beats in the pattern; the bottom number generally indicates the note value of the beat.

Sometimes the following symbols are used for meters instead of numbers:

		=	4/4 (quadruple meter) sometimes called "common time"
		=	2/2 (duple meter) sometimes called "alla breve" or "cut time"

Keep in mind there might be considerable rhythmic diversity within a single measure.  Each measure, though, will have the equivalent of the number of beats dictated by the meter signature as shown in the following example:

You can see in this example that each measure has the equivalent of three quarter notes using a variety of note and rest values.

Accidentals and bar lines

An accidental is effective for an entire measure and, therefore, not repeated within the same measure.  After a bar line, though, the accidental is negated. Study the following example to understand how this works: