6. Time Signatures 1 – Simple Time

This post is one of a 2-part series of free basic music theory lessons on my blog, musictheoryde-mystified.com. You can see the complete list here. Please feel welcome to make a comment or ask a question.

In 3. Beats, Tempo and Timing we saw that music is counted in beats – a bit like counting seconds, except that different pieces are counted faster or slower. How fast we count is indicated by the tempo.

We also saw that beats are grouped into bars, which act as a larger unit within the piece’s structure. These groups can be any length but are typically a few beats long. 

The number of beats in a bar is written at the start of the first stave, in the form of a fraction without the dividing line. This is called the time signature.

A Time Signature Tells Us How to Count

In simple time, the time signature tells us two things. The numerator (the top number) indicates how many beats per bar and the denominator (bottom number) represents the fraction name of the note value used to represent 1 beat.

3 3 beats per bar
4 quarter note (crotchet) = 1 beat

TIP: Read this as “3 x 1/4 note beats per bar”

In the above example of 3/4, there are 3 beats per bar, where the quarter note (crotchet) = 1 beat. We count to 3 for each bar. 

Of course the bars can be filled with notes of various lengths. The time signature indicates where the beats are and tells us how to count.

NOTE: A few time signatures, known as compound time, are interpreted differently. We will visit these in Part 2 of this course.

Common Time

The most popular time signature in modern times is 4/4, which is 4 crotchet beats per bar. It is so popular that it has a unique name, common time, and a shortcut symbol, the letter C.

4/4 and C are equally valid symbols – the choice is up to the composer.

X/4

The most frequently used time signatures use the crotchet to represent 1 beat, as in the above examples.

The fraction name for a crotchet is 1/4. For convenience, we can say that all these time signatures are in x/4, where x is the number of beats in the bar.

A time signature can have any number of beats but smaller numbers are more common. For longer time signatures we tend to mentally break them up into smaller groups. For instance, a bar of 7 beats could be thought of as 3+4 (or 4+3, depending on how the music flows, or even 3+2+2 etc.). Sometimes this is indicated in the music with an accent > symbol over the strong beats.

In general, though, bars tend to be fairly short, typically 2 to 4 beats per bar.

Simple Time

Simple time is an overall term encompassing all time signatures that can be read as a simple fraction, where the upper number represents the number of beats in a bar.

Of these, time signatures in x/4 are by far the most common, but the crotchet or 1/4 note isn’t the only note value that can represent 1 beat. Other note values can also be used, such as a quaver (1/8 note) or minim (1/2 note).

Although not covered in this basic course, these other time signatures work the same way as x/4: 4/8 = 4x 1/8 note (quaver) beats per bar and 3/2 = 3x 1/2 note (minim) beats per bar.

Halves and Quarters

In simple time, beats are easily divided into halves and quarters, the default rhythmic framework for many genres and styles. Even the note values themselves are designed to divide into halves and quarters – each symbol is half (or double) the length of the next.

Note values from minim (half note) to semiquaver (sixteenth note)

The notes of an actual melody are usually a mixture of longer and shorter notes. Some of these are on a beat, others might start between beats. The time signature gives us a counting reference so we can interpret the notes correctly. Is a particular note on the beat or not, and on which beat within the bar?

Note: Most pieces have a single time signature throughout. However, some are made up of different sections with contrasting character. Each section can have its own time signature, like miniature pieces within the overall work. (Actually, it’s possible to change the time signature any time, or even change back and forth!)

The Rhythm of a Time Signature

A time signature has a built-in hierarchy of strong and weak points. The most obvious example of this is beat 1. When we count to music, it’s quite natural to emphasise the start of each bar, to help us keep track of where we are as we count. This also makes it easier to “feel” the beats within each bar rather than have to count numbers in your head.

Even when not counting aloud, musicians typically emphasise the first beat of each bar a little in their head as they play, so that it feels like the the start of a group.

Unless the bar is only 2 beats long, there’s room for a secondary emphasis part-way through the bar.

Being bipedal, humans have an affinity for two’s and halves. That’s why simple time is so popular. The most comfortable way to count is in two’s: strong, weak, strong, weak. At a pinch we can count in three’s but unless it’s quite fast, we prefer to feel it as 2+1: strong, weak, strong(ish).

To count in 4 we split it into 2+2, strong, weak, strong, weak. To feel like one group of 4, we make the first emphasis stronger than the second.

Time signatures have strong and weak beats, alternating where possible.

For example, in 4/4, beat 1 is the strongest of all, beat 3 a little less so but still strong, and beats 2 and 4 are weak.

A Beat Is Like a Miniature Bar of 4/4

Dividing up a beat is the same in miniature. The beat itself is the strongest, the 2nd quaver, halfway through, is the next strongest, and the other semiquavers, numbers 2 and 4, are the weakest.

Below, you can see and hear the hierarchy of the most common time signatures using bass guitar and drum kit sounds (the bass plays the strong beats and the snare plays the beats).

The more notes are on top of each other, the stronger the implied emphasis.

This is an exclusive preview of one of my custom illustrations from my upcoming music theory reference, Music Theory De-mystified, which I hope to complete by end 2023.

So What?

The implied rhythm of the time signature acts as a reference accompaniment which allows us to feel where the bars and beats are. Without this we wouldn’t be able to interpret the rhythm of the music correctly.

Have you heard the term “syncopation?” It’s where the rhythm is played with emphasis in unexpected places, typically between the beats rather than on them, or on the weak beats rather than the strong ones. It feels like it’s “against the grain”; like it’s competing with something – often in an exciting way!

We’ll visit this in more detail in a post down the track but the point is that syncopation feels “against the grain” or between the beats BEACAUSE OF the time signature. The implied accents of the beats and strong beats determined by the time signature is the competition.

That’s where the “in-between “ sensation of syncopation comes from; even if there is no instrument emphasising the beats we can still feel the implied rhythm of the time signature. We can feel the music skip between the beats when syncopated or work together with the beats when playing on the beat.

In the following example, the first bar is syncopated and the second bar is on the beat. Without being aware of the time signature, the first bar is hard to interpret until you hear the second bar following the beats. Once we’ve heard the 2nd bar, the rhythm of the first bar is easier to understand.

Now let’s listen with a metronome playing the bars and beats of the time signature.

Hearing the metronome, it’s much easier to work out the rhythm of the first bar.

In summary, think of the time signature as a default accompaniment to a melody. Melodies may or may not have a strong rhythmic quality in themselves but they will almost always be built around the framework of the time signature’s rhythmic hierarchy.

Please feel welcome to like, comment or to share this post. If you have any questions, pleased leave them as a comment and I will respond as soon as I can. If you enjoy my posts and would like to be kept up to date, please subscribe.

NEXT LESSON: 7. Rest Values, How To Count Rests

PART 1 CONTENTS: Basic Music Theory Course Contents

A Melody Is A Journey

This post is one of a growing series of holistic investigations into various aspects of music theory. The full list can be found in the Posts page under the category Music Theory De-Mystified.

All comments are welcome. If you enjoy my post, please give it a like and share it or subscribe to my blog.

This is a key tenet in my approach to music theory. However, if you disagree, feel free to comment.

Most music has both a melody and chords. Even a melody by itself is usually built on chords, it’s just that we don’t hear them. We call this an implied chord progression (when no chords are written, we can deduce the likelihood of potential chords by the evidence provided in the melody such as phrase structure, the actual notes used and the use of accidentals).

A chord represents a key- at least basic major and minor chords and their common variants do. How effective they are at establishing their key depends on low long they’ve got. Yes, time. The longer the time spent on a chord, the more it feels like THE key. 

A melody is a journey. Typically it starts at home (in the home key) then travels to one or more visiting keys, represented by the main chords along the way, eventually arriving home again.

Just like a physical journey, the trip can be long or short, fast or slow, bumpy or smooth, visiting nearby or exotic places on the way. Everything that applies to a physical journey has its parallel in a musical journey.

There are three parts to any trip- the departure (including any prep such as packing), the travel and the arrival. Similarly, pieces (and the phrases within them) have a start, a middle and an end.

Time, Space and Culture Shock

A journey can be brief or extensive, or anything in between. The places you see can be familiar or exotic, near or far.

  • A trip to the local shop to get staples might be a 5-minute walk around the corner or up the street. You spend just long enough to do a common task in familiar surroundings and head back. This is the most basic journey; familiar and short.
  • You might drive across town to visit a close friend or family. Again, you are in familiar surroundings, yet you travelled beyond your immediate neighbourhood. This still feels like a small and safe journey yet you may spend hours on your visit and be surprised by the changed traffic or weather conditions coming home. A tiny bit more complex journey than the first example.
  • Maybe you’ve chosen to visit someone out of town or in another state. You might be invited to stay a few days. Longer distance means a little less familiarity: you don’t know the roads so well, where the post office is, the bed feels a bit different, etc. After a day or two, you start to get used to this. The longer you’re there, the more it feels like home.
  • While you’re there, you might take mini trips within the journey- go to the shop, the beach, maybe even camping out.
  • If you stay away long enough, when you come home it feels a bit strange at first. You almost turn the door key the wrong way, the colour of the wallpaper isn’t quite as you remembered it, you didn’t realise you were low on a few staples.
  • What if you set out on a grand adventure to visit strange and distant cultures? The journey is either massive, with strange and mysterious stops on the way, like an ocean journey, or super fast, almost like a blur, as in a flight. When you arrive, it’s almost alien. Everything’s different: the living conditions, the language, the food… Stay there for a while, however, and you gradually pick up a few basic words, learn a bit about the local neighbourhood and start to feel more settled.
  • Were you to stay in an exotic culture for long enough, it would start to feel like home, and your memories of your real home become less and less clear. Coming home after living there for years, home itself would feel like a very strange place at first. Stay somewhere long enough and you might even come home with a foreign accent!

All this can be mirrored in the way a piece of music progresses. The melody is the traveller, the main chords are the visiting points. Time is time.

The relationship between each chord and the home key (as well as between one chord and the next) is the relationship between home and the various places visited on our travels. As a (basic) chord represents a key, the main chords mark out the visiting keys in the journey.

Chord relationships are key relationships. A topic in itself, this is worthy of revisiting in at least one separate post. However, in general, keys (and chords) are related by how many notes they have in common. There are basically three types of key relationships:

The Cycle (or Circle) of 5ths

The cycle of 5ths is a sequence of all major and minor keys in increasing and decreasing key signature order, usually represented as a circle. Octaves are unspecified, as it’s just a list of keys. Adjacent keys in the cycle of 5ths have only one note different in their scales and both chords are made up of notes in the home key.

See my Beginner’s Tip for a graphic of the cycle of fifths, including relative majors/minors.

Adjacent keys in the cycle of 5ths are the closest companions. Many pieces only use 3 chords: that of the home key, previous key and the next key in the cycle, otherwise known as the Tonic, Subdominant and Dominant or I, IV and V. As we progress away from our neighbours, the keys sound less closely related and the chords a little more independent. Distant key relationships produce a startling or disorienting sensation in the listener.

Relative major and minor

All the common tonalities used in Western music have either a major 3rd or a minor 3rd from the root note. In this way, modes can be categorised as “like major” or “like minor” and be represented by a major or minor chord accordingly. It’s reasonable to talk in terms of major and minor chords, even if the piece is in another mode.

For every major scale, there is a minor scale with the same key signature (and vice versa). When the music changes between relative major and minor, the root note and tonality change but the notes all belong to the home key. As a chord progression, going from relative major to relative minor (and vice versa) feels more like taking a small step back rather than a significant change in key. Relative major/minor chords are often interchangeable in an accompaniment, depending on whether a more direct or a slightly indirect and more sophisticated effect is desired.

Major and minor on the same root note (parallel major and minor)

A major and a minor scale on the same root note have 3 notes that differ between them, so they only have 4 notes in common. In the cycle of 5ths that amounts to keys which are 3 steps apart, a relatively indirect relationship, yet they sound like they’re much more closely related. As it happens, only one of the three chord notes is different-the 3rd. The root note and 5th are both the same. The only thing that seems to change is the mood, the tonality.

Back to the present…

In short, closely related chords feel comfortable, almost predictable, as the melody arrives there – the friendly key next door…

Of course this is mitigated by the directness of the trip. We could potentially weave through a myriad of other keys before arriving next door, blindfolded and bedazzled, and it might then take us a while to realise where we are, but by and large, closely related keys can be freely visited in comfort.

More adventurous journeys use less direct key relationships or follow a cascading progression of keys in the cycle of 5ths to arrive in a new land.

When listening to a piece, try to feel not just the more rapid flow of the melody, but the deeper, underlying flow of the progression of keys through which the melody travels.

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The Cycle (circle) of Fifths

OK, this isn’t quite a beginner’s tip, but it’s a great hack for remembering key signatures, relative majors/minors and chord relationships.

The cycle of 5ths, or circle of 5ths if you prefer, is a list of all the major keys and their relative minors, ordered by their key signature. For convenience it’s usually written as a circle rather than a long, endless line. The keys are represented by chord names. A letter by itself is a major key or chord and a letter followed by “m” is a minor key or chord.

The pattern is centred around C major and A minor, which have no sharps or flats. Reading clockwise, you progress further into sharps. Reading anticlockwise, you progress “backwards”, further into flats.

At the bottom there is an overlap where two possible note names can be used to describe the same root note. The trade-off here between naming these keys as sharps keys or flats keys is minimal. In actual usage, the choice may become clearer when considering the natural (easily played) keys of the instrument(s) chosen to play the piece and what other keys are visited within the piece.

in theory, you could continue in either direction, beyond 7 sharps or 7 flats, but then you’re doubling up with much simpler key signatures for the same sounding key so you would need a very good reason to go beyond 7.

For a piece in a given key, say A major, the most closely related keys and the primary chords are found immediately to the left and right of the home key, and their relative minors or majors inside or outside the purple line.. In the case of A major that’s A, D, E, F#m, Bm and C#m.

Note: in most gentes, the chord on the next key (the dominant) is played as a major chord, even if the home key is minor. For example, for A minor, the chords are Am, Dm, E (rather than Em), C, F and G.

The Cycle (circle) of Fifths

Primary school students are usually taught the sequence of letters as a mnemonic – at my school it was “Go Down And Enter By Fifths”, with a C at each end. It’s boring and it’s technically incorrect (the pattern goes up in fifths the way it reads, not down). I’m sure you could make up a better one…

The Cycle of 5ths is explained in more detail in 12. Major Keys And The Cycle/Circle Of Fifths.

Welcome to Music Theory De-mystified!

Hi, I’m Erik Kowarski. Welcome to my blog! At any time, please feel free to comment. If you find my posts useful, please like and share them. You can also subscribe so you’ll be notified of new posts. To go straight to the latest post, scroll down.

In this blog I try where possible to look at music, or at least Western music, as a whole, rather than in terms of a specific genre; to explore the underlying principles and learn by observation rather than by a set of rules.

The posts are grouped into categories. On the Posts page there is a list of individual posts within each category, oldest first. This is particularly useful for Basic Music Theory Lessons as they should be done in numerical order.

Categories

Basic Music Theory Lessons

Basic Music Theory Lessons is a 2-part course designed for beginners and self-taught musicians. Using clear explanations rather than rules it focuses on theory that applies broadly, across all genres. The emphasis is on learning by listening and observation.

The lessons can be done as a course, in small modules or as individual lessons.

If you’re a beginner, Basic Music Theory Lessons are the posts for you. Nothing is assumed, everything is explained from scratch. There are plenty of illustrations, audio clips and mini movies as well as practical tips and exercises. Every major point is backed by examples you can hear.

If you have a question, please post it as a comment and I will reply when I can.

Beginner’s Tips and Hacks

Beginner’s Tips offers some handy hacks and tips as well as lists for quick reference.

Music Theory De-mystified

Music Theory De-mystified, aka The De-mystified Files, is a series of brief investigations into what makes music theory tick. A very basic understanding of music theory is assumed, such as note names, key signatures and basic interval names. Although I still endeavour to explain related background information, the posts would get too long and with too many detours if I followed every back story. Instead, I try to look at one unusual aspect of music theory and provide some context.

Musicianship

A list of all posts which contain musicianship/ear training exercises. These include timing, rhythm, singing scales, pitching intervals, recognising notes in a triad and more.

Musings

Musings is a forum for discussion. The posts are my personal thoughts and observations- you might agree or disagree with my views. I would love to receive your comments.

The Interval-Singing Project

A survey looking for different intervals used at the start of popular songs in various genres. The aim is to build a database of familiar songs containing each interval, as a learning aid for singing intervals. The database will be available free to subscribers.

The Theory Of Practice

Tips on practice technique.

Please like and share my posts. If you have any questions, please leave them as a comment and I’ll reply as soon as I can.

Erik Kowarski 

Posts

Latest Posts

5. How Long Is A Note? Note Values 1

This post is one of a 2-part series of free basic music theory lessons on my blog, musictheoryde-mystified.com. You can see the complete list here. Please feel welcome to make a comment or ask a question.

Note Length

In 3. Beats, Tempo And Timing we saw that the length of a note is counted in beats, and that the length of a beat is determined by the tempo. For instance, when the tempo is 60 bpm (beats per minute), 1 beat is 1 second long: for a tempo of 120 bpm, 1 beat is 1/2 second long. Notes can be any length, from a number of beats to a fraction of a beat.

Note Values

Although we count in beats, not all notes are a beat, or even a whole number of beats, in length. Some are longer, some shorter.

The symbols for note length are called note values. How we interpret these symbols depends on the time signature. Time signatures are a subject for a later post, but let me say for now that the most popular time signature, common time, as well as several others, use the crotchet (quarter note) to represent one beat. For the rest of this post I will refer to a crotchet as 1 beat.

Tempo markings often include the note value which represents 1 beat. When a crotchet = 1 beat, a tempo of 60 bpm is indicated as follows:

60 crotchet beats per minute

Funny Names

There is both an English and an American name for each note value. The American name is a fraction based on a whole note equaling the number 1 (1 = whole). The next shorter shorter note is half its length and is called a half note, etc. The “1” refers to 1 bar in the most common time signature of all, 4/4, which has 4 beats per bar.

The English names are old-fashioned names meaning various degrees of “short”, harking back to the original Medieval runes and the gradual evolution of note symbols since.

On the whole I will be using the English names to avoid confusion between a half note and half a beat, etc. However, I recommend learning the American names as well: note values as fractions are the key to interpreting time signatures. In the table below, I have listed both names.

Table of Note Values

The following table lists the most common note values from longest to shortest. The “Usual Length” column shows the length in beats in common time.

Regardless of time signature, the note values are always proportional to each other. Each note value in the table always equals two of the note value below it. A semibreve = 2 minims, a minim = 2 crotchets etc.

The longest note value is called a semibreve because originally there was an even longer note, the breve. The breve is seldom used these days because, at 8 beats long, most time signatures don’t have bars long enough to be able to fit a breve within a bar.

Don’t be daunted by all these symbols. Just focus on the note values that are 1 beat or longer to start with; the ones bordered in green. It’s much easier to add beats together to play longer notes than to divide a beat into halves or quarters. Later you can include quavers, and eventually, semiquavers. Demisemiquavers are much less common.

Stem direction

All but the longest note values have a stem. The stems in the above tables are shown as extending upward from the notehead.

In 2. Notes On a Stave: Pitch we saw that on a stave, the stem’s position and direction depends on where the notehead sits on the stave.

  • Notes which are on or above the middle line of the stave have their stems on the left of the notehead, extending down.
  • Notes below the middle line of the stave have their stems on the right of the notehead, extending up.

Tails and beams are always at the outer end of the stem.

Tails and Beams

Notes shorter than a crotchet have a tail. The shorter the note, the more lines make up the tail. When there are several short notes in succession, their tails are joined together to form a beam. Beams generally join the notes in 1-beat groups such as 2 quavers, 4 semiquavers etc. This allows us to see which notes are on the beats, making the music easier to follow. It’s also a cleaner, less cluttered look.

The exception is quavers/ eighth notes, which can be joined together in one-, two- or even three-beat groups.

Below is an example of the different note values, with the shorter notes beamed in groups. In this example the quavers are beamed in groups of 2 beats (4 quavers).

The vertical lines, called barlines, occur every 4 beats, as in the time signature 4/4. In 4/4, a semibreve lasts for 1 bar.

As you listen, you will hear a metronome tick at 80 bpm and repeated notes of the different note values played over it. The use of different note pitches is just for listening convenience.

Notice that the demisemiquavers have only their outer tail beamed in whole beats: the inner tails are beamed in half-beats. This is a popular convention for an even cleaner look but not necessary. Some publishers beam all demisemiquaver tails in whole beats.

Dotted Notes

A note can be any length. For example, we may want a note to last for 3 beats rather than 2 or 4 beats. One option is to use a dotted note.

Each note value can have a dot beside it, to the right. The dot adds half the length of the note value: the dotted note is one and a half times the length of the note without the dot. Effectively, the dot represents the note value directly below the note in the note value table above. For example, a dotted minim (3 beats) = a minim (2 beats) plus a crotchet (1 beat).

The best way to get used to note values is to try to play some written music; notation means nothing until you try to play what you see. Start with something simple such as a children’s song or a melody that you’re very familiar with. If that seems too difficult, please visit my earlier post, 3. Beats, Tempo and Timing, which has some simple timing exercises that might provide a good starting point.

For more, see 7. Rest Values, How To Count Rests. In upcoming posts I hope to provide more information on note length, time signatures and rhythm.

Please feel welcome to like, comment or to share this post. If you have any questions, pleased leave them as a comment and I will respond as soon as I can. If you enjoy my posts and would like to be kept up to date, please subscribe.

The movie is taken from Music Theory De-mystified, my upcoming music theory e-book, due to be released in 2023.

NEXT LESSON: 6. Time Signatures 1 – Simple Time

PART 1 CONTENTS: Basic Music Theory Course Contents

4. Bars, How To Count In Bars And Beats

This post is one of a 2-part series of free basic music theory lessons on my blog, musictheoryde-mystified.com. You can see the complete list here. Please feel welcome to make a comment or ask a question.

Structure

When we listen to music, we can generally “follow the music”: we have a sense of where we are within the piece. This is because, other than ambient music, much of what we recognise as music has a structure. Let’s zoom in on a piece from the outside…

Most pieces are made up of sections. In a popular work a typical section might be a verse, chorus or bridge. A classical work might have large-scale sections called movements as well as smaller sections within a movement such as exposition, development and recapitulation.

Within each section, the music is made up of phrases. In the language of music, phrases are the equivalent of phrases in speech. Question marks, full stops and commas all have their musical equivalent.

In music, each phrase is typically made up of a number of bars. Bars provide a way of dividing a phrase up into manageable chunks that we can see and hear.

In Western music culture we seem to be attracted to the number 4. Phrases in many genres are often 4 bars long. In a typical 4-bar phrase, we can feel the phrase get started in the first bar and arrive at a note or chord in the 4th bar. Please note that this is a very general statement for illustration purposes: music is certainly not restricted to phrases of 4 bars, or even of a whole number of bars. Overall, though, many melodies are made up of 4-bar phrases.

Bars

Each bar is made up of a number of beats. Usually all the bars in a section have the same number of beats (but again this isn’t always the case). The boundary between one bar and the next is marked by a vertical line through the stave called a barline. Barlines are convenient markers to help navigate through the notes. Without barlines it would be easy to get lost when trying to read music.

The following example has bars which are 4 beats long:

Bars aren’t just visual: they form part of the structure of the music. Not only can we count the number of bars in a phrase, but we can count the number of beats in a bar. The beats are a reference for where we are in a bar, just as bars are a reference for where we are in a phrase.

A bar can be any number of beats in length but if a bar is too long we feel the need to mentally divide it into smaller chunks. Bars are easiest to feel when they have a small number of beats. Most typically, bars are made up of 2, 3 or 4 beats.

The first beat of a bar has an implied emphasis. This can be articulated in the music by making the note on the first beat of each bar stronger/louder. Even when the music is intended to be played smoothly and evenly, musicians tend to “play” that emphasis in their mind as they count.

Counting in bars and beats

Being able to count or tap to the music in beats and bars is an essential skill for the aspiring musician. In the previous post, 3. Beats, Tempo and Timing, we looked at some basic counting exercises. There we counted to 2, so there were 2 beats in each bar.

Try This…

As a quick exercise, listen to a piece of music you enjoy and tap where you feel the beats might go. Once you settle into the tempo, try counting “1,2”, then “1,2,3” then “1,2,3,4” and see which of these seems to fit the structure of the phrases. As you count, emphasise “1” a little.

If the piece has a rhythmic accompaniment, beat 1 might be emphasised by one or more of the accompanying instruments. For instance, in a typical rock song, the bass drum plays the first beat of the bar. Even without such accompaniment, the right number of beats per bar will “make sense” and fit the phrases, whereas the wrong number will, at times, feel out of step.

As 4 is two lots of 2, the difference between counting to 2 and to 4 isn’t always obvious, but counting to 3 feels quite different than 2 or 4.

Example

Below is the audio only for two simple melodies. One has 2 beats per bar, the other has 3. Listen to both and count “1,2” or “1,2,3”. See if you can tell which is which… (the answer is at the end of this post).

NOTE: Both melodies are at a medium-fast tempo but the tempo is slightly different for each. For each melody, listen first and tap along to the tempo. Only start counting when you feel that you’ve settled in to the tempo.

This post is one of a growing series of free basic music theory lessons on my blog, musictheoryde-mystified.com. You can see the complete list here.

Please feel welcome to like, comment or to share this post. If you have any questions, pleased leave them as a comment and I will respond as soon as I can. If you enjoy my posts and would like to be kept up to date, please subscribe.

Parts of this post, including the movie above, are taken from Music Theory De-mystified, my upcoming music theory e-book, due to be released late 2023.

NEXT LESSON: 5. How Long Is A Note? Note Values 1

PART 1 CONTENTS: Basic Music Theory Course Contents

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Answer: The first melody has 3 beats per bar, the second melody has 2 beats per bar.

3. Beats, Tempo and Timing

This post is one of a 2-part series of free basic music theory lessons on my blog, musictheoryde-mystified.com. You can see the complete list here. Please feel welcome to make a comment or ask a question.

Beats and note length

Music is made up of notes and rests of varying length. The musical unit of note length is the beat.

Beats

The duration of a note or rest isn’t written in absolute time: we don’t say a note is 3 seconds or half a second long. Instead, we say it is 3 beats long or half a beat long. We use symbols to indicate the length of a note as a number of beats or a fraction of a beat. For more on the symbols for note length, please see 5. How Long Is A Note? Note Values 1

Tempo

How long a beat lasts depends on the tempo. Think of a clock that doesn’t just tick every second, but that has a dial that lets you set the tick to any speed you like (this actually exists, both as a mechanical ticker and as an app: it’s called a metronome). The speed of the ticking is the tempo. Tempo is measured in beats per minute or bpm.

Each tick represents the start of one beat, so a note that is one beat long and starts on a tick will last until the next tick.

Timing

Notes can start on a beat or between beats. The relationship between the actual notes of a part and the tempo is called timing. Being able to accurately play the note lengths in relation to the tempo is called playing in time.

Timing is also the basis of how musicians can play together in a co-ordinated way. Large ensembles often use a conductor for this purpose. The conductor acts as a human metronome, using gestures to indicate the beats and thus control the tempo.

The tempo of a song is often constant, especially in many modern genres, but it is also possible for the tempo to change within a piece.

Counting the beat

The standard metronome has a range of 40-208 bpm, which roughly parallels the range of human heart rates. This represents our range of experience of what feels like a beat. For example, try counting “1, 2, 3, 4” or “1, 2, 3” along to metronome ticks of various tempi.

Slower than about 40 bpm we can’t “join the dots”; we don’t feel the link from one beat to the next clearly enough to be able to count steadily and we’re tempted to insert the word “and” between counts: of course, this effectively doubles our counting speed, even though we’re using a different word.

Faster than about 200 bpm it becomes hard to feel each count as a proper beat: more like a half-beat: and we want to count every 2nd beat instead.

Some music isn’t played in any set tempo, but a kind of flexi-time. This is formally called rubato but the English word freely can be used instead if you prefer. Rubato is prominent in operatic arias and other “story-telling” genres such as ballads.

Musicianship: the bridge between theory and practice

Often music is thought of as two subjects, theory and practical: the reading and understanding of musical language and learning to play an instrument. There is an important third element called musicianship. Think of musicianship as practical theory, general musical skills independent of the instrument you play.

One aspect of musicianship is timing. Aspiring musicians need to master some basic skills such as being able to play to an external beat, be it from a metronome or other players. Some people have a natural ability to feel the beat, while others need some exercises to develop this ability.

Basic timing practice

The following examples use two note symbols. The first is called a crotchet or quarter note: here it represents a length of 1 beat. The second is called a quaver or eighth note and represents half a beat. More on note length in a later post.

I have already mentioned the first step, the ability to count or play a note steadily to a beat at various tempi. Try counting “1, 2” first, then playing. You can play any note: often it’s easier to play two different notes, depending on your instrument.

If you had trouble counting to the beat as above, practice at a medium tempo such as 90bpm first as it’s neither too slow to feel nor too fast to play.

TIP: Listen to the metronome first before starting to count or play. Let yourself feel the tempo for as long as you like: it’ll be much easier to play in time.

A variation of the above exercise is to tap your foot at a set tempo and play together with your taps.

The next step is to be able to divide a beat into halves. It may help to use the word “and”, at least mentally, to mark the half beats. This makes it feel like you’re counting twice as often, which is certainly easier for slower tempi. The trick is to make sure the halves occur exactly halfway between the beats: at first, they may be uneven. Try playing along to the example below.

Gradually increase the tempo until you can play quite fast.

Once you can play steadily every half beat at a faster tempo such as 120bpm as above, try leaving out the “and”s in your count.

It may take a little while to be able to keep up the steady rhythm of even halves. The more you practice, the more stamina you develop and the longer you can keep the halves even. After a while you’ll wonder how it could ever have been difficult…

Other simple rhythms are also worth learning, such as alternating a whole beat and two half beats or playing only the off-beat halves (the “ands”). This latter is the basis of syncopation (more on this in another post). It’s also worth learning to divide a beat into uneven pairs, long then short, called swing or swung eighths. Effectively, the long note is 2/3 of a beat and the short note, 1/3 of a beat. Another good exercise is to divide the beat into thirds, 3 equal parts.

The above exercises form the basis of many common rhythms.

More timing practice

Playing in time is one of the critical skills required when playing in an ensemble, whether a duo, band, choir or orchestra. Complete musicianship teaching methods are available, covering timing, rhythm, pitching intervals and more.

In my upcoming music theory book, Music Theory De-mystified, I have included two chapters on musicianship. The timing exercises above are taken from one of these chapters. The other chapter is about learning to recognise intervals (the pitch relationship between two notes) by being able to sing or play them.

This post is one of a growing series of free basic music theory lessons on my blog, musictheoryde-mystified.com. You can see the complete list here.

Please feel welcome to like, comment or to share this post. If you have any questions, pleased leave them as a comment and I will respond as soon as I can. If you enjoy my posts and would like to be kept up to date, please subscribe.

Substantial parts of this post, including the movies above, are taken from Music Theory De-mystified, my upcoming music theory e-book, due to be released late 2023.

NEXT LESSON: 4. Bars, How To Count In Bars And Beats

PART 1 CONTENTS: Basic Music Theory Course Contents

Pitch Ranges

Below are the pitch ranges of some common musical instruments. The note names and octave numbers are written below the piano keyboard. Middle C and A440 are marked.

For more on pitch and note names, please visit 1. Note Names, Semitones and Octaves.

For more on octave numbers as used in this post, please visit Text Notation: Pitch And Octave Numbering.

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Middle C

Each note can occur at various octaves. The exact octave of a note can be indicated using octave numbers. Octaves are numbered starting on C.
The lowest C is C1.
The range of a piano keyboard is from A0 to C8.

Middle C is the name given to C4. Middle C is a pitch that most instruments, high to low, can play and is considered to be in the middle of the range of instrument pitches.


Middle C is the link between the treble and bass clefs. It sits on an imaginary line just above the bass clef and just below the treble clef.
This line, called a ledger line, is drawn through the notehead when needed.
Middle C is the C below A440.

Sleight of Ear: the effect of musical context on perception

This post is one of a growing series of holistic investigations into various aspects of music theory. The full list can be found in the Posts page under the category Music Theory De-Mystified.

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Musical context

Individual intervals and chords can be listened to by themselves, out of context, or within the context of a particular piece.

Any interval or chord has an effect; a character, based on how the notes interact. However, the context of the surrounding notes can produce “sleight of ear”. The interval or chord can appear to sound different than when played by itself or in another musical context.

Musical context is a combination of the overall key and mode and the development of the piece. Many pieces visit various keys along the way, resulting in a temporary key. As the music progresses through these visiting keys there is interplay between the home key and the visiting key and the listener’s viewpoint shifts.

Altered notes in either the melody or chords can also result in sleight of ear.

Sleight of ear example 1

Here are two examples of changing from an A major chord to an E major chord. The first example the melody feels like A is the home chord and we’re venturing out to E. In the second example, just one slightly different note in the melody suggests that E is home and we’re arriving home from a visiting key. This is especially noticeable when we hear the progression repeat itself.

Interestingly, the addition of D# in the melody implies the key of E major, and that’s how we hear it. To reflect this, the above example is written with the key signature of A major for the first example and E major for the second.

Sleight of ear example 2

The classic example of sleight of ear is the interval between the 6th and 7th notes of the harmonic minor, which is 3 semitones despite being consecutive scale notes (letters). This interval gives the scale an exotic quality reminiscent of Gypsy music.

From the 6th note to the 7th sounds like an unusually large step, a stretched out 2nd. It is called an augmented 2nd, reflecting how we hear it in the scale.

Normally, 3 semitones is a minor 3rd. When we hear this interval by itself we assume the first note to be the root note: it sounds like the first 3 notes of a minor scale with the 2nd note left out, or the start of a minor chord or minor triad.

The same size interval feels unrecognisably different in these two different contexts.

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Videos taken from Music Theory De-Mystified, due for release as an e-Book late 2022.