Lesson Five: Time Signatures
 

In music, the TIME SIGNATURE is the numbers you can see at the beginning of the FIRST line of music. If you look at a piece of printed music you will also see that each staff has up and down lines which divide it up into about 4 sections which are all roughly equal in length. These lines are BAR LINES and they have an important job in music. They divide up all the notes into and equal number of BEATS. How many beats in each BAR - the space between the bar lines depends on the TIME SIGNATURE.

There are two parts of a time signature - one part for each number. The top number tells us what to count up to in every bar of the tune before we start again with one. If it is a three then we have to count to three like this: 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, and so on.

The bottom number is important too, it tells us what kind of beats each count should be. From our lessons on duration we know some different kinds of notes: a crotchet that goes for one beat, a minim that goes for two, a quaver that goes for half a beat and a semibreve that goes for four beats. In music every bar should have the same number of beats in it even if there are different kinds of notes within it. The time signature sets the rules for how many beats can be in every bar and how those beats should be divided up into smaller groups.

So far we know that if a time signature has a three on the top, then there will be three counts in each bar, but these counts could go for crotchet beats (1 beat each), minim beats (2 beats each) or semibreves, (4 beats). There would still be three counts in each bar, but the length of each of these counts would be different.

To find out how long each of these counts last for, we must look at the bottom number. If we think of the semibreve as the longest note we can have, we can think of it as a WHOLE note. We can then think of the minim as the HALF note, the crotchet as a QUARTER note and the quaver as the EIGHTH note.

Draw pictures of these notes:

bulletwhole note = 1
bullethalf note = 2 (there are 2 minims in a whole note)
bulletquarter note = 4 (there are 4 crotchets in a whole note)
bulleteighth note = 8 (there are 8 quavers in a whole note)


Because we think of a semibreve as a whole note, if the time signature has a 1 on the bottom and a 3 on the top, every bar of that tune must have notes which add together to make 3 semibreves.
ie. semibreve + minim + minim + semibreve = 12 beats.
If the number on the bottom of the time signature is a 2 and there is a 3 on top (3/2) then there will be notes that add to made 3 MINIMS in each bar.
ie. minim + crotchet + crotchet + minim
If there is a 4 on the bottom of the time signature and a 3 on top (3/4)
ie. crotchet + quaver + quaver + crotchet.
 

If we have a time signature of 4/4, ever bar should have notes which total 4 crotchet beats.  What kind of beats are they?

bullet

crochet

bullet

minim

bullet

semibreve

Do you know what each bar of 2/4 would have in it? ________ beats in each bar. What kind of beats are they?

bullet

crochet

bullet

minim

bullet

semibreve

 

  1. Put a semibreve in the first bar on the first space for the note A

  2. In the second bar write on the next line for B, a crotchet.

  3. Next to it on the space for C place six quavers (3 pairs) P_P  P_P   P_P

  4. In bar three place two quavers on the line for D (don't forget to join the tails).

  5. Next to these notes, in the same bar (3) place two quavers in the space for E (don't forget to join the tails).

  6. Next to these notes, in the same bar (3) place two quavers on the line for F (don't forget to join the tails).

  7. Next to these notes and still in bar 3, place the last two quavers in the space for G.

  8. In the fourth and last bar place a semibreve on the top line of the staff. This will be A one octave above the note you began on.

  9. Now go and play what you have written on your favourite instrument.