Time Signature Purpose?

[kittysoftpaws]

Why does it matter which note gets the beat and how many time it happens in each bar?

Rephrased, let's say you wrote a piece of music in 2/4 and 4/4. Would their be an audible difference?

Thanks!

[percy88]

It should have some influence on the way you phrase the music, and somewhat rhythmically (I think).

About the beats, notes played on the beat should be louder than the other ones, and you've got the strong beat, the weak and the half-strong (Sorry, I don't know how you call then in English), which each should have a different color.

Don't know if I was able to make it out clearly, but think the way a Waltz (3/4) go, generally:

LA la la / LA la la/ LA la la

And there is the typical song in 4/4:

TA ta Ta ta/ TA ta Ta ta/

The strong beats also usually are used for the chord changes (Know I'm thinking quite a bit in pop music) being made on each compass or on the third beat.

May be someone with more knowledge can answer what you want to know, or in a better way than me...

[j_menz]

Why does it matter which note gets the beat and how many time it happens in each bar?

Rephrased, let's say you wrote a piece of music in 2/4 and 4/4. Would their be an audible difference?

Thanks!

It makes no difference to timings, but all the difference in the world to the rhythm and pulse of a piece.

[perprocrastinate]

It can make the difference between

this:

and this:

[kittysoftpaws]

Okay. Thanks for explaining . . .

[perprocrastinate]

Okay. Thanks for explaining . . .

Why the ellipses?

[1piano4joe]

I only just recently learned the time signature is independent of what your beating. The "Time Signature" is an accounting process that is the blue print for a measure (or bar). The top number is how much to count to in any given measure (and not necessarily beat) and the bottom number is exactly what it is the composer is telling you to count. A composer may change time signature quite frequently but the beat does not change. My recent post on changing meter describes this more.

Yes, there could very well be a difference in sound.

2/4 Time is very often found in marches and is counted ONE, two, ONE two.

4/4 Time might be LOUD, soft, Medium, soft or LOUD, soft, soft, soft or many other possibilities.

3/4 Time might be LOUD, Medium, soft, LOUD Medium, soft but in Mazurkas it is the 2nd beat that is the LOUDEST.

I hope that helps, Joe.

[iansinclair]

Say what?  There surely will be a difference in sound, or there jolly well ought to be, anyway.  It is quite correct to say that a time signature may be thought of as two numbers, the top being "how many" and the bottom one being "of what".  For example, 3/4 -- three quarter notes to the bar.  6/8 -- six eighth notes to the bar.  But there are certain conventions which are intended to be followed when the composer (or arranger) uses a certain time signature, and one does have to know what the conventions are to get the accents and beats right.  In the above example, 3/4 time is expected to be accented Loud soft soft in some music, medium Loud soft in other, but a definite feeling of three.  6/8, on the other hand is two major beats, not three, but each divided into triplets: Loud soft soft medium soft soft.  Not that different from 4/4 in feel (Loud soft medium soft) except the triple subdivision rather than duple.

A little hard to describe.  Easy to hear, though.

[j_menz]

A little hard to describe.  Easy to hear, though.

You did a much better job than me when I tried (and couldn't get into postable form).

[ajspiano]

Perhaps I may point out two distinctly different types of time, and the idea of pulse/beat.. Not that it hasn't been mentioned, but perhaps not so directly..  (though this may still be fairly rambled )

Simple time, where each beat is divisible in groups of 2 pulses of the smaller unit. As in 4/4, where there are 4 crotchets beats, each divisible in to a group of 2 quavers. Creating 4 groups of 2 quavers, or 8 quaver pulses...   4 beats, 8 pulses.

Common examples of "simple time" where the divisions of beats into two pulses are signatures such as 4/4, 2/4, 3/4, 2/2, 3/2, 3/8.

This is as opposed to "compound time" - where each beat is divisible into 3 pulses. Examples are perhaps signatures that have a number 6 or higher on top. 6/8, 9/8, 12/8.

These "compound" time signatures can (perhaps subjectively) be read to be 'felt' in a similar way to there 'simple' counterparts.

6/8 is the same (well, similar yet completely different) as 2/4
9/8 is the same as 3/4
12/8 is the same as 4/4

But, in the compound signatures, rather than crotchet beats there are dotted crotchet beats - or groups of three quavers.

_____________

Each set here containing the same number of beats but a different number of pulses within each beat.. simple with crotchet beats, compound with dotted crotchet beats

2/4 -    Ti-ti        Ti-ti           (2 crotchet beats, split into 2 lots of 2 quavers)
           Strong     Weak

6/8 -    Ti-ti-ti     Ti-ti-ti        (2 dotted crotchet beats, split into 2 lots of 3 quavers)
           Strong     Weak 

....

3/4 -    Ti-ti        Ti-ti        Ti-ti
           Strong     Weak      Weak

9/8 -    Ti-ti-ti     Ti-ti-ti     Ti-ti-ti
           Strong     Weak      Weak

....

4/4 -    Ti-ti        Ti-ti        Ti-ti         Ti-ti
           Strong     Weak      Medium     Weak

12/8 -   Ti-ti-ti     Ti-ti-ti     Ti-ti-ti     Ti-ti-ti
            Strong     Weak      Medium    Weak

In music with a compound signature and a slowwww tempo, the dotted crotchet feel still exists but it is less apparent - you are more likely to say, in 6/8, actually feel 6 beats, rather than 2 beats and 6 pulses, but even so there will be a rhythmic feeling of S-w-w S-w-w

[danhuyle]

memorizing your music and not losing track of notes. Also, it's part of interpretation.

[m1469]

The point of a time signature is to help organize the sound into meaningful note-groups, and note-groups into meaningful phrases, like letters into words, words into sentences, etc..  

There should be an audible difference between 4/4 vs. 2/4, in a similar way that there is an audible difference between a word with four syllables vs. two syllables.  An entire sentence constructed of words made solely of 4 syllables will sound different and have a different affect on a listener than a sentence comprised entirely of two syllable words, especially when considering accents and syllables of more emphasis.  

Consider the first movement of the Moonlight Sonata, for example, which is in 2/2 time but very easy to look at and make the mistake of thinking of it as being in 4/4 time with triplets on each beat.  The difference in strong beats/weak beats ratios between these two time signatures is quite large:
 
4/4:  (.) . <.> . | (.) . <.> . | (.) . <.> . | (.) . <.> . |

2/2:  (.)     .     | (.)     .     | (.)     .    | (.)     .     |

If you think of it in 4/4, you are constantly working around 2 stronger beats in each measure, giving a much different feel to each measure as well as the phrase, than if you are playing in 2/2 time as written, where everything except for the first beat of each measure is an "up" beat.  Imagine the difference in how each would sound.