Dumb Question re: Alla Breve

[starlady]

People who know more than I do, namely almost everyone, I have a sincere question:

Is there a clear operational difference between 'Alla Breve' (a.k.a. cut time, 2/2 time, C with the line through it) and 4/4 time?  By clear operational difference I mean something like that between 6/8 and 3/4 time: they're the same fraction but they mean different 'pulses'.  So is there a distinction like that for 2/2 and 4/4?

Everything I've heard from my teacher, and from past discussions on this board, comes down to 'alla breve feels faster'. Does anyone have a more concrete, explicit explanation? 

Thank you.  Please short words and speak slowly, as I am clearly pretty dense on this subject--s.

[johnmar78]

Starlady,
From my experience, 2/2 apllies to a faster tempo and pulse than 4/4. Look at Schumans sonate prestomisso(fast as possiable) at 2/2 time compared to standard sonata 4/4 time.
But there are some exceptions. Same as 3/4 is faster than 6/8 in general speaking.

[p2u_]

Dumb Question re: Alla Breve

First of all, the question is not dumb.

Alla Breve is not necessarily about the speed, tempo of the music. In layman terms, you could say that you should take/feel 2 bars as one unit (one bar) and accent accordingly. Does that make sense?

Paul

[starlady]

Alla Breve is not necessarily about the speed, tempo of the music. In layman terms, you could say that you should take/feel 2 bars as one unit (one bar) and accent accordingly. Does that make sense?

Paul

YES!! THANK YOU!!--s.

[timbo178]

The difference for me is the beat hierarchy, not necessarily tempo:

4/4 is Strong Weak Medium Weak

2/2 is Strong Weak

I've heard pop pieces change quite effectively from 4/4 to 2/2 while keeping the same tempo. The main difference is the drums: in 4/4 the snare occurs twice in the bar (on beats 2 and 4), and in 2/2 the snare occurs only once in the bar on the 2nd minim beat (or the 3rd crotchet beat).