TIME SIGNATURE

TIME SIGNATURES

Time signatures consist of two numbers: the lower number indicates the note value that represents one beat (the "beat unit"); the upper number indicates how many of these beats there are in a bar.

Note values are traditionally classified as simple (2/4 and 3/4) and other time signatures, including perfect (for example, 4/4=2/4+2/4), triple, complex, and changing time signatures. Note: The Finnish term 'yhdistetty tahtilaji' is not the same as the English 'compound meter'.

Besides providing the time values and their number, a time signature defines the metric structure in a bar. In compound metres, the main beat is divided into parts, which are longer than the beat unit. For example, time signatures 6/8, 9/8 and 12/8 almost always consist of 3/8 units; in other words, the beat unit is not a quaver or an eighth note but a dotted crotchet or fourth note. It is only in slow tempos that a quaver or an eighth note is perceived as a natural beat unit in these time signatures.