If signature does not denote tempo, why do we need signatures like 2/4 or 6/8? Why can’t the music just be written in 4/4 or 3/4?
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You could write many pieces of music in just the simplest time signatures – but it is easier to use a more appropriate time signature!
For example, if you were writing a piece of swing music, with a rhythm like DA-da-da DA-da-da DA-da-da DA-da-da, then you could write that as 12/8 (12 half-beat notes in the bar), or as triplets in 4/4 (4 single-beat notes) or 8/8 (8 half-beat notes in the bar). Since writing every single thing in triplets adds a lot of extra hassle for no good reason, you might decide to use 12/8 time so that triplets are not required and everyone’s life is easier.
Furthermore, when writing with words to achieve a particular effect, you might make some of your sentences longer and some of them shorter, since these different lengths of phrases might achieve slightly different effects. It’s the same with music. You could write everything in 1/4 or 2/4 or 4/4 or even 8/4, and these might all end up being more or less the same but just with the barlines in different places – but since we might emphasise the first beat of the bar a little more than the rest, each of these choices might end up sounding a little different when played by a musician capable of putting some expression into their performance.
If you can’t quite visualise that, then imagine having a conversation with a friend: what if you spoke in sentences that were longer than usual? What if you made every sentence short and punchy? They would sound differently when you performed them aloud, even if you still used the same number of words in total to complete your side of the conversation.
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