eli5: what’s the difference between songs in 4/4, 3/4 and 6/8? why is there maths in music?
In: 1
It’s the time signature or “meter” – it tells you how many beats to a measure, and which note counts as one beat. It often affects the flow or emphasis of the song in question.
The top number is how many beats in a measure.
The bottom number is which kind of note gets 1 beat. It’s typically a multiple of 2 unless somebody’s actively *trying* to be weird about it.
* /4 means a quarter note (1/4=a quarter) gets 1 beat.
* /2 means a half note gets 1 beat
* /8 means an eighth note is 1 beat
* etc
Examples:
* 4/4 is also known as “common time” and sometimes just has a big C in place of the time signatures. There are 4 beats and a quarter note (the regular black one with a straight stem) is 1 beat. 1 whole note would be 1 whole measure. Arguably about the simplest time signature for beginners. It’s counted like “1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4”
* 3/4 is common for waltzes. There’s usually a subtle emphasis on the first beat. “**one**-two-three, **one**-two-three”
* 2/2 is also known as cut time. It *looks* just like 4/4 (4 quarter notes in each measure), but it’s played at twice the speed (because one beat is half a measure instead of a quarter). It’s common for marches.
* 6/8 ends up playing a lot like 3/4 (and it looks about the same) and has a lilting feel similar to a waltz, but the emphasis is different, like if a waltz only had an emphasis every other measure. House of the Rising Sun and Hallelujah are in 6/8. It counts more like **one**-and-a-two-and-a, **one**-and-a-two-and-a.
* Signatures like 5/4 or 7/8 are where it starts getting weird. They’re used a lot in jazz, but also for some more traditional songs that don’t follow a more “standard” meter. Think Dave Brubek’s “Take Five” or the Mission Impossible theme.
ETA: There’s maths in it because music is inherently mathematical. Melody is notes in rhythm. In order to maintain a rhythm, you have to have precision. In order to consistently *notate* a rhythm (so that somebody who hasn’t heard it can accurately reproduce it), you need an internally consistent language of notation, just like with, e.g., algebra.
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