Recently I’ve been attending a lot of gym classes and the counts are always 4, 8, 16 etc. It made me wonder why music is set out this way and not in 5’s and 10’s like I would expect. Or am I missing something obvious?
In: 23
Really, you can count the pulse or beat of music however you want. Time signatures like 3 beats to a measure, or 4 beats to a measure, are constructs that are specific to different styles of music and cultures. These subdivisions can help musicians and dancers by emphasizing the repeating patterns in the music – so like, a certain piece might have a repeating pulse every 3 beats, so you might represent that piece as “in 3” and count three beats to a measure – but that isn’t really integral to the music, you can count it however you want. Music outside the western notational tradition can group pulses very differently. Indian music uses a tala that is much longer than a western measure and has subdivisions, but not necessarily the same length. So they might be counting in 14 (4+3+4+3) or 7 (3+2+2). Other systems have asymmetric pulses – for example some Balkan dances have a quick-quick-slow-quick-quick repeating meter: five repeating beats but the middle one is longer.
Probably the reason the counts are usually in 4 at your gym classes though, is that a lot of western music is in 4
Really, you can count the pulse or beat of music however you want. Time signatures like 3 beats to a measure, or 4 beats to a measure, are constructs that are specific to different styles of music and cultures. These subdivisions can help musicians and dancers by emphasizing the repeating patterns in the music – so like, a certain piece might have a repeating pulse every 3 beats, so you might represent that piece as “in 3” and count three beats to a measure – but that isn’t really integral to the music, you can count it however you want. Music outside the western notational tradition can group pulses very differently. Indian music uses a tala that is much longer than a western measure and has subdivisions, but not necessarily the same length. So they might be counting in 14 (4+3+4+3) or 7 (3+2+2). Other systems have asymmetric pulses – for example some Balkan dances have a quick-quick-slow-quick-quick repeating meter: five repeating beats but the middle one is longer.
Probably the reason the counts are usually in 4 at your gym classes though, is that a lot of western music is in 4
Broadly, you’re symmetrical, so dancing means left foot every doof right foot every tish (or multiple thereof!)
Broadly, you’re symmetrical, so dancing means left foot every doof right foot every tish (or multiple thereof!)
Broadly, you’re symmetrical, so dancing means left foot every doof right foot every tish (or multiple thereof!)
Dance music, particularly in the modern era, heavily favors 4/4 time, as people seem to be able to instinctually dance to it. Workout music is, effectively, doing the same thing, as many people will try to match physical movements to the beat.
But there’s tons of music in other time signatures; it’s just that music that isn’t 4 beats per measure isn’t conducive to working out.
I’ve been waiting for metricized music notation for many years. All that fractional stuff is obsolete. /s
Dance music, particularly in the modern era, heavily favors 4/4 time, as people seem to be able to instinctually dance to it. Workout music is, effectively, doing the same thing, as many people will try to match physical movements to the beat.
But there’s tons of music in other time signatures; it’s just that music that isn’t 4 beats per measure isn’t conducive to working out.
Dance music, particularly in the modern era, heavily favors 4/4 time, as people seem to be able to instinctually dance to it. Workout music is, effectively, doing the same thing, as many people will try to match physical movements to the beat.
But there’s tons of music in other time signatures; it’s just that music that isn’t 4 beats per measure isn’t conducive to working out.
It depends on the type of music. Most pop songs are 4/4 but listen to some waltz and its 3/4. That famous jazz song Take five by Dave Brubeck is 5/4 while many other jazz songs are 4/4. Like someone else said your gym most likely has pop music playing which is 4/4 therefore they used the beat to count.
Latest Answers