the number at the top of a time signature tells us how many beats are in a bar. what about the bottom number? what does it do?
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Time signatures in Western music is mostly based on dividing a bar into a number of beats of even temperament, so each beat is the same amount of time in seconds (or milliseconds) away from the beats before and after it. So if we have 4 beats in a bar, that’s these would the crotchets or quarter notes as there are 4 of them. If we count 8 beats in a bar of 4, those would be the quavers or 8th notes, because there are 8 of them.
This is what the bottom number is telling us, the value of the notes that will be counted as the beat. So 4/4 is 4 crotchets/quarter notes. 3/4 would be 3 quarter notes.
Or we could have 8 as the bottom number. For me, times signatures with 8 on the bottom work better with odd numbers on top. 5, 7 ect.
The difference between 4 and eight on the bottom can be quite a controversial topic at times but it’s generally to convey where the strong and weak beats fall. In 4/4 the strong beats are 1 and 3. The strong and weak beats In 6/8 would be 1 and 4.
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