It seems like the human brain automatically sorts noises into patterns across 4 beats… But is this instead a cultural thing (nature vs. nurture)? For both answers: how and why did it develop in that way?
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I’m not a scientist but my best guess is that is somewhat similar to the sound of your heart beating, which your ears hear all the time but learn to tune out. Add in some dancing and your heart beats a bit faster.
This could be apocryphal, but a lot of old school music is in 3/4 because it mirrors heart beats. Think Greensleeves…
Alas my love you do me wrong…
The emphasis is the same as heartbeats.
It’s my position that common time in music is 4/4 because it’s the simplest pattern for our brains to process and make sense of.
4/4 = 1.
The value of the denominator in a time signature defines the spatial parameters of how a measure, or cycle is counted.
The value of the numerator is how many beats has to occur within the measure within the constraints of its time cycle (designated by the denominator).
Since time is measured in fractions, an uncommon time signature can eventually formulate into a form of common time; such as
6/8 = 3/4 (waltz time signature).
6/8 has an uncommon count, within a common spatial parameter.
Fascinating question.
I don’t really have an answer but I do have an example of this. I was listening to Frank Ocean (Pink + White I believe) and I was tapping along to the beat, except I felt off. After a while of fiddling around I realized it was in 3/4 and it was weird. It’s not something you notice until you try to tap along.
My guess: When people cut a pizza, you cut it first in half, spin the pizza, cut it in half again, spin the pizza and cut those halves once each. You end up with 8 slices regardless of the size of the pizza, unless you really stop and think about it.
Try to cut a pizza in 6th some time. The first slice (half) is easy, but slicing that half into equal thirds takes a bit more thought and concentration. It’s easy to gauge something as being equal on either side.
Time signatures are very similar, you just dividing a bar of music in half and then half again. So, if you’re beating a drum, and you hit it 4 times, evenly spaced, it’s really easy to throw a funky beat between the 4 on the floor style 1,2,3,4.
Of course not all music is that way – because it’s not required, and with a bit more thought other time signatures will start to feel natural, and could have other inspirations behind them, but they would be more varied (which is exactly what we find) across cultures.
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