What determines the time signature of a piece of music?

Question

I know that most music comes in 4/4, but why? What’s preventing someone from just putting more bars into the sheet music and making that 2/4?

In: Culture

Answer 1

A time signature isn’t just about beats and measures, it has a stylistic component, where some beats are emphasized more than others. A 2/4 beat is very steady UP down UP down, while 4/4 is UP down up down UP down up down. It also determines where the notes break. A 4/4 piece might have a dotted half note followed by a quarter note, you can make an equivalent rhythm in 2/4, but it would be unusual.