what it means that Peter Gabriel’s “Solsbury Hill” is written in 7/4 time?
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Music is divided into portions called “measures.” Each measure is a certain number of beats. Most music uses 4 beats per measure.
When we play 4 notes in such a measure, we call them “quarter” notes. These notes are draw as a solid dot with a line coming off. If we want a note to last a whole measure, we draw it as a bold ring with no line, and call it a “whole” note. A note that lasts 2 beats is called a “half” note, and is drawn as a ringed dot with a line coming off it. A three beat note is called a “dotted half” note and looks like a half note with a small period after it.
So if the song’s basic melody follows this 4 quarter notes per measure pattern, the timing is written as 4/4, meaning “four quarter notes per measure.”
Where measures have other than 4 beats in them, we use the same notation and terms to describe note timing, but change the numbers in the timing staff.
A waltz has 3 beats per measure. Using quarter notes, we write the timing as 3/4, meaning “three quarter notes per measure.” For a note that covers the whole measure, we would use a dotted half note.
7/4 timing means “measures consist of seven quarter notes.”
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