Why do musicians often count to four before starting to play? What’s significant about the number four?
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It’s a way to synchronize the participants.
We need to all be playing the same piece, but we have to be playing it at the same time. If you get to the solo before I get to the solo, then you might start soloing before I’ve stopped playing to give you the time to solo.
Since you’re not already playing music when you decide to play the first measure of music We need a way to know exactly how fast to play the first four notes. So the person who is keeping the time counts the time. And then we all play the first four notes at the same rate, the person who counted counted out the time.
It prevents awkward, uncoordinated startups of amateur performers.
Especially when switching from like a slow song to a fast song or vice versa.
And sometimes there are complicated time signatures where we’re going to play three notes per measure, and the base of a measure in music is four notes. So someone will count 1. 2. 3. 4. 1. 2. 3.
One of the other nice of these is that the emphasis is always on the one. An easy song to hear this indirectly is short skirt and a long jacket. You can hear how on the first note and every fourth note thereafter they really hit the downbeat with emphasis.
In dancing, it’s one through eight for a standard dance.
And not all people have to count the rhythm, and some things. The rhythm comes from a different source. Such as if the dancers start dancing before the music starts The pitter-patter of feet will set the time signature.
This is also why large ensembles and orchestras have a conductor. The hand with the stick keeps the time and the other hand tells you whether you shouldn’t generally be playing hard or soft, or whether a certain section should be leading by being slightly more emphatic than the other sections.
If you watch the conductors baton, you’ll see that he is making sort of an anchor shape. It’s straight down then a swing to the side. Then I swing back to the other side and then up. That’s four four signature. The Sharp down stroke is the downbeat and is the note in each measure to be emphasized. For three/four time The motion is down, right, and then swoop back up. The down is always sharp with a little bounce at the bottom and then the other motions are smooth and continuous.
Like marching is about stepping on the same foot at the same time. Music is about stepping on the same note at the same time.
And just like if you ever hear a bunch of soldiers marching, there’s usually either Martial music or like avails, start singing a very rhythmic song or a call and response chant.
In music everything is about time.
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