4: Time signatures

A time signature governs what a measure is, and it’s the next thing that appears. Unlike a clef and key signature, however, we’ve decided over the centuries that we only need to see it on two occasions: 1) right at the beginning of a piece or 2) when it needs to change.


A time signature consists of two numbers, a top one and a bottom one, somewhat like a fraction (and, in fact, if you’re writing regular text and don’t have access to, or can’t be bothered to use, the Bravura font, it’s perfectly acceptable online and in print to use 2/2 or 3/4 or 6/8 or what have you. But always use a regular time signature when writing actual music—this is trivial with a good piece of notation software).

The top (or left) number indicates how many beats are in a measure. This can be any number, but as I’ve alluded to, the most common top numbers are by far, 2, 3, and 4—followed at a distance by 6, 9, and 12 (followed miles later by any other number). The bottom number, however, must be a power of 2—1, 2, 4, 8, 16, and so on. The bottom number tells the musician what the top number is counting. For example, means there are 2 quarter notes in a measure; means there are 4 quarters in a measure; and   means there are 6 eighth notes in a measure.

Here is a time signature in context (with a no-sharps, no-flats key signature):

 




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