" Track 6Now we could take 1 half note (minim) (worth 2 beats) and 2 quarter notes (crotchets)
(worth 1 beat each) and put them together in the same bar....
"" Track 7To make things really complicated letʼs use a half note (minim) (2 beats), a quarter note
(crotchet) (1 beat), a quaver (half a beat) and 2 8th notes (semiquavers) (worth a quarter
beat each)....
" Track 8As long as the total number of beats equals the top number of our time signature then we
are doing fine.
Can you still remember the bottom number?!?
The one thing to watch out for when working out how many beats to put in a bar is the bot-
tom number of the time signature. In Chapters 2 (Pulse) and 3 (Duration) we discovered
that the top number of the time signature tells us how many beats in the bar, whilst the bot-
tom number tells us what type of beats they are. You need to remember to look at the bot-
tom number when working out how many beats should be in a bar.
If the bottom number is 4 then itʼs easy.... the beats are measured in quarter notes
(crotchets) and are worth 1 beat each. However, if the bottom number is 2 (meaning the
beats are half notes (minims) which are worth 2 beats each) than the number of beats in a
bar is double the top number. Conversely, if the bottom number is 8 (indicating 8th notes
(quaver) beats worth half a beat) then the number of beats in a bar is half the top number.
Sound complicated? Have a look at these 3 examples....