13: Meter
Not the Metric System
At the beginning of every piece of music is what is called the time
signature or meter which gives you information about the piece of music
you’re about to play.
The time signature or meter tells you how many beats are in each
measure. To review measures, see “Measure” on page 28. The time
signature also tells you what kind of note gets one beat. To review the
notes, see “The Notes” on page 92.Example 13.1 The most common time signatures, or meters: 4/4, 3/4, and 2/4.
The Top Number
The top number tells you how many beats will be in each measure.
So, in the examples above, in 4/4 time, there will be 4 beats in each
measure; in 3/4 time there will be three beats in each measure, and in
2/4 time there will be two beats in each measure.
The top number in the meter can be almost anything, but the most
common ones are 4, 3, 2, and 6, in that order.The Bottom Number
The bottom number tells you which note gets one beat. Remember
fractions? Another way of saying 1/4 is one quarter, right? And so,
with a 4 in the bottom of the time signature, you know that the quarter
note receives one beat.
There are several possible numbers for the bottom of the time
signature. The most common are 4, 2, and 8, with 4 being by far the
most common. And because it’s the most common (and the easiest to
understand), we’ll stick with 4 as the bottom number until Chapter 33
More Meters, in which you’ll learn about time signatures in which a
note other than the quarter receives the beat.