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Basic Music Series
Lesson I.5 Time Signatures

I.5.A

Prosody

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Latin Poetry's use of short - long syllable patterns was inherited by medieval musicians singing Latin liturgy and forms the basis of classical music's rhythmic vocabulary.

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These rhythms are used as tools of the composer to convey meaning through sound.

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I.5.Ba

Musica Mensura

musical measures

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Just as prosody has a set number of poetic feet per line, so music sets a finite number of beats per bar.

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Three beats per bar is equivalent to trimeter, and four beats to tetrameter.

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Groups of three or four are the most common, although other permutations are possible and used.

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Once a pattern of pulses or beats is established, we expect the same pattern to continue until otherwise notated.

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Each iteration of the pattern is contained in one bar and separated by bar-lines.

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If the pattern is based on 4, then each bar has four beats and after the forth beat a bar-line shows the completion of the iteration and beginning of the next.

 

I.5.Bb

Durationes Notarum

the duration of notes

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Notes are presented as a visual system of rations. A half note being 1:2 of a whole note, and a quarter note being 1:4 of a whole note, and so forth.

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The speed however is purely dependent upon the tempo, not the note duration used.

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Just because something is written in whole note does not make it fast, and just because something is written in sixteenth notes does not make it slow.

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Modern Notation

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semibreve = Whole

 

minum = Half

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semiminum = Quarter

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fusa = Eighth

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semifusa = Sixteenth

I.5.Ca

Temporis Signa

Denominatores

Time Signature

Denominators

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The denominator in a time signature tells us which note duration represents the pulse.

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A quarter note is a note duration. When the bottom number or denominator of the time signature is 4, then a quarter note will represent one beat. For each beat of time, one quarter note's worth of music is played.

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If the number is 2, then a half note will represent the beat; if 8, then an eighth note.

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The chart demonstrates each of the note durations representing the pulse, and there being only one pulse per bar.

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1/1 = whole

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1/2 = half

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1/4 = quarter

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1/8 = eighth

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1/16 = sixteenth

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I.5.Cb

Temporis Signa

Numeratores

Time Signature

Numerators

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The numerator of a time signature tells how many pulses or beats per bar.

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If the top number or numerator is 4, then the pattern is 4. The fifth beat marks the pattern repeating.

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1234 (5=1)

1234

1234

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Barlines are used to mark each pattern. If the time signature is 4/4, then after 4 beats of music a barline intersects the staff. All the beats in a bar must be accounted for, if there are no notes being played, a rest is written.

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While most music is written with numerators of 2, 3, 4, 6, 9 and 12, others such as 5, and 7 are sometimes used.

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Any number is technically possible, but longer numbers are divided into smaller groups of 3 or 4. Such as 12/8 which is often felt as 4 patterns of 3 notes (4x3=12), instead of 12 independent pulses.

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BMS EPISODE I.5

Ba_BMS_Ep4_TimeSignitures4.png
E_BMS_Ep4_Durations.jpg
A_BMS_Ep4_TimeSignatureDenominators.png
Aa_BMS_Ep4_TimeSignatureNumerators.png
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