What are Time Signatures?

The TIME SIGNATURE is a set of numbers found at the beginning of a piece of music or measure that tells you how to count the notes that follow.  It is comprised of a top and bottom number.  It is very easy to locate.  Here is an example of the most basic time signature, 4/4:

It can be at the beginning of either treble or bass clef staffs.  
 

 4/4 is also called “common time”, because it is the time signature that is most commonly found in music.  The top number of a time signature tells you how many beats will be in a measure.  If you see a 4, then it will be 4 beats.  If you see a 3, then it will be 3 beats.  It’s that simple. A measure CAN NOT have more beats in a measure than the top number says.  Right now, we will be dealing with measures that have a 4 in the top, since it’s the easiest.
 

Where's the beat?

The bottom number tells you what kind of note gets the “beat”. You know when you are listening to a song and you are tapping your foot?  That’s the beat.  The beat is the “1, 2, 3, 4”, or the pulse of a piece of music, and the bottom number of the time signature tells you what kind of note your are tapping your foot to.  If you see a “4”, that tells you that you are counting quarter notes as the beat.  If you see a “2, that means a half note is the beat.  But more on that to come in later chapters, right now, we will be dealing with 4/4, which translates into “4 beats in a measure, and the quarter note gets the beat”.  Now that you know that, we can assign some note values.  Remember, the note values we are getting ready to learn are when there is a “4” in the bottom number of the time signature, where the quarter note gets the beat.
 

 

Whole notes:   are round with no “arm” or stem.  They are worth 4 beats. It is counted 1-2-3-4 and the pitch is held for 4 beats.

 

Half notes:  look like a whole note but have a stem. They are worth 2 beats.  They are counted 1-2 and 3-4, and each pitch is held or sung for 2 beats.

Note stems
 When the notes are below the middle line of a staff, the stems are on the right and go up.  When the notes are above the middle line of staff, the stems are on the left and go down.
 

Quarter notes:   look like filled in half notes.  They are worth 1 beat each. They are counted 1-2-3-4, and each pitch is held or sung 1 beat each.

 

Eighth notes:   look like a quarter note with a flag on the stem. They are worth ½ a beat each.  When eighth notes are put in pairs or sets, they are barred together.  Here is an example:

When a quarter note is split into 2 eighth notes, you get what is called a downbeat and an upbeat.  The downbeat gets the number count, and the upbeat gets the syllable "&" (and).  You would count these notes, 1-& 2-& 3-& 4-&.  Think of tapping your foot.  When you foot goes down, that's the number count, or the downbeat.  When your foot comes up, that's the upbeat or the "&".

 

Sixteenth notes:      Look like an eighth note with two flags.  They are worth ¼ of a beat each.  Again, when they are paired or are in sets, they are barred together, this time with two bars instead of one.  Here is an example:

 

When you split eighth notes into two sixteenth notes, you are splitting the downbeat and the upbeat.  We use the syllables 1-e-&-a to count these notes.  Notice the "&" still falls on the upbeat!  
 

 

Rhythm Christmas Tree

If you start at the whole note, every other note value is half, or it takes two of them to equal the previous note.  An example of this is “two half notes equal a whole note, or two eighth notes equal a quarter note”. Splitting notes into their smaller parts is call subdivision.   Below is a cool little chart that will help you keep it straight.  I call it the “Rhythm Christmas Tree”:

 

Important!:  Do what the time signature tells you to do.  If the top number tells you that there are 4 beats in a measure, then that’s the limit!  There can’t be 5 beats or 3 beats, it has to be 4 beats.  Remember, you are talking about the number of BEATS in a measure, not the number of notes. There could be 12 notes in a measure that equal 4 beats.