The most common time signature is 4/4. Most of us know that means four beats in a bar, but is that all it means? If it is, why are there two fours?
It means a little more.The first 4 tells you that there are four beats in a bar, and the second four tells you what kind of beat they are.
They’re crotchets, or if you’re American, quarter notes. That’s what generally gets referred to as a ‘one beat’ note.
So a 4/4 bar contains four of these:
If you change the first number you just get a different number of these crotchets, eg 5/4. Here’s a famous song with five crotchets in a bar. Count along and you’ll see what I mean
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDOgYw5-pNs]
What if we change the second number?
The second number represents the kind of note we’re counting, so 4/4 is four crotchets, whereas 4/8 would be four quavers (or, for the Americans, eighth notes). Quavers look like this, and they’re ‘worth’ half a crotchet:
We generally use these in time signatures when we’ve got a song that has lots of quicker notes. Often they’re arranged in groups of three. For example in this next song you can clearly hear four little groups of three being picked out by the guitar. Four times three is twelve, so this song is in 12/8. Get it?
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYgLng4qbe4]
[...] How Time Signatures Work [...]
Hello. I am a poet and filmmaker in the midst of finally creating an epic poem that I would like to realize in film later. The reason I am posting here is because I need to make some critical songwriting decisions.
Basically, this book is a collection of poems that tell an epic story that can be recited or sung. I know for a fact that I am require a 12/8 time signature since the musical form is 12/8. The problem is that I have no idea how to write lyrics for 12/8 time.
I understand that 12/8 time is great for ballads which is fine. I can see creating 50 poems/songs to tell the story. I do need to however stick to a song structure that works for 12/8 time. Typically I always see: intro, verse, chorus, verse, chorus, verse, chorus, breakdown, outro. I’m not a professional musician but have some musical training and this is what I’ve see, however, I’m definitely not a songwriter, so I the correct ballad and song structure for 12/8 eludes me.
I have the story finished and I’m pretty sure that 12/8 time is the way to go. Once I figure out the lyric cadence and song structure that fits 12/8, I can then go ahead and compose the poems/songs and design the poetic meter accordingly. It’s of course essential that I do this write the first time so I don’t have to rewrite the entire book because the written poem can’t later be put to song.
Hope someone can help. I will return to see if anyone can be of help. Thanks!
J in Los Angeles, California.
PS if you know of a solid reference work regarding time signature, lyrics and songwriting then by all means please let me know. it would be much appreciated. J in Los Angeles