Simple Meters
You're going to meet the twelve simple meters, and you'll learn to recognize them and write their time signatures.
A simple meter is one in which each beat is always worth a simple value, that is, an undotted one: a whole note, a half note, a quarter note or an eighth note, which British musicians call the semibreve, the minim, the crotchet and the quaver. Each beat therefore divides by two, so these are simple beats.
What the two numbers tell you
In a simple meter, the bottom number shows the value of one beat. Since a beat can only be filled by a whole, half, quarter or eighth note, this number can only be 1, 2, 4 or 8.
The top number shows the number of beats. And since meters only have two, three or four beats, it can only be 2, 3 or 4.
Let's take 3/2 as an example. The whole measure needs three halves, that is, three half notes. So the 3 means three beats, and the 2 means that each beat holds one half note, or values that add up to a half note.
Table of the twelve simple meters
| Value of one beat | 2 beats | 3 beats | 4 beats |
|---|---|---|---|
| a whole note (1) | 2/1 (two-one) | 3/1 (three-one) | 4/1 (four-one) |
| a half note (2) | 2/2 (or cut time) | 3/2 | 4/2 |
| a quarter note (4) | 2/4 | 3/4 | 4/4 (or C) |
| an eighth note (8) | 2/8 (two-eight) | 3/8 (three-eight) | 4/8 (four-eight) |
The most common ones
The ones you'll meet most are those with a quarter note per beat: 2/4, 3/4 and C, which is 4/4. You will also often come across two beats with a half note per beat, which is cut time or 2/2, and three beats with an eighth note per beat, which is 3/8.
Write the time signature of each fragment. Assume a quarter, half or eighth note per beat, and choose the most logical reading of the groups: only one simple answer is possible each time.
Once the simple meters are clear, the compound meters of the next lesson will follow the same logic, with one twist. Try the questions first.