downbeat

Strong and Weak Beats: The Basics The most common thought on strong and weak beats (in 4/4 time) goes as follows: The first beat of the measure is the strongest (it’s the “downbeat”). The third beat of the measure is also strong, but not as strong as the first. The second and fourth beats are weak.

A time signature is a sign that appears right after the key signature in a piece of music.It is made up of two numbers. The top number tells you how many beats are in each measure; and, the bottom number tells you what type of notes gets one beat.

For example, a quarter note with two dots would be equivalent in duration to a quarter, eighth, and sixteenth note. A tie lengthens a duration by connecting two adjacent identical pitches.

When a quarter note is assigned the time value of 1, an eighth note will receive a time value of one-half. When two eighth notes are grouped together it is easy to divide the “1” in half and think “one and” in rhythm for the two notes (or “one and two and” for four eighth notes in sequence).

A dot increases duration by one half. Since an eighth note is half the duration of a quarter note, we will substitute it for the 1/2 symbol. Since a quaver is half the duration of a crotchet, we will substitute it for the 1/2 symbol. As you can see, a dotted quarter note is equal to a quarter note plus an eighth note.

eighth note

quarter note

A dot above or below a note tells you to play it short and detached. This should not be confused with a dot after a note which alters its value. Short, detached, jumpy notes are called staccato.

For the writers it is the symbol of being done. For the developers it is the symbol of exploration. They put dot when want to take advantage of relation between objects, when they want to explore for something. For the graphic people, it is a matter of art.

Whole rests are placed on the 4th line of the staff. Half rests are on the third line, and quarter rests are placed over the middle 3 lines.

The top number of the time signature tells how many beats are in each measure, and the bottom number tells which note will represent one beat.

Key signature, in musical notation, the arrangement of sharp or flat signs on particular lines and spaces of a musical staff to indicate that the corresponding notes, in every octave, are to be consistently raised (by sharps) or lowered (by flats) from their natural pitches.

The number in the top of the time signature tells a player how many of a certain kind of note there are in each measure. The number in the bottom of the time signature tells what kind of note is used a certain number of times in each measure.

The eighth note gets half a beat in four four time and other signatures with a lower number of 4. It gets one beat if the lower number is 8, such as in six eight time.

six beats

Cut time, also known as or alla breve, is a meter with two half-note beats per measure. It’s often symbolized by the cut-time symbol: .

Cut time is 2/2 time (also known as alla breve). But in 2/2 time – cut time – there are two half beats per bar. Where this gets confusing to people is that, if you remember fractions from math class, 2/2 is mathematically equivalent to 4/4. Two half beats per bar means the same thing as four quarter beats per bar.

Cut time is a time signature that essentially means two half notes per measure (or the equivalent of that in notes or rests). You may see it represented as either a “C” with a line through it or as 2/2.

Simple Time Signatures Basic time signatures: 4/4, also known as common time; 2/2, also known as cut time or cut-common time (cut time); plus 2/4; 3/4; and 6/8.

3/2 is a “simple triple time signature”simple means every beat is made up of 2 beats or each of these beats can be broken into two beats and triple because of containing 3 half notes in a measure, meaning there are 3 half or minim notes in a measure.

A time signature of 2-4 means there are 2 quarter beats in each measure. A time signature of 2-2 means there are 2 half beats in each measure. A time signature of 6-8 means there are 6 eighth notes in each measure.

9/8 uses the eighth note or the dotted quarter as the basic unit, rather than the quarter, so unless you see half of an eighth note (a 16th, or perhaps a dotted eighth) in there somewhere (making it 8.5/8), it will not start on the “and” of the beat. Re: 9/8 time signature 18:19 on Monday, August 7, 2006.

3 beats

8 means that there are 8 quaver beats in the bar, divided as the first of a group of three eighth notes (quavers) that are stressed, then the first of a group of two, then first of a group of three again. The stress pattern is usually counted as 3+2+3. 8. : one two three one two one two three …

Yay for basic math! The strong and weak beats are similar to 9/8: you lead off with a strong beat (as with every time signature), and then the first note of every following grouping is a medium beat. The in-between notes are weak beats.

Beat 1 is the strongest because it always is in any time signature, and beat 3 is the next strongest. The second and 4th beat would be our weak beats. These beats are subtle and unaccented.

Explanation: The last beat in a measure is the weakest, and is called the upbeat.