When a time signature contains a 4 as the bottom number it means

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Lesson Objectives
4/4 TIME SIGNATURE
Note Values
CHECK YOUR SKILLS
When a time signature contains a 4 as the top number it means?
When a time signature contains a 4 as the bottom number it means a blank note receives Blank beat?
What does the bottom number of the time signature indicate?
What is 4/4 time signature called?

Have you ever wondered why there is a fraction at the beginning of music? Why don't we see 4/4 written as 1 like we 
were always taught to reduce in Math class?

Lesson Objectives

The learner will be able to accurately describe the purpose and function of a time signature.

The learner will be able to differentiate between whole note, half note and quarter note.

The learner will be able to differentiate between whole rests, half rests and quarter rests.

The learner will be able to decode, count and notate rhythms in 4/4 with above note values

TIME SIGNATURES appear at the beginning of a piece of music and and define the amount and type of notes that will be in each measure. The top number tells us how many beats are in each measure, and the bottom tells us what note gets the beat (or pulse). We will be focusing on 4/4 and 3/4 Time Signatures throughout this unit.

4/4 TIME SIGNATURE

In 4/4 time signature (also referred to as COMMON TIME), is commonly found in every genre (or type) of music. In 4/4 there are four quarter notes per measure as noted by the number 4 on top (or a combination of other notes that equal four quarter notes). The bottom number which is a four tells us that the quarter note gets the beat (or pulse). In 4/4 time, there are four quarter notes in every measure, and the quarter note gets the beat.

Note: Sometimes 4/4 is noted with a large C for common time.

Note Values

In 4/4 Time Signature, the notes below are used to illustrate note value or length.

A WHOLE NOTE = 4 Beats

A HALF NOTE = 2 Beats

A QUARTER NOTE = 1 Beat

In the following example, you can see that in each measure, there are 4 beats. 1 Whole Note = 4 Beats. 2 Half Notes = 4 Beats. 4 Quarter Notes = 4 Beats.

In this example, you see that there are 2 quarter notes and 1 half note in the first measure, and one whole note in the second. Each measure has 4 beats.

Rests

A REST is used in music to indicate silence.

A WHOLE REST = 4 Beats, Looks like an upside down top hat, and is written under the fourth line on the staff.

A HALF REST = 2 Beats, Looks like a top hat, and it written above the third line on the staff.

A QUARTER NOTE = 1 Beat, Can be drawn by first making a letter Z and then a letter C.

In the following example, you will see that there is a QUARTER REST on beat 3 of the measure. The measure still consists of 4 beats.

CHECK YOUR SKILLS

TASKS

4/4 Time Signatures File:Work8.pdf

Objective: Understanding how to count notes in 4/4 time signature.

Rests File:Work9.pdf

Objectives: Understand the role of rests and how to count them in 4/4 time signature.

Notes and Rests File:Work10.pdf

Objective: Combining notes and rests in 4/4 time signature.

ANSWER KEY

4/4 Time Signature (Answer Key) File:Answerwork8.pdf

Rests (Answer Key) File:Answerwork9.pdf

Notes and Rests (Answer Key)File:Answerwork10.pdf

Next Lesson Time Signatures 3/4

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This is a question I received the other day and I was surprised about how in-depth the answer became. All musicians are familiar with time signatures at the beginning of pieces – whether it’s 3/4, 4/4, 6/8, or even something like 12/8 – but why is there no 3 at the bottom of time signatures? The answer to this question comes down to what a time signature means.

The top number in a time signature represents how many beats there are in each measure. In other words, each measure (the box around each set of notes) of music on your sheet has that many beats contained within it – for example, a piece in 3/4 would have 3 beats in each measure of music.

The bottom number in a time signature represents the kind of note getting one beat. For example, a 1 would stand for a whole note. So a time signature with a 1 at the bottom – such as 4/1 – would mean that each whole note gets 1 beat and the top number tells you that there are 4 beats in each measure of music. A 2 at the bottom of the time signature would represent a half note and that means that every half note gets one beat. A 4 on the bottom would represent a quarter note and that would mean that every quarter note would get one beat. This goes on and on with each number representing a different note. But you might have noticed we just skipped 3 and instead went from 2 to 4; why is this?

There is not really a 3 note in music. What about something like triplets? Couldn’t you have a triplet getting one beat? The answer is not a simple yes or no.

Composers are able to make triple divisions as part of a time signature but they aren’t represented by a 3 at the bottom of the time signature. When you see time signatures like 6/8 or 12/8 these are actually functioning differently than you might think. There are certainly 6 beats in a 6/8 time signature and there are 6 8th notes to a measure. The question is, how is this different from 3/4 where you have three quarter notes in a measure? After all, three quarter notes equals the same amount as six eighth notes; it is exactly the same amount of time that’s measured. So how are these different?

When you have something like 6/8 time or 9/8, or even 12/8 time it’s actually a triple division. 6/8 time is actually two groups of three – sometimes referred to as a duple meter. In these triple division time signatures, the bottom number can represents dotted quarter notes. So 6/8 time is like having 2 dotted quarter notes in each measure. 9/8 time can be thought of as a piece with 3 dotted quarter notes in each measure. (Each dotted quarter note contains 3 eighth notes.) So, this is how a triple division of the beat is achieved with time signatures.

So why can’t we just put a three at the bottom of the time signature? Because there is simply nothing we can denote as a three note – every time signature must have a note represented in the bottom number and 3 is not represented by any particular type of note.

Thanks again for joining us here at Living Pianos. If you have any questions about this topic or any others, please contact us at: (949) 244-3729

When a time signature contains a 4 as the top number it means?

The first example is 4/4 time. In this time signature there are 4 beats possible in each measure, and the quarter note represents one beat. 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.

When a time signature contains a 4 as the bottom number it means a blank note receives Blank beat?

For example, if the time signature is 4/4, the upper number indicates that there are four beats per measure. The lower number, in this case the numeral 4, tells the musician that a quarter note receives one beat.

What does the bottom number of the time signature indicate?

The top number is the number of beats in a measure and the bottom number is the note value that represents one beat. For example, a song written in 4/4 time will have four quarter-note beats per measure, whereas a song written in 9/8 time will have nine eighth-note beats per measure.

What is 4/4 time signature called?

In fact, the 4/4 time signature is so commonly used in most Western music genres that it's often called “common time” as well. That's what the “C” at the very start of a piece of music indicates. That basically means it's kind of like a default time signature.