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UNDERSTANDING METER AND ITS APPLICATION

Zack Uidl

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SO, WHAT IS METER?

Meters, or time signatures, are ways of organizingmusic.  They help musicians innumerous ways, but are commonly overlooked.  Meter organizes music by phrase, rhythm, or by chordchanges.  Specifically, theyorganize the rhythm of the music.

There are two parts to any time signature; there is a topnumber and a bottom number.  Thetop number tells you “how many” while the bottom number tells you “ofwhat.”  The top number indicateshow many notes there will be per measure and the bottom number indicates whatkind of note the top number is referring to. 

This example would have four quarter note beats per measure.

This example would have five quarter note beats per measure.

This example would have twelve eighth note beats permeasure.

The groupings in a time signature refer tohow the rhythms can be divided. The rhythms are divided into groups of twos or threes.  Look at the notation below to visualizethis.

Notice how the first measure is completely grouped as2+2+2+2 while the second measure is grouped as 3+3+2.  There are two main reasons that groupings areimportant.  One, it is easier forthe performer to visualize how the passage should be played.  Two, it gives an accurate descriptionof how the passage should be performed. 

For the most part, the first note of each grouping is giventhe accent.  This means it will bedynamically accented more than the following notes of the same grouping.

SIMPLE METER

A simple meter is a time signature where each beat isdivided into two parts.  Commonexamples of simple meter include 2/4, 3/4 and 4/4.  Pay attention to the 8th notes in the following examples.

This example is in 3/4 meter.

COMPOUND METER

A compound meter is a time signature where each beat isdivided into three parts.  Commonexamples of compound meter include 6/8, 9/8 and 12/8.  The common beat or pulse in compound meter is a dottedquarter note.  Each dotted quarternote is divided into three eighth notes.

This example is in 9/8 meter.

ODD METER

An odd meter is a time signature that includes both simpleand compound meter.  This happensdue to the odd number notes indicated by the top number of the meter.  Let’s use 7/8 as an example.  7/8 can be divided into a few differentways

This example is in 7/8 meter.