8. Time Signatures

If you've already studied time signatures for grade 3 music theory, you'll be pleased to know that there is not much very new at grade 4! This lesson will just review what you should already know - if anything seems new or tricky, just take a look at the grade 3 lesson for a more in depth explanation!

Remember, the top number tells you how many beats to count, and the bottom number tells you what type to count.

Bottom numbers mean: 2=minim (half note), 4=crotchet (quarter note), 8=quaver (eighth note).

Simple or Compound

Simple time signatures have an undotted note as the main beat, and each beat is divided into 2.

Compound time signatures have a dotted note as the main beat, and each beat is divided into 3.

Simple time signatures have 2, 3 or 4 as the top number.

Compound time signatures have 6, 9 or 12 as the top number.

Duple, Triple or Quadruple

If there are 2 main beats per bar, the time signature is DUPLE: 2/2, 2/4, 6/4 and 6/8 are duple time signatures.

If there are 3 main beats per bar, the time signature is TRIPLE: 3/2, 3/4, 3/8 and 9/8 are triple time signatures.

If there are 4 main beats per bar, the time signature is QUADRUPLE: 4/2, 4/4, 4/8 and 12/8 are quadruple time signatures.

Grouping Notes and Rests

When notes have to be grouped together with beams, or rests have to be added, you need to be careful about how you do it. The basic rule of thumb is:
ALWAYS COMPLETE THE BEAT FIRST.

Look at these two bars, both of which contain just 1 note:

How should you fill up the bar with rests?

In the first case, the time signature is 3/4, so the first beat (crotchet/quarter note) is already complete. We can just add 2 rests:

In the second case, we need to COMPLETE THE BEAT FIRST.  We need to add a quaver (eighth note), to complete the beat, because in 6/8 there are 2 dotted beats per bar. Then we add a dotted crotchet rest for the second beat.

When you beam notes together, the same rule applies - beam the notes together in complete beats. Look at these 2 examples:

In the first case, we need to beam the notes so that we create TWO dotted beats per bar:

but in the second case, we need to have THREE undotted beats per bar:

New Time Signatures

The new time signatures for grade 4 are:

4/8 - four quavers (eighth notes) per bar, simple quadruple time,

9/4 - three dotted minims (half notes) per bar, compound triple time and

6/4 - 2 dotted minims (half notes) per bar, compound duple time.

Some people find it tricky to spot the difference between 3/2 and 6/4. This is because the beats are longer notes and therefore beams are not so useful (as in 3/4 and 6/8) to help tell the difference. Remember that 3/2 is triple time - 3=triple (always!). And 6/4 is compound time (6=compound duple, always!) If you see three minims (half notes) in the bar, is has to be 3/2. If you see two dotted minims (half notes), it's 6/4.

Table of Reference

These are the time signatures you need to know for grade 4, and their types.