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Grade Five Music Theory - Lesson 3: Time Signatures Exercises

Hover your mouse slowly over the staves or lightbulbs to reveal the answers (tap on mobile devices).

 Exercise 1: Time Signatures - Technical Names

Describe each of these time signatures as:

• Simple or compound AND
• Duple, triple or quadruple

Or, as irregular.

Exercise 2: Time Signatures - Meanings

3/2 represents 3 minim (half note) beats per bar.  What do the following time signatures represent?

Exercise 3 - Adding Barlines

Put in the missing barlines in the following passages, which all begin on the first beat of the bar:

Exercise 4 - Understanding Time Signatures

1. Which two simple time signatures can have a lower number 8?
2. When there are two tied notes, which one must fall on a new main beat: the first note or the second?
3. How can you tell the difference between 3/2 and 6/4?
4. In compound time, is the main beat a dotted or undotted note?
5. In which type of time signature does the main beat divide up into two: simple or compound? 

Exercise 5 - Adding Time Signatures

Add the correct time signatures to each of these bars.

Exercise 6 - Rewriting a Rhythm Without Changing the Rhythmic Effect

For each of the following simple time melodies;

1. Describe the time signature as duple/triple/quadruple
2. Convert the time signature to compound time
3. Write in the new time signature and rewrite the rhythm without changing the rhythmic effect.

For each of the following compound time melodies;

1. Describe the time signature as duple/triple/quadruple
2. Convert the time signature to simple time
3. Write in the new time signature and rewrite the rhythm without changing the rhythmic effect.