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Lesson Four: Notes, Measures, and Time Signature

There are several kinds of notes.

There is the quarter-note, which gets one count, or beat:

There is the half-note, which gets two counts:

There is the dotted half-note, which gets 3 counts:

There is the whole-note, which gets 4 counts:

Placing a dot after a note increases the note by half of that note's value. Let me explain: adding a dot to a half note results in three beats: the actual half note, which is two beats, and then half of the half note's value, which is one beat.

Another example: Adding a dot to a whole note would result in six beats: the whole note's value, which is four beats, plus half of the whole note, which is two beats.

Measures
The notes in a song are divided among measures. In a musical piece, the song is spread over many rows of notes, each row usually divided into four measures. In the following piece, the song is divided into two rows, each row containing four measures.

Each measure has a pre-determined number of beats to it. We determine how many beats each measure is given by looking at the Time Signature at the first of the piece. For instance, the piece above is played in 4/4 time.

There are two numbers in a time signature, one on top of the other. The top number tells how how many counts, or beats, each measure gets. The bottom number tells us what count the quarter note gets in each measure. In the piece above, the top number is four, telling us that each measure will get four beats to it. The bottom number is also 4, telling us that each quarter note gets 1 beat a measure (or that it would take 4 quarter notes to complete a measure).

4/4 is the time signature most commonly used, so it is often referred to as "Common Time." When you see a C, as in the following example, at the first of the piece where numbers usually are, it represents Common Time, which is 4/4 time.

In 3/4 time, each measure gets three beats, and the quarter note gets one beat.

In 2/4 time, there are two counts to a measure and each quarter note gets one beat.

Any time the bottom number in a time signature is 4, the quarter note will get one beat.

This is called ALLA BREVE time, or Cut Time. It is played twice as fast as 4/4 time. It has two beats to the measure, but each beat is counted 1, 2, 3, 4, just twice as quickly.

Before going any further, please review the information you just learned. That was actually a pretty long lesson, and congratulations on getting through it. :)

Lesson Five: Introduction to Note-Reading

Emily Sigers
emily@thepianopages.com