What Are Time Signatures and What Does 4 - 4 Mean?

[Rodney Eddy]

Time signatures are employed in music to notify to the musician
several things. Firstly, how many beats there are in a bar and
secondly, the length of the notes found in the bar.
The most common time signature found in music is 4/4 pronounced "four
by four", "four over four" or "four four". It is also often written
"C", standing for Common Time.
Four by Four
To analyze time signatures, it is easier to split the time signature
into 2 parts - the beats and the value of the notes. The top number
(4) denotes the value or length of the note in the bar and the bottom
number (4) denotes the amount of beats in the bar. If we look at the
bottom number first, as this is easier to explain. With a 4 for the
bottom number, there are going to be 4 beats in the bar (1 - 2 - 3 -
4 ), then the next bar (1 - 2 - 3 - 4 ), then the next bar (1 - 2 - 3
- 4) and so on, unless another time signature is written.
Now for the top number. There are many variations in the length or
time value of each note, often referred to as 'tones'. Starting at 1,
you have 1 tone, 2 tones, 4 tones, 8 tones, 16 tones, 32 tones etc.
You can see that they are doubling each time we move to the next
category. Each tone has a name. 1 tone = semi brieve, 2 tones = minim,
4 tones = crotchet, 8 tones = quaver = 16 tones = semi quaver, 32
tones = demi semi quaver etc. Using the names we can therefore say
that a time signature of Four by Four (4/4) means that there are 4
beats per bar and the length of the beats are crotchets.
Remember, time signatures vary and they will make the music feel
different when being played.

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