MODULE 3 Subject: Topic: Date: MUSIC 5 Meter October 6, 2021 Learning Competencies At the end of this module you are expected to: Distinguish duple, triple, and quadruple, meter. Recognize time signatures. Distinguish weak from strong beat and identify the meter of the music. START UP! Let’s do it! How do you react every time you hear an upbeat song on your phone or computer? Do you happen to feel like dancing or tapping your foot? Do you snap your fingers or clap to the music? Beats create rhythm and can be divided into groups of two, three, or four. The organized grouping of beats into repeating patterns is called meter. It is the arrangement of rhythm into patterns of strong and weak beats. Let’s Analyze! Beat also has more than one meaning, but always refers to music with a steady pulse. It may refer to the pulse itself (as in “play this note on beat two of the measure”). On the beat or on the downbeat refer to the moment when the pulse is strongest. Off the beat is in between pulses, and the upbeat is exactly halfway between pulses. Beat may also refer to a specific repetitive rhythmic pattern that maintains the pulse (as in “it has a Latin beat”). Note that once a strong feeling of having a beat is established, it is not necessary for something to happen on every beat; a beat can still be “felt” even if it is not specifically heard. What is Meter? The meter of a piece of music is the arrangement of its rhythms in a repetitive pattern of strong and weak beats. This does not necessarily mean that the rhythms themselves are repetitive, but they do strongly suggest a repeated pattern of pulses. It is on these pulses, the beat of the music, that you tap your foot, clap your hands, dance, etc. Some music does not have a meter. Ancient music, such as Gregorian chants; new music, such as some experimental twentieth-century art music; and Non-Western music, such as some native American flute music, may not have a strong, repetitive pattern of beats. Other types of music, such as traditional Western African drumming, may have very complex meters that can be difficult for the beginner to identify. Classifying Meters Meters can be classified by counting the number of beats from one strong beat to the next. For example, if the meter of the music feels like “strong-weak-strong-weak”, it is in duple meter. “strong-weak-weak-strong-weak-weak” is triple meter, and “strong-weak-weak-weak” is quadruple. (Most people don’t bother classifying the more unusual meters, such as those with five beats in a measure.) Meters can also be classified as either simple or compound. In a simple meter, each beat is basically divided into halves. In compound meters, each beat is divided into thirds. Recognizing Meters To learn to recognize meter, remember that (in most Western music) the beats and the subdivisions of beats are all equal and even. So you are basically listening for a running, even pulse underlying the rhythms of the music. For example, if it makes sense to count along with the music “ONE-and-Two-and-ONE-and-Two-and” (with all the syllables very evenly spaced) then you probably have a simple duple meter. But if it’s more comfortable to count “ONE-and-a-Two-and-a-ONE-and-aTwo-and-a”, it’s probably compound duple meter. (Make sure numbers always come on a pulse, and “one” always on the strongest pulse.) This may take some practice if you’re not used to it, but it can be useful practice for anyone who is learning about music. To help you get started, the figure below sums up the most-used meters. Simple Meters are meters in which the beat divides into two, and then further subdivides into four. Example 1 is in a simple meter. You can feel this yourself, by tapping your beat twice as fast; you might also think of this as dividing your beat into two smaller beats. Different numbers of beats group into different meters. Duple Meters contain beats which are grouped into twos, while Triple Meters contain beats which are grouped into threes, and Quadruple Meters contain beats which are grouped into fours. A Simple Duple meter contains two beats, each of which divides into two (and further subdivides into four). A Simple Triple meter contains three beats, each of which divides into two (and further subdivides into four). A Simple Quadruple meter contains four beats, each of which divides into two (and further subdivides into four) Time Signatures In Western musical notation, beat groupings (duple, triple, and quadruple) are created by bar lines, which separate music into measures, which are also called bars. Each measure is equivalent to one beat grouping. In simple meters, time signatures express two things: how many beats are contained in each measure, and the beat unit—which note value is the beat. Time signatures (also called meter signatures) are expressed by two numbers, one above the other, as seen in below Time signatures may look like a fraction but they are not one; noticeably, there is no line in between the two numbers of a time signature. Time signatures come after a clef. The top number of a time signature in simple meter represents the number of beats in each measure. The bottom number of a time signature represents the beat unit. The number “4” means that a quarter note gets the beat. In simple meters, the top number is always “2,” “3,” or “4,” corresponding to duple, triple, or quadruple beat patterns. The bottom number is usually one of the following: “2,” which means the half note gets the beat. “4,” which means the quarter note gets the beat. “8,” which means the eighth note gets the beat. Two other bottom numbers do appear in simple meter time signatures. If “16” appears as the bottom number then the sixteenth note gets the beat, while if “1” appears as the bottom number then the whole note gets the beat. There are two additional simple meter time signatures which are time). Common time is the equivalent of time is the equivalent of (common time) and (cut (simple quadruple—four beats per measure), while cut (simple duple—two beats per measure). IDEA Beats are used as a way of counting time when playing a piece of music, particularly in Western culture. Beats give music its regular rhythmic pattern or pulse. Beats can be strong or weak, fast or slow, and they can be grouped in a variety of different ways to create different rhythms. In written music, time signatures are also called meter signatures. They help us identify which kind of note is used to count beats in a measure and how many beats will be in each measure. In a musical score, the time signature appears at the beginning of the piece, as a time symbol or stacked numerals. Let’s Apply! Directions: Add one note to complete each bar. Please see the picture as your reference. Write your answer inside the box. 1 2 3 4 5 EVALUATE Directions: Write the correct time signature. Please refer to the picture below. Write your answer inside the box. 1 2 2 4 4 4 3 3 4 4 2 4 5 4 4 ASSIGNMENTS Review the video that I gave you and study about meter and time signature. Prepare for a quiz. References: Maria Cielito Amor T. Ubalde, et, al., - Vibal Group, Inc, 2018 https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-musicapp-medieval-modern/chapter/meter-inmusic/ https://www.musictheory.net/lessons/15 https://viva.pressbooks.pub/openmusictheory/chapter/simple-meter-and-timesignatures/#:~:text=Simple%20Meters%20are%20meters%20in,have%20groupings%20of%20four%20bea ts. https://www.skoove.com/blog/time-signatures-explained/ https://www.liveabout.com/beats-and-meter-2456427
