Simple and Compound Time
Time signatures fall into two basic categories – simple time and compound time. Simple time is any time signature where the basic beat is divisible by two. E.g. in * , ^ and % the basic beat is a quarter note which may be divided in half to become two eighth notes per beat. Any time signature where the basic beat is divisible by three is called compound time. The most common example of compound time is six eight time ()). Other examples of compound time would be _ and + . In compound time, the basic beat is felt as a dotted quarter note which can be divided by three.
The Six Eight Time Signature
This is the six eight time signature.
There are six eighth notes in one bar of ) time.
The six eighth notes are divided into two groups of three.
When playing ) time there are two beats within each bar with each beat being a dotted quarter note. (This is different to * and ^ time where each beat is a quarter note). Accent the 1 and 4 count to help establish the two beats per bar. Here is an example written in ) time which contains some typical note groupings. This time signature is particularly common in Irish and European Folk music and African music.
This traditional American song is in ) time and is in the key of A minor. It contains a G# note in bar 14 which comes from the harmonic minor scale, but all the other notes are contained in the natural minor scale. In minor key melodies, it is common to use notes from more than one scale. Don’t forget to use the expressive techniques you have learnt when playing a melody even if they are not written as part of the sheet music.
Here is an exercise to help you get familiar with note groupings in ) time. Play it slowly with a metronome until you are comfortable with all the rhythms and then gradually increase the tempo. Practice each bar by itself at first if necessary. In the final bar, you will see a dotted 16th note followed by a 32nd note, which is half the value of a 16th note. If you are unsure about this, listen to the CD a few times until you are confident you can play it correctly. Thirty second notes are dealt with in the following lesson.
Here is a great piece by JS Bach from Sonata number 2 for flute and harpsichord. It is written in the key of G minor in ) time and contains several of the rhythms from the previous exercise.
