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What is something other people seem to grasp easily that eludes you? (lemmy.world)
submitted 5 days ago by to c/asklemmy@lemmy.world
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For me it's time signatures in music. I grew up playing instruments, played in several orchestras, etc. But no matter how many times someone tries to explain time signatures to me, it makes no sense. I don't understand why people place such importance on it. To me, notes have a pitch and a duration, maybe some dynamics. That's it. I don't understand why people try to needlessly complicate it. It doesn't give you anything.

My wife will hear a song and go "Oh neat, it's in 5/8." And I'm like "How tf do you know that, and why does it matter?"

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[–] 4 points 5 days ago (10 children)

For how music sounds, only the top number matters. If the top number is a 4 (like 4/4 or 4/8), then it sounds like this:

TA-ta-ta-ta TA-ta-ta-ta

A 3 on top (like a 3/4 waltz) sounds like:

TA-ta-ta TA-ta-ta TA-ta-ta

And a 2 on top (like 2/4 or 2/2) sounds like:

TA-ta TA-ta TA-ta TA-ta

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  • [–] 2 points 5 days ago (8 children)

    Okay, then what does the bottom number do? It seems pretty essential for complex rhythms like 5/17 or whatnot.

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  • [–] 3 points 5 days ago (5 children)

    The bottom number is just how you write a single beat.

    If the bottom is 2, you write a beat as a half-note (𝅗𝅥). If the bottom is 4, you write a beat as a quarter note (♩) If the bottom is 8, you write a beat as an eight note (♪)

    But it all sounds the same way. A beat is still a beat. This just makes is easier to write certain rhythms.

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  • [–] 2 points 5 days ago (4 children)

    But what about weird fractions like 5/7 and such?

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  • [–] 5 points 5 days ago (3 children)

    You aren't really going to find songs in "5/17" time or 5/7 time, if at all. I believe the bottom number is meant to be divisible by 2 (2, 4, 8, 16). I'm not a musician, but I have an interest in music. The bottom number just explains which note you're using (half, quarter) and how many beats would be in the measure. Top number is how many beats in the measure. To use a previous example, 7/8 looks like

    TA-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-TA-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta

    Sometimes you'll find Songs in 14/8 time, (YouTube link) which could be divided into two measures of 7/8 depending on how you might like to read it.

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  • [–] 1 point 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (1 child)

    Weird: in my multiple attempts to grok what time sigs are about, I've heard a different explanation: that the lower number indicates the beat on which the emphasis is. But now the first paragraph in Wikipedia's article body confirms what you say. Some kind of Mandela effect going on here. However, Wikipedia also notices that irrational meters may have a lower number that's not a power of two.

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  • [–] 1 point 5 days ago (1 child)

    It's not a fraction. That's the first thing you gotta grok (yeah I'm still gonna use the word when it fits, fuck Elon).

    Math and music are intimately related, but the time signature is not a fraction. It's just two different numbers separated by a line.

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