Editing Time signature (section)

{{short description|Specification of beats in a musical bar/measure}}
{{Redirect|Time (music)|other uses|Half-time (music)}}
{{Image frame
|width=193
|align=right
|image=Common time signatures.gif
|content=
<score> 
{ \key c \major \time 3/4 \relative c' { f a c } }
</score>
|caption=An example of a {{music|time|3|4}} time signature. The time signature indicates that there are three [[quarter note]]s (crotchets) per [[measure (music)|measure]] (bar).
|alt=Printed music staff with treble-clef symbol, {{music|time|3|4}} time signature, and 3 quarter notes: A, F, and middle C.
}}

A '''time signature''' (also known as '''meter signature''',<ref>Alexander R. Brinkman, ''Pascal Programming for Music Research'' (Chicago: [[University of Chicago Press]], 1990): 443, 450–63, 757, 759, 767. {{ISBN|0226075079}}; Mary Elizabeth Clark and David Carr Glover, ''Piano Theory: Primer Level'' (Miami: Belwin Mills, 1967): 12; Steven M. Demorest, ''Building Choral Excellence: Teaching Sight-Singing in the Choral Rehearsal'' (Oxford and New York: [[Oxford University Press]], 2003): 66. {{ISBN|0195165500}}; [[William Duckworth (composer)|William Duckworth]], ''A Creative Approach to Music Fundamentals'', eleventh edition (Boston, MA: Schirmer Cengage Learning, 2013): 54, 59, 379. {{ISBN|0840029993}}; Edwin Gordon, ''Tonal and Rhythm Patterns: An Objective Analysis: A Taxonomy of Tonal Patterns and Rhythm Patterns and Seminal Experimental Evidence of Their Difficulty and Growth Rate'' (Albany: SUNY Press, 1976): 36–37, 54–55, 57. {{ISBN|0873953541}}; Demar Irvine, Reinhard G. Pauly, Mark A. Radice, ''Irvine’s Writing about Music'', third edition (Portland, Oregon: Amadeus Press, 1999): 209–210. {{ISBN|1574670492}}.</ref> '''metre signature''',<ref>[[Henry Cowell]] and David Nicholls, ''New Musical Resources'', third edition (Cambridge and New York: [[Cambridge University Press]], 1996): 63. {{ISBN|0521496519}} (cloth); {{ISBN|0521499747}} (pbk); Cynthia M. Gessele, "Thiéme, Frédéric [Thieme, Friedrich]", ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'', second edition, edited by [[Stanley Sadie]] and [[John Tyrrell (musicologist)|John Tyrrell]] (London: Macmillan Publishers, 2001); James L. Zychowicz, ''Mahler's Fourth Symphony'' (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2005): 82–83, 107. {{ISBN|0195181654}}.</ref>  and '''measure signature''')<ref>Edwin Gordon, ''Rhythm: Contrasting the Implications of Audiation and Notation'' (Chicago: GIA Publications, 2000): 111. {{ISBN|1579990983}}.</ref> is an indication in [[musical notation|music notation]] that specifies how many [[note value]]s of a particular type fit into each measure ([[bar (music)|bar]]). The time signature indicates the [[Metre (music)|meter]] of a musical movement at the bar level.

In a music score the time signature appears as two stacked numerals, such as {{music|time|4|4}} (spoken as ''four–four time''), or a time symbol, such as {{music|common-time}} (spoken as ''common time''). It immediately follows the [[key signature]] (or if there is no key signature, the [[clef]] symbol). A mid-score time signature, usually immediately following a [[barline]], indicates a change of [[meter (music)|meter]].

Most time signatures are either '''simple''' (the note values are grouped in pairs, like {{music|time|2|4}}, {{music|time|3|4}}, and {{music|time|4|4}}), or '''compound''' (grouped in threes, like {{music|time|6|8}}, {{music|time|9|8}}, and {{music|time|12|8}}). Less common signatures indicate [[#Complex time signatures|complex]], [[#Mixed meters|mixed]], [[#Additive meters|additive]], and [[#Irrational meters|irrational meters]].

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{{Image frame
|width=310
|align=right
|content=
<score> 
{ 
   \override Score.SpacingSpanner.strict-note-spacing = ##t
    \set Score.proportionalNotationDuration = #(ly:make-moment 1/1)
   \key c \major 
   \relative c' { 
      \numericTimeSignature \time 4/4 s1
      \defaultTimeSignature \time 4/4 s1
      \numericTimeSignature \time 2/2 s1
      \defaultTimeSignature \time 2/2 s1
      \time 2/4 s2
      \time 3/4 s2.
      \time 6/8 s2.
} }
</score>
|caption=Basic time signatures: {{music|time|4|4}}, also known as ''common time'' {{nowrap|({{music|common-time}})}}; {{music|time|2|2}}, ''[[alla breve]]'', also known as ''cut time'' or ''cut-common time'' ({{music|alla-breve}}); {{music|time|2|4}}; {{music|time|3|4}}; and {{music|time|6|8}}
|alt=
}}