Compound Time Signatures
In compound meter, subdivisions of the main beat (the upper number) are split into three, not two, equal parts, so that a dotted note (half again longer than a regular note) becomes the beat unit. Compound time signatures are named as if they were simple time signatures in which the one-third part of the beat unit is the beat, so the top number is commonly 6, 9 or 12 (multiples of 3). The lower number is most commonly an 8 (an eighth-note): as in 9
8 or 12
8.
Read more about this topic: Time Signature
Famous quotes containing the words compound, time and/or signatures:
“Rammed me in with foul shirts and smocks, socks, foul stockings, greasy napkins, that, Master Brook, there was the rankest compound of villainous smell that ever offended nostril.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“What time of day is it, lad?”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“I am not a very sentimental man; and the best sentiment I can think of is, that if you collect the signatures of all persons who are no less distinguished than I, you will have a very undistinguishing mass of names.”
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865)