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:
“He tries by a peculiar speech to speak
The peculiar potency of the general,
To compound the imagination’s Latin with
The lingua franca et jocundissima.”
—Wallace Stevens (1879–1955)
“When her husband clutches at her dress,
she lowers her face,
her modesty aroused.
When he wants a wild embrace,
she shyly secrets away
her limbs.
She can’t say a word
and bestows her gaze
on her beaming friends.
A new wife suffers
with shame
the first time she makes love.”
—Amaru (c. seventh century A.D.)
“So many signatures for such a small heart.”
—Mother Teresa (b. 1910)