TimmyC Posted February 20, 2008 Share Posted February 20, 2008 Got my grade 5 theory test coming up and one thing that has always confused me is time signatures. I know what each number means but I don't understand how to distinguish between "simple" or "complicated" and "duple", "triple" and "quadruple" Help please? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
queenofthedepths Posted February 20, 2008 Share Posted February 20, 2008 As I understand it, "simple" means that each beat is divided evenly - "complicated" is obviously the opposite Anddd the other 3 refer to how many notes of equal length fit into the space of one crotchet Apologies if that turns out to be way off the mark - I'm sure somebody else will provide a far more educated answer Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pete.young Posted February 21, 2008 Share Posted February 21, 2008 [quote name='TimmyC' post='143787' date='Feb 20 2008, 04:10 PM']Got my grade 5 theory test coming up and one thing that has always confused me is time signatures. I know what each number means but I don't understand how to distinguish between "simple" or "complicated" and "duple", "triple" and "quadruple"[/quote] I think you mean simple and compound time. A simple rule of thumb: Simple time signatures are like 4/4 and 2/4 , where the value of the beat is a whole note (in this case a crotchet). Compound time is something like 6/8 (irish jigs) or 12/8 (My Way) , where the value of the beat is a dotted crotchet. Duple is 2 beats per bar, triple is three and quadruple is 4. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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