Introduction

Small-Value Time Signatures

In this chapter, we explore small-value time signatures in which the eighth note or dotted-eighth note functions as the beat. Simple meter is expressed with 2/8, 3/8, and 4/8 time signatures, while compound meter is expressed with 6/16, 9/16, and 12/16 time signatures.

As with large-value time signatures, the main challenge is visual. Yet, the challenge is reversed: whereas half-note and dotted-half-note beats result in quarter-note divisions that lack beaming information, eighth-note and dotted-eight-note beats result in an overabundance of beams across different beat divisions. As with large-value time signatures, it can be helpful to imagine (or even re-notate) what the passage would look like with the quarter note assigned to the beat.

To that end, the Introductory Exercise below replicates the one from Chapter 3 and adds the small-value equivalent. Three versions of the passage are ordered from largest-value beat (half note) to smallest-value beat (eighth note). Try all three versions before moving on.

Finally, the exercises in this chapter are organized by time signature rather than by difficulty. The instructor and student are encouraged to skip around, first tackling simpler exercises across all of the time signatures and then moving to the more difficult exercises.

Introductory Exercise: Three Ways of Notating the Same Passage, Charles Ignatius Sancho, 24 Country Dances, No. 15