on 6/11/03 9:06 AM, Peter Younghusband wrote: > With the usual apologies for OT.........have a question regarding > description of time signature. We all know 2/4 is simple duple, 6/8 is > compound duple etc..............can anybody describe 3/8 please?
There are three classifications of meter: Simple meters are those with 2 beats per pulse: 2/4, 3/4, 4/4, 2/2, 4/8... Compound meters have three beats per pulse: 6/8, 9/8, 6/4 (sometimes)... Complex meters have irregular groupings that mat be divided up in one of several ways: 5/8 (usually 2+3 or 3+2), 7/8 (2+2+3, 2+3+2, etc.)... Simple Duple (2/4) has two pulses with two beats each, and compound duple (6/8) has two pulses with three beats each. Depending on usage, 3/8 can either be one pulse with three beats, or three separate pulses. If it is treated as one pulse, I would call it Compound Single. If it is three distinct pulses, I would call it Simple Triple. Gardner Read (the only text I found with 3/8 listed) lists it as Simple Triple, for he has no mention of the existence of Single meters. I know I didn't give a definite answer, but I hope this helps you to decide. ------------- Brad Beyenhof [EMAIL PROTECTED] _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
