On 13 Jun 2003 at 4:54, David H. Bailey wrote: > When it gets time to learn about 6/8 time, I keep the same explanation. > At first, of course, they learn counting 6/8 music in 6, but when we > start to work on counting it in 2, I invariably get the question about > why isn't there a 2 in the top part of the time signature. I answer it > by explaining that there still are 6 beats in each measure, they just go > by fast enough that conducting each individual 8th note would no longer > be possible, so we start getting 2 pulses per measure. It looks like 2 > beats, but the performer has to place 3 8th-note beats within each pulse.
That's simply an incorrect explanation. There is not a 2 on top because there's no single digit to represent the dotted half not that could be the bottom number. The whole system of time signatures works right when the subdivision of the beat is duple. When it's triple, the system breaks down, as there is no way to represent a dotted value in the bottom number of the time signature. I don't see any point in distinguishing beat and pulse. If you're trying to perform a piece in a manner in which the pulse does not come out the same as the notated beat, either you're playing it wrong or it's one of those special cases where we don't interpret the notation literally. A good example is the Scherzo of the Beethoven Ninth, where Beethoven tells you to take it in one and group the measures of 3/4 into groups of 2 or 3. It could have been notated in 9/8 and 6/8, but that would have brought in a whole host of incorrect genre associates that go along with those meters. So Beethoven wrote something equally clear. The pulse is on the dotted half even though the notated beat is the quarter note. But there should be strong reasons for playing any piece of music in a manner that contradicts the notation. -- David W. Fenton http://www.bway.net/~dfenton David Fenton Associates http://www.bway.net/~dfassoc _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
