Sing the Spots - Video training in Sight-Singing for the non-musician

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Skill: Compound Time

All of the time signatures that we've used so far have been known as "simple" time, because there have always been either 2, 3, or 4 beats to a measure, with no ambiguity. Now we want to introduce a new concept, compound time. In compound time there are long beats and short beats. The long beats are typically in groups of 3 short beats. A time signature of 6/8 is a good example. The time signature tells you that there are 6 beats, and the beats are 8th notes. These are the short beats. But in practice we usually consider each group of three 8th notes to be a beat. These are the long beats. There are 2 of these beats in each measure, and such a beat is represented by a dotted quarter note, or a group of 3 8th notes. This time signature is a compound duple meter, because it has 2 of the long beats to a measure. Some marches are in 6/8 time, such as the Washington Post march.

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