 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Kirk
Date: 2002-09-07 23:16
I am learning to play 'Hatikvah' and wonder about what seems to be a contradiction in tempo notations. It says at the beginning to be played "slowly" but the timing signature is 2/4 timing. Doesn't that mean a quick timing ? For my understanding, the timing signature means 2 beats to the note and 4 for the measure. How is this played slowly as the notation above the treble cleft indicates. Sign me confused !!
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Author: Douglas
Date: 2002-09-08 00:04
A "time" signature tells the player only how long the measure will, much like a ruler. 2/4 means only that a measure will have two quarter notes or the equivalent...it has nothing to do with how fast the pulse will be. You probably are used to seeing 2/4 used for marches and assume a fast speed, but that is incorrect.
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Author: Dee
Date: 2002-09-08 01:23
A time signature has nothing to do with the speed of a piece. The bottom number simply says what kind of note gets a beat but it does not say how fast that beat will be. Here the quarter note gets one beat and there are two beats to the measure. The speed of a piece will be indicated by a word description or an actual metronome indication. For example, "allegro" means lively. Or there may be a marking such as quarter note = 120 beats per minute.
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Author: Jim E.
Date: 2002-09-08 04:28
And... 2/4 (actually not all that common a time signature) is not to be confused with 2/2 also called "cut time." In 2/2 there are still 2 beats in the measure, but the half note gets the beat, and therefore there are 2 quarter notes per beat, or 4 per measure.
Confused yet??? In 6/8 there are 6 beats per measure, and the eighth note gets one beat. Of course 6/8 is often counted in 2 with 3 eighth notes per beat, and 2 beats per measure.
Rubank and some other method books do a decent job of explaning and drilling these time signatures which can be confusing otherwise.
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Author: Kirk
Date: 2002-09-08 14:39
Hmmm,
Thanks y'all for shedding some new light on this ! And Douglas, you are right if the fact that I usually associated it with marches.
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