Time Signature, Measures & Barlines

What is a time signature in music?

Time signatures indicate patterns of weak and strong beats. Most importantly, they indicate how many beats are in each measure of music and which rhythm gets one beat. Time signatures look like fractions–they are composed of two stacked numbers that can be found at the beginning of every musical piece. Learn more about them in our article Explaining Time Signatures in Music.

What are the different types of time signatures?

Time signatures can be categorized using two groups: simple or compound meter. Simple meter refers to rhythmic patterns where each beat can divide into two equal halves,  including 2/4, 3/4, 4/4, 5/4, 2/2 and more. Compound meter refers to rhythmic patterns where each beat divides into three equal halves, including 6/8, 9/8, 12/8 and more. 

Understanding the difference between simple and compound meters can be tricky at first. That’s why we break it down in our article Simple vs Compound Meter: Examples & Free Resources. 

What is a measure in music?

Measures are small segments of music that hold a set number of beats. The beats in each measure are determined by a time signature. Measures organize music and make musical notation easier to read. Measures also come in handy when musicians are practicing together. Musicians will often use measure numbers to communicate where they are in a piece and make sure they are all starting at the same place. 

What is another name for a measure in music?

Measures in music are also referred to as bars. Sometimes regional differences determine whether a person uses the term measure or bar.  

What is the difference between a measure and a bar?

There is no difference between the terms measure and bar. Measures and bars refer to the same musical concept! Musicians often use the two terms interchangeably to refer to the small units of measurement that organize a piece of music. 

What is a barline in music?

Barlines separate measures. Barlines help give musical notation structure and makes music reading easier. Without barlines, there would be no measures! To better understand how barlines work, check out our Adding Barlines worksheets to practice adding barlines in different time signatures.

Hello and welcome back. I'm Joseph Hoffman. Today we're going to be taking a closer look at the rhythm of "Listen for Bells" from way back in unit one, but trust me, there's a good reason we're going back to "Listen for Bells" because it will help us uncover the secrets of a new rhythm term called time signature, so let's come to the heartbeat mat to get started. Here I have noted the rhythm of "Listen for Bells" which we figured out in a previous lesson, but let's refresh your memory by singing through it once. Can you point to each beat with me and let's sing the words. Listen for bells in the steeple to ring. Then we do it again, ding-ding-ding-ding-ding ding-ding-ding-ding-ding. Good, now remember we've got our dotted half note here which last for all three of these beats. Ding. The rest of the notes we have all quarter notes. Now today we're going to figure out something about how beats work in music. There are patterns of strong beats and weaker beats. Listen to these first three beats and tell me if you can tell which of these first three is the strongest beat. Listen for. Could you point to the beat you think is the strongest sound. Listen for. If you pointed to the first beat you're correct, and words kind of have a natural strength, if you say the word "listen" there's a natural strength on that first syllable. You wouldn't say li-STEN or listen FOR, it sounds most natural to go, listen for, with a strong beat right here. Now let's look at the next three beats. Tell me if you can tell where the strong beat is in this group. Bells in the. Listen again. Bells in the. Where's the strong beat? Once again it was the first beat of the group of three. Now let's keep on going. Steeple to. Where did you hear the strong beat? Once again it was the first of this group of three. How about ring? This was kind of obvious. This 1st beat has the most strength because that's where the note occurs, and then these next 2 beats it's just sustaining. So you're probably noticing a pattern. The beats are actually arranged in groups of three in this song. Every three beats there's a strong beat. Listen for bells in the steeple to ring. The way we show groups of strong and weak beats is by using what's called bar lines. Bar lines are little vertical lines that will be placed in the music in between a recurring number of beats. In this song it's every three beats there's a bar line, and almost all music is arranged this way in groups, recurring groups of strong and ...