Simple Time Signatures
Primary 6 · Creative Arts
Simple Time Signatures
Lesson 1 of 5
25 min
Let's begin
Keza's class is getting ready for the end-of-term concert. Their teacher claps slowly and steadily and counts, "ONE, two, three, four, ONE, two, three, four." Every time she says ONE, she claps a little louder.
"Why is the ONE louder?" Keza asks. By the end of this lesson, you will know.
The beat is the steady pulse that runs all the way through a piece of music, like the tick of a clock or your footsteps on the way to school. You can tap it with your foot or clap it. The beat stays steady even when the tune has quick notes and long notes.
The speed of the beat is called the tempo. A lullaby has a slow tempo. A song that fans sing at a football match usually has a fast one.
Beats are not all the same. Listen carefully and you will feel that some beats are strong (stressed) and others are weak (unstressed). Clap and say these words, clapping louder on the capital letters:
The strong beats come again and again, at the same distance apart. That pattern is what makes the music feel organised.
Musicians group the beats into small, equal groups. Each group is called a bar (some books call it a measure). The first beat of every bar is the strongest one. It is called the downbeat, because a conductor's hand moves down on it.
In this example every bar has four beats. Count "1 2 3 4" in each bar and clap a little louder on every 1.
A bar line is a thin line drawn straight up and down across the staff. It separates one bar from the next, a little like the spaces between words in a sentence. Bar lines help you keep your place, and they show you where each strong beat comes.
Bars are numbered from the start: bar 1, bar 2, bar 3 and so on. When a choir leader says, "Start again from bar 5," every singer knows exactly where to go.
Tip
A bar is a box of beats. The bar lines are the walls of the box. Beat 1 is always the first thing in the box, and it is the strongest.
Try each one first, then tap Show answer to check.
Clap and say FOOT-ball, FOOT-ball. On which syllable is the strong beat?
Answer: On FOOT, the first syllable.
What do we call a group of beats between two bar lines?
Answer: A bar (also called a measure).
How does written music show the very end of a piece?
Answer: With a final bar line: a thin line followed by a thick one.
Mutesi counts "1 2 3 4, 1 2 3 4, 1 2 3 4" and stops. How many bars did she count, and how many beats altogether?
Answer: 3 bars and 12 beats.
Say EL-e-phant, EL-e-phant and clap. How many beats are in each group, and which one is strong?
Answer: 3 beats in each group. The first one (EL) is strong.
What you learned today
Sources and credits
The concert story, the word-clapping game, the diagrams and the practice questions were written by Ganzaa.
This lesson adapts CC BY-SA material and is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Quick check
Match each bar line to what it shows.
Tap one on the left, then its partner on the right.
