Simple Time Signatures
Primary 6 · Creative Arts
Simple Time Signatures
Lesson 3 of 5
30 min
Let's begin
It is sports day at Byiringiro's school. The pupils march onto the field in lines while the drummers play: BOOM tap, BOOM tap. Everybody steps with the left foot on every BOOM. "Left, right, left, right!" calls the teacher.
The music they march to is in two-four time.
In two-four time there are two crotchet beats in every bar. Count ONE two, ONE two. Beat 1 is strong and beat 2 is weak, just like LEFT right when you march.
Any mix of notes and rests that adds up to 2 beats will fit. Here are seven different bars, each worth 2 beats. Clap them while you count "1 2" and say the rhythm names:
A semibreve (4 beats) and a dotted minim (3 beats) are too long for a bar of two-four time.
A march is music with a strong, steady beat that people can walk in step to. Many marches are written in two-four time: ONE two, LEFT right.
A famous example is the Radetzky March by the Austrian composer Johann Strauss I, first played in Vienna in 1848. For one part of it, Strauss is said to have borrowed an old folk dance tune that soldiers were singing. That tune was in three-four time, and Strauss changed it into two-four time to fit his march.
A conductor shows the beats to a choir or band with the right hand. In two-four time the hand goes down on beat 1 and bounces back up on beat 2. Stand up and try it while you count.
In P4 you read Hot Cross Buns in four-four time. Here is the same old tune written in two-four time. The notes and the rhythm are the same, but each bar is shorter, so there are twice as many bars: 8 instead of 4.
Clap the rhythm first while you count "1 2" in every bar. Then sing it in sol-fa, and last of all sing the words. Notice how the beams join the quavers in pairs: each pair fills one beat.
Write a four-bar rhythm in two-four time using crotchets, quavers, minims and crotchet rests. Check that each bar adds up to 2, end with a final bar line, and clap it to a friend.
Tip
Two-four is marching time. ONE two, LEFT right: your left foot lands on the strong beat 1 of every bar.
Try each one first, then tap Show answer to check.
Which single note fills a whole bar of two-four time?
Answer: A minim (2 beats).
Can a dotted minim fit into one bar of two-four time?
Answer: No. It lasts 3 beats, but the bar holds only 2.
A bar of two-four time has one crotchet. Give two different ways to complete it.
Answer: Any two of: another crotchet, two quavers, or a crotchet rest.
In the two-four version of Hot Cross Buns, which bars have four quavers?
Answer: Bars 5 and 6 ("One a penny, two a penny").
Which way does a conductor's hand move on beat 1?
Answer: Down.
What you learned today
Sources and credits
Hot Cross Buns is a traditional English street cry and is in the public domain. The sports day story, the rhythm drawings, the conducting diagram, the notation 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
In two-four time, beat 2 is the strong beat.
