Metre

• Simple time is when the beats subdivide into two, giving quavers

  4/4

  3/4

  2/4

  2/2

  3/2

  4/2

  3/8
• Compound time is when the beats subdivide into three

  6/8

  9/8

  12/8
• C - common time - 4/4
• Cut common time - 2/2

  
• Irregular time signatures are 5/4 and 7/4
• Free time has no regular beat and you can’t detect the time signature
• Duple time has two beats in a bar e.g 2/4 and 6/8
• Triple time has three beats in a bar e.g 3/4 and 9/8
• Quadruple time has four beats in a bar e.g 4/4 and 12/8
• Swing or shuffle rhythm has a triplet feel to the division of the quavers

  
• An Anacrusis is a note occurring before the barline at the start of a melody starting the melody on an offbeat not the first beat in a bar
• A pause/fermata prolongs the note beyond its normal duration