Music Theory 3: Don't get stressed out, this lesson was inevitable.

In our last lesson, we covered time signatures, which went over quite a bit better than I thought it was going to, so we're going to forge ahead and discuss the other part of time signatures that I left out. Sadly, this part is hard to explain and is a difficult concept to pick up, even for the experienced musician. Do not worry if you don't get what the hell I'm talking about on the first pass through, that's pretty normal. Also, I am choosing to present this lesson very early in the process, because I left some stuff unexplained in my description about time signatures (which absolutely no-one questioned, shame on all of you!), the concept is an important one to get under your belt, and as you understand it will increase your appreciation of music and musical forms. For this lesson I will be leaving off discussion of the 6/4, 7/8, 5/4 and 12/8 time signatures, because they are much less common (this will make sense after you read the below).

What I did not discuss was why different time signatures exist, and why there is a ratio method towards notation. Why wouldn't you just make quarter notes be the beat deliminator and have all other notes express their durations as adjustments to that, and have measures last for 4 quarter notes worth of time? This is a very good question, and doing things in the way I just described can and will work for musical notation. It is not good practice however, because the time signatures have an additional meaning towards the expression of the music. This is because of stress.

Stress is a slight emphasis placed in regular intervals, based on the time signature provided. To wit: 4/4 time has 2 stresses per measure. 3/4 time has 1 stress per measure, 2/4 has 1 stress per measure, 6/8 has 2 stresses per measure, 6/4 has 1 stress per measure. Now I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, "Neurotic, that sweatshirt is way too big for you. You look like you're swimming in it!" and you'd be right! But they were out of my size, and I needed a new zip up hoodie, so I went one size too large. Besides, it is comfortable as ALL GETOUT so nuts to you. Secondly, you're thinking, "Everything else so far has matched up pretty exactly with mathematics when it has gotten numerical. Why the break from this?" and the answer to that is that the time signatures grew out of the necessity to document sonic patterns, not the other way around. It makes more sense when you listen to stuff with a critical ear. So where do these stresses fall?

Lets start with 4/4, once again because it is the most common. When you count quarter notes in 4/4, a single measure is one-two-three-four. Stop me if I'm going too fast now. The biggest stress in any measure is on 'the downbeat', which is the first beat of the measure. Its called the downbeat because it refers to the gestures involved in conducting, and to go into more detail I would have to give a brief conducting lesson. Just know that when a conductor moves his arms straight downward from a high position, that indicates that beat 1 of a measure is happening. The first beat of every measure is critical, as it is your way of showing when the measure has started, and in establishing concepts such as "rhythm" and "groove". The second stress in 4/4 takes place on the 3rd beat of every measure, and is a lesser stress. So to count 4/4 properly, you would do it as so. ONE-two-three-four. So what does this sound like? Well lets look at the chorus of TNT. AC/DC is a fantastic band to use if you want to evaluate 4/4 beats since all of their songs are 4/4 medium tempo rockers.



So after listening to Bon Scott be awesome, lets analyze what happens on the path to the chorus. Along the way you can hear the kick drum (bass drum, I'm assuming everyone knows what this is? If you don't let me know and we can do some quick & dirty remedial ear training) counting out a 4 pattern. You can count along with it, shielded in your armor that there are 4 beats every measure. After the intro, the guitar starts its passage on the first real downbeat, then afterwards plays its chord a little bit before the downbeat, but holds the chord through. Try to hear in your head what it would sound like were he to not hold the chord over the downbeat, and instead play it quickly and step off it before the downbeat happened. This should sound kinda like blue balls. The reason is, after establishing that the line really starts on the downbeat, your ear wants to hear it start every time on that same beat, since it is such a strong musical beat. When your ear hears that chord land on that downbeat (Because it is carried through, playing the chord just before is called an anticipation, and you'll learn about how and why those work later) it presents your brain with a feeling of 'rest' (as in peace). Denying your ear that makes it feel like it is missing something. This is due partly to the nature of the chords being played, but is primarily because of the timing of how the beats fall. When the bass comes in, what's the first beat it plays on? That's right, its the downbeat again. Starting to get an image of why its so critical? This entire song (read: band) is hanging its hat on that beat. What is missing here is the 3rd beat of the measure, it isn't getting a lot of play. JACK CHICK YOU HAVE LIED TO US!!!!!!!!! That's what the chorus is for. This shit is the work of a master. Don't believe me? Listen. You get that "Cause I'm" then on beat three, we get our first 'payoff'. He sings the first actual lyric of the chorus, the letter T. The bass, drums, and guitar all kick in at the same time. This is a heavy freakin' beat. Then comes the N on beat four, but that's more of a passing sort of sound. We have downwards momentum in the song established by the first 2 chords, and the notes sung by the vocal, which generates 'inevitability'. All of this is pushing your ear towards that one beat, and you can't avoid it. When that one beat hits, we hit the original chord we heard in the song, the beat starts back up again as it was, and we now know exactly what has been established. This then repeats. The three establishes as a minor stress, generating momentum to beat 1, which is the major point.

Another example is a more recent work by Kreator. This one requires a bit more mental gymnastics.


First up let me be very clear, I do not think that, at the beginning, the drummer is counting quarter notes on the hi-hat, I believe he is counting 8th notes. Count every two hi-hat strikes as one beat, and go from there. That leaves the beat much slower than they are playing (one could certainly make a case that the beat is not there, or that they are playing in a different time signature, but I believe this is false. I think they are very clearly playing in 4/4 with this beat, based on the stresses of the music). I'm not going to analyze this one out for you, I've just listened to it a number of times, and am fairly confident that you will be able to pick up the qualities of the 3rd beat lending inevitability, and the downbeat being easily critical. I want you to listen to it yourself, and interpret what you can. Do not get discouraged if you cannot figure it out, as I stated earlier, this is a very hard concept to get. I am only presenting it this early because I believe (this belief is, notably, not shared by others) it is totally critical to one's understanding of music.

Moving on, lets do 3/4. The stress in 3/4 is on the downbeat. That's it. I've heard it stated that 3/4 is the second most popular time signature, but I'm not confident in the veracity of that statement. You count 3/4 as ONE-two-three. This always sounds 'sweeping' to me, but that's also because of its strong association to the Waltz and Minuet, and how they move around the dance floor. Now when we look at 3/4, a few pieces come readily to mind.



You may have heard one or both of these. Listen very carefully to how the music dances and twists around the downbeat, always emphasizing it. In the Strauss, notice how the lively sections (starts at about 1min in) have quarter notes playing below the melody to keep the rhythm going. Sometimes referred to as Oom-pah-pah, this is a classic waltz technique that kept people dancing long into the night. The final example that I would use for 3/4 time is the song 'My favorite things', but unfortunately I cannot find a decent example of it where it sounds truly like a 3/4. This leads handily into our next time signature though.

2/4! 2/4 is just like 4/4, but instead of having a lesser stress on the 3rd beat, it simply has another strong stress. This lends to more upbeat songs (think marches), with lots of energy and panache. Such as humppa!



Traditional polka styles are in 2/4. Notice it's peppy and carefully metered. The bass is changing tones every bar, and is providing equal stress. There is diminished inevitability between what would be the 3rd beat and the downbeat, were this 4/4 time. Now, 2/4 outside of classical music is somewhat of a footnote, as the difference between a heavy and a light stress isn't that big, and you can simply count 2/4 as 4/4 and come out just fine. I include it for completeness.

After discussing 2/4, we have to move to 6/8. I'm sorry everyone, I really am. 6/8 is a bitch, but its pretty common. 6/8 is notable in that it is a pattern that comes in multiples of 3, but is not counted as a single stress on the downbeat. You count (and conduct) 6/8 as a 2 pattern, split into equal segments counted as three.

Ok what? Seriously, what? Let us ask our friends from Scotland, Alestorm to help us out.



This is a classic 6/8 ballad. You can count this one as 4/4 too, but it will be of an extremely slow beat and difficult for a musician to follow. Secondly, there is a strong sense of 3's lying around here. Listen to that high hat, counting 1-2-3, 1-2-3. Why isn't this 3/4? Because listen to the drums. Kick on 1, snare on 1, what is this, in 1/1? The easiest way to express it is in two triptychs. How do you count it then? ONE-two-three-four-five-six. Stresses on 1 and 4, and a combination of the ideas of the two style count (2/4, 4/4) and the three style count (3/4). Another, classier example of 6/8.



Finally, before I sign off here (this has been a crazy productive three days for me, and I'm really liking doing this.), I'm going to leave you with a challenge. This song has a single time signature throughout the entirety of it. What is it?