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Common Time Signatures for Symphony Orchestras

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Part of the video series: Tips for Conducting an Orchestra

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Summary: Overview of basic time signatures for an orchestra. Learn more about keeping time for an orchestra in this free conducting lesson from an experienced conductor and composer.

Views: 328 | Tags: classical, ballet, orchestra, symphony, conducting, conductor, opera

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About the Expert

Lennon Leppert Lennon Leppert is a film composer and songwriter. He has worked on projects produced by The Discovery Channel, The History Channel and The Learning Channel. H... read more

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Video Transcript

Common Time Signatures for Symphony Orchestras

In this clip we'll be talking about the basic time signatures that you'll be faced with in a normal orchestral situation. They'll be four four, three four, two four, and we'll cover six eight. So, first of all four four is the most, four four is also called common time and when you look at your time signature it will say either a big C for common time or four over four. So, the top is four beats in a measure and the bottom number says which kind of note gets a beat. So, in four four that would be a quarter note gets one beat. And four beat to a measure. In two four it would be a quarter note gets one beat, two beats in a measure. In six eight there would be six beats in a measure and the eighth note would get one beat. So, four four is the most, one of the most, basically the most common time signature. So, it looks like this. You go down, left, right, up, down, left, right, up, down, left, right, up. Now a lot of the times, a lot of the patterns can be based off of this. That's the easiest one to get down and then there's three four which is basically just one of the steps removed. So, you go down, right, up, down, right, up, down, right, up. One, two, three, one, two, three. Two four is down and to the side and up. One, two, one, two, one, two, one, two. Now, six eight is a little bit different. It goes down, two, three, four, five, six, down, two, three, four, five, six. So, it's down, left, left, right, right, up. Down, left, left, right, right, up. One, two, three, four, five, six.

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