The way I understood it was that 3/4 is used to notate waltzes and other music where you are supposed to "feel" all three beats per bar, and 6/8 is used to notate music where you only "feel" the downbeats. Things like swung rhythms. Though (again as I understand it) actual swing music is often notated in common or cut time, but played as though the first eighth note of each beat is about twice as long as the second.
Just to pick two of my favorite songs: per my understanding, the opening theme to Vision of Escaflowne would be notated in 3/4, while "Flagpole Sitta" by Harvey Danger might be notated in 6/8.
While being a marching band nerd, we always thought of 3/8 as 6/8 for the simple fact that one is always the left foot. Counting in 3/8 would alternate one to be on the right every other measure. It's hard enough to get new members to march to the right beat, but having 3/8 time was just never going to work even for experienced members
There is no difference between 3/4 and 6/8 unless you are trying to decide on which one makes your score easier to read. It's just different ways of conceptualizing the phrase. Mathematically (and therefore rhythmically) they are the same, of course. Maybe the site is trying to make some other differentiation but it didn't work at all in Firefox. (Source: I am a professional drummer)
You may be a professional drummer, but you are of some sort of mindset that has you in denial of the concept of convention . You also certainly feel rhythm but do not intellectually understand it. Rhythm is a cognitive/perceptual/psychological process whereby we relate events to one another. It is not mere timing. When you impose in your mind a structure on a timing by giving extra attention to certain events, then y…
(1) 2 3 | (1) 2 3
and
(1) 2 3 (4) 5 6
are rhythmically identical. You're only conceptualizing them differently.
Anyway, thank you for taking the time to write this myopic and extremely condescending explanation of my area of study. I will be sure to return the favor someday.
There is no difference between 3/4 and 6/8 unless you are trying to decide on which one makes your score easier to read. It's just different ways of conceptualizing the phrase. Mathematically (and therefore rhythmically) they are the same, of course. Maybe the site is trying to make some other differentiation but it didn't work at all in Firefox. (Source: I am a professional drummer)
In a non-Archer sense of the word, how do percussionists think of phrasing? As a non-percussionist/string player, a phrase was a great place to take a breath for us regular humans that can't circular breath. The basic definition I was always given was 8 bars. That was always worked well for me. As a DJ, the 8 bars would tell me the percussionist is due for a cymbal crash ;-). I always got a chuckle when I'd get a piece of music where the composer would add a breath mark for the woods/brass players. Funny thing that breathing concept.
Site's trying to imply that any slower 2/4 rhythm subdivided into triplets can be re-written as 6/8, whereas 3/4 does not have more rhythmic subdivisions in the three beats.
When I think of 6/8 time, I think of triplets as well. Not saying triplets don't play out in standard 4/4, but I remember thinking about how many triplets were going to be in the music whenever we were handed new music in 6/8 time. I just assumed it was me making that assumption rather than it being an actual thing.
Not quite. It is correct to say that the numerator is the count and the denominator is what is counted. So 3/4 is 3 quarter notes, and 6/8 is 6 eighth notes. However which notes get the beat is a bit more fuzzy. 6/8 is usually but not always two beats per measure, with three eighths per beat (counted 1-tee-ta 2-tee-ta) That gets to the concept of simple and compound meter. In simple meter the the beat gets divided in…
"... two beats per measure, with three eighths per beat (counted 1-tee-ta 2-tee-ta)" I've never heard this. I've only ever heard it as " 1 2 3 4 5 6"
I'm a pretty non-musical person, and time signatures have always confused me. Unfortunately, this explanation left me just as confused. I can hear the difference between the two sample beats but I cannot figure out how to generalize this to other time signatures beyond the 3/4 and 6/8 described here.
The full time signature is arbitrary, and partially related to how the notes are written. It's wrong to put too much weight on "6/8" vs "3/4" per se. There are conventions that have developed in western music as to which time signature matches which natural beat pattern, but there's nothing _inherent_ in the time signatures that's important. Instead, I find it useful to think about combinations and layers of twos and…
Can you explain what the difference between /4 and /8 are?
like for example, what is the difference between 9/8 and 9/4?
I've made something up that has an 11 time signature, 2-3-3-3(or 3-3-2-3), but how do I know if it's 11/8 or 11/4?
There is no difference between 3/4 and 6/8 unless you are trying to decide on which one makes your score easier to read. It's just different ways of conceptualizing the phrase. Mathematically (and therefore rhythmically) they are the same, of course. Maybe the site is trying to make some other differentiation but it didn't work at all in Firefox. (Source: I am a professional drummer)
You may be a professional drummer, but you are of some sort of mindset that has you in denial of the concept of convention . You also certainly feel rhythm but do not intellectually understand it. Rhythm is a cognitive/perceptual/psychological process whereby we relate events to one another. It is not mere timing. When you impose in your mind a structure on a timing by giving extra attention to certain events, then y…
You write, I'm not sure why, as if you are an imposing genius addressing someone with grave intellectual disabilities. It's unfathomable to me by what process you decided our drummer friend is in denial of, has no intellectual understanding of, the bleeding obvious. What you say is mostly the exceedingly basic needlessly expressed in a long-winded way. But perhaps I don't 'intellectually understand' it either.
Bug: rapid calls to 3/4 get parsed as 6/8 1. Take the 3/4 example and convince yourself you fully understand the difference between 3/4 time and 6/8 time. 2. Let your ostensible understanding lead you to listen to a waltz. 3. Get familiar enough with the waltz that you can sing along with the melody. 4. Now ask yourself: does the melody sound like it divide up into groups of measures, or is the melody just freely mov…
I just stick with 4/4 and do two lines of melody every three measures.
Bug: rapid calls to 3/4 get parsed as 6/8 1. Take the 3/4 example and convince yourself you fully understand the difference between 3/4 time and 6/8 time. 2. Let your ostensible understanding lead you to listen to a waltz. 3. Get familiar enough with the waltz that you can sing along with the melody. 4. Now ask yourself: does the melody sound like it divide up into groups of measures, or is the melody just freely mov…
My understanding is rudimentary compared to yours, but I learned (perhaps incorrectly) long ago that for 3/4 time (waltz time) you can count: ONE two three TWO two three ONE two three TWO two three and that indeed sounds more similar to the article's 6/8 example than its 3/4 example.
That’s a common thing to hear when trying to follow the steps for a waltz (counting out RIGHT left right LEFT right left can only be correct for one partner at a time).