From: eam3@po.CWRU.Edu (Eric A. Meyer)
Subject: Re: Time Signatures
Reply-To: eam3@po.CWRU.Edu (Eric A. Meyer)
Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH (USA)
Date: Mon, 27 Jul 92 21:21:24 GMT


In a previous article, PRAETHE@YaleVM.YCC.Yale.Edu (Ethan Evan Prater) says:

>What about later in the song, when there are three sets of 5 beats, then a six
>beat set? The drummer in my high school band always thought that it was in
>21/4. What does the chart say?

   I can't say for certain, as I don't have the music with me, but I seem
to recall that it was simply 5/4 for three measures and then a measure of
6/4.  (Again, I may be wrong; it's been a while since I looked at the music
and I didn't memorize every nuance of the chart...just the recorded version.)

>I'm only an undergrad majoring in English, but
>people like Stravinsky, Berg, Berlioz, etc. were never constrained by standard
>time signatures--there's lot's of 11/4 in Rite of Spring, for example. It
>obviously was written the way the sheet music says, but if musical geniuses
>like Stravinsky can get away with odd time signatures, why not musical
>geniuses like Rush?

   There is nothing which says Rush CAN'T use 11/4.  There isn't really
anything which specifically forbids the existence of such a signature.
It's just that convention runs against it.  Besides, there is a very good
reason to use 5/4-6/4 as opposed to 11/4.  (Those not interested in a
possibly lengthy discourse on musical conventions may wish to stop now.)


   The difference often lies in accenting.  Music, when written, implies that
an accent is given to the first note of any given measure unless otherwise
marked.  The placement of other accents throughout the measure are dependent
on the number of beats in the measure and what kinds of notes are counted as
one beat.  Thus, the accents in the opening measures of "Jacob's Ladder" are
controlled by the placement of measure bars.
   For example, 6/4 implies "TA-ta-ta-TA-ta-ta" (TA=accent, ta=unaccented).
The more conventional 4/4 goes "TA-ta-TA-ta".  Actually, it's all a bit
more complicated than this, but I don't feel like typing in the better
part of a week's worth of a Music Theory course.  Just suffice to say
that the accenting rules are about as hard-and-fast as most English rules
(you know, the ones which have a list of exceptions the length of your
typical Tour de France).  And if the author pens in accent marks, all
bets are off.
   Now, the music could have been written in 11/4 with accent marks placed
over the relevant notes, but it's a pain in the neck to do so.  (Not to
mention a pain in the eyes to read it.)
   I realize that all of this may be terribly confusing.  Hell, I don't
even quite get all of it, and I have a total of fifteen years of musical
training (seven piano, eight violin, sporadic percussion), and my fiancee
(a music major and fellow Rush fan, with whom I have analyzed quite a few
Rush time signatures by ear alone) couldn't figure out how to explain
it to me concisely.  She eventually said, "Oh, just take a Music Theory
course; then it'll make no sense at all."
   Sigh.
   This is your brain.  This is your brain on music theory.  Any questions?

		-EMeyer
-- 
"Unstable condition--a symptom of life       | Eric A. Meyer (eam3@po.CWRU.edu)
 In mental and environmental change          |  Alumnus,  Beta Nu of Theta Chi
 Atmospheric disturbance--the feverish flux  |---------------------------------
 Of human interface and interchange-"  -N.P. |    "What do you think, sirs?"
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