Meter is counted with Arabic numbers. Count one is known as the downbeat. Patterns may be created in this manner with any number of numbers limited only by practical considerations. The most common meters in Western music are duple, triple and quadruple meters. Music consists of a series of measures linked together to form a phrase much the same as a series of words are linked together to form a sentence.
Most music is metered with periodic beats called regular meter .
Some music features meter comprised of patterns of beats of different lengths called irregular meter . Dance music of eastern European Balkan states is comprised mostly of irregular meters and dance music of Greece features occasional irregular meters. Meter is a very ancient musical element and extends back into human prehistory. Ancient poets may have borrowed the idea for metered poetry from musical meter. Say the words of your favorite pop song in rhythm and you will sense poetic meter as well as musical meter.