A Time Signature is another symbol usually consisting of numbers that stack ontop of oneanother in the beginning of a piece. It is also on the staff but it is after the clef symbol.

There are also two other symbols that look like C's but we will talk about that later.

So what is a time signature? 

In my book "Dodecatonic Wha?!?" I explain it like this:

"First the top number tells you how many beats per measure you will have. That just means if you have a measure with all quarter notes you will have 4. If the top number was 3 than you would have 3. The bottom number tells what duration of the note receives the beat.

This means almost the same in music 4 usually means quarter. This means there will be 4 quarter notes in one bar to fill it up. So if there was a 4 on top but 2 on bottom. You would need 4 half notes to fill a bar. Etc…

Now 4/4 is also called common time because it is the most common time signature you will find so sometimes it might not be the 4 overlaying the other 4 it may be a big C to say common time. Or a big C with a slash going through it which means cut time. Cut time merely means half of 4/4 which is just 2/2."

So to summarize we will usually have two numbers stacking ontop of one another. The top number represents how many of the bottom number beats you will have in the measure. 

The bottom note represents what rhythmic note will be used to fill the measure.

So if it is 3/1 You will have 3 whole notes. 3/2 is 3 half notes, 3/4 is 3 quarter notes. 3/8 is 3 eigth notes. Etc...

So the symbols are just the numbers stacked But the other symbols a C, and a C with a slash through it can also be seen in music. To reiterate the symbol C means common time which is 4/4.

The C with the slahs through it means cut time which is 2/2/

Here are all the symbols:

Sorry that the last timesignature Common Time is a bit off of the lines, I don't know why it did that...

TASK: Discuss with people questions about time signatures. Find 1 partner that is either better or worse with the understanding of time sigantures and help each other out!