Relationship between 3/4 and 4/4?

Question

I understand the meaning of music notations such as 3/4, 4/4 and so on. The first number is the number of beats per measure, while the second number is the note-duration (quarter, half, one-eighth) for each beat in the measure. **Does this mean that, a (hypothetical) music piece written as 3/4 with 4 measures in length can be expressed as 4/4 with 3 measures in length?** Note that in both cases, there are 12 beats. It seems to me that by just changing the position of bars a 3/4 music can be expressed as 4/4 music, as long the original 3/4 music had 4 measures or any multiple of 4 measures (such as 8, 12, 16 and so on). Is my understanding correct?

Answer 1

It seems you are ignoring the pulse and feel of the beat. 3/4 sounds like a waltz and 4/4 sounds like rock or pop. 4 beats of 3/4 still sounds like 4 beats of a waltz. Remember music is more than just the sun of the notes.

Answer 2

This is actually a very interesting question. For certain time signatures there are weak beats and strong beats. For example, in 3/4 the strong beat is on the first one. This is typical in waltz. If you moved the bar lines over to add another beat to make it 4/4 the emphasis would be on 2 and 4 and the music would not feel or sound the same.

So to answer your question, yes it can be done but the music would not sound the same.

Hope this helps!

Answer 3

The first number means the number of beats not the length of the notes. Think of 3/4 as One two three, One two three, One two three with an emphasis on the first beat like a waltz. The common waltz is three quarter notes which does not add up to one and does not need too. Think of the length of the notes as unrelated to the time signature. You can have one note go all the way across the measure.

John

Answer 4

Hello, Nolan, In the example you gave, you are partly correct in that both versions would contain the same number of beats. However, that solution doesn't take into consideration the main function of time signatures which is to indicate the accent pattern of the music In 3/4, which is waltz time, the accent on the first beat gives a strong 1,2,3 feel to the music. If you picture people dancing a waltz to the music you will see how that feel is essential to giving the dancers the rhythm they need to do a waltz. If that same music was written in 4/4, the accent pattern would no give the dancers the 1,2,3 feel they need.

Each time signature has a characteristic rhythmic feel. If the music is any kind of a dance this feel provides what is needed for the dancers. However, beyond that, the time signature is necessary for the musicians to clearly see the accent pattern and to divide the music into segments that make rhythmic sense to the eye. This is more important that simply calculating the total number of beats.

I hope this is helpful. You can ask a follow up question if it's not clear.

Best, Stephen