[Dixielandjazz] Timing and tempo

[John Farrell]

Rebecca kicked off this thread with

"Does the time signature reflect the tempo? or is that an arbitrary thing?"

To which I replied :

"No. Put very simply the time signature's only job is to indicate the beat
(for instance 4/4 means tap your foot 4 times in each bar, 2/4 means tap it
twice (remainder snipped)"

Now Al Levy chips in with

"My 2c
I disagree with John
2
4  -  2 quarter notes per meas. or the equivalent. Nothing to do with beats

3
4 - 3 quarter notes per meas. etc."

Al - with the greatest respect to Rebecca in view of the nature of her
question she clearly has little expertise in musical technicalities. My
reply, which made allowances for that, deliberately steered away from
blinding her with science - note that it was prefaced "Put very simply".
The indisputable fact remains that 4/4 does indicate to a musician that
there are four beats per measure despite the academic definition of a time
signature. I am satisfied that the very sketchy information I gave Rebecca
answered her question correctly without going into the murky depths of
musical exactitude which she might not have understood.

Wanna get technical? Draw your sword!!

John Farrell
http://homepages.tesco.net/~stridepiano/midifiles.htm