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Examples of time signatures for alla breve Examples of time signatures for common time. Alla breve [alla ˈbrɛːve] – also known as cut time or cut common time – is a musical meter notated by the time signature symbol (a C) with a vertical line through it, which is the equivalent of 2 2. [1] The term is Italian for "on the breve ...
Most time signatures consist of two numerals, one stacked above the other: The lower numeral indicates the note value that the signature is counting. This number is always a power of 2 (unless the time signature is irrational), usually 2, 4 or 8, but less often 16 is also used, usually in Baroque music. 2 corresponds to the half note (minim), 4 to the quarter note (crotchet), 8 to the eighth ...
4 time—four beats per measure with a quarter note representing one beat. It derives from the broken circle that represented "imperfect" duple meter in fourteenth-century mensural time signatures. Alla breve / cut time This symbol represents 2 2 time—two beats per measure with a half-note representing one beat. Metronome mark
Alla breve, the time signature 2 2 , takes its name from the note value breve. In the mensural notation of the Renaissance, it was an alternative term for proportio dupla , which meant that the brevis was to be considered the unit of time ( tactus ), instead of the usual semibrevis .
Variants of the breve. The first two are commonly used; the third is a stylistic alternative. The breve appears in several different versions. Sometimes the longa or breve is used to indicate a very long note of indefinite duration, as at the end of a piece (e.g. at the end of Mozart's Mass KV 192).
The system of note types used in mensural notation closely corresponds to the modern system. The mensural brevis is nominally the ancestor of the modern double whole note (breve); likewise, the semibrevis corresponds to the whole note (semibreve), the minima to the half note (minim), the semiminima to the quarter note (crotchet), and the fusa to the eighth note (quaver).
Because it lasts longer than a bar in most modern time signatures, the breve is now rarely encountered. In time signatures where the top number is exactly twice that of the bottom, however, it lasts a whole bar and so may still be found (the most common time signature of this kind is 4/2).
The article says that only for compound time signatures, like 6/8, 9/8, and 12/8. Notice that in these cases the upper number is divisible by 3. Double sharp 06:26, 15 September 2023 (UTC) "The time signature is a notational device representing the meter, which is an auditory feature of the music." (my italics) ...