Meter in
music is a
reoccurring pattern of
strong and
weak beats. The meter of a
western musical piece is indicated by a number placed atop yet another number. Basically, the bottom number is the type of note being counted (quarter = 4, eighth = 8, etc); the top is the number of these
notes in a measure. In
western music there are two types of meter:
simple and
compound.
Simple meter is composed of 2/4, 3/4, and 4/4, with each beat subdivided into two eigth notes or four
sixteenth notes or eight thirtysecondth notes or 16 sixtyfourth notes, etc. In 2/4, there are two
quarter notes in a measure, in 3/4 3, and in 4/4 there are 4.
Compound meter's upper numbers are always 6, 9, or 12, and their lower numbers are always 8. Each beat is a dotted quarter note and is
subdivided into 3 eighth notes.