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What is something other people seem to grasp easily that eludes you? (lemmy.world)
submitted 1 day ago by to c/asklemmy@lemmy.world
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For me it's time signatures in music. I grew up playing instruments, played in several orchestras, etc. But no matter how many times someone tries to explain time signatures to me, it makes no sense. I don't understand why people place such importance on it. To me, notes have a pitch and a duration, maybe some dynamics. That's it. I don't understand why people try to needlessly complicate it. It doesn't give you anything.

My wife will hear a song and go "Oh neat, it's in 5/8." And I'm like "How tf do you know that, and why does it matter?"

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[–] 2 points 15 hours ago (1 child)

Played for over 20 years, aced my music theory final while I was still in school. Have minimal issues translating and coordinating with other musicians professionally.

Me too bud.

They say it’s about groove and feel but that’s highly subjective and falls apart the second polyrhythms get involved.

In the end, anything can technically be written in any time signature, imh It just comes down to what’s easiest (or most obnoxious/ gimmicky) to read / write.

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  • [–] 3 points 15 hours ago

    I mean I get why you would want to use 3/4 time instead of 4/4 time. For instance if you're composing a waltz, you would want to use 3/4 time, because the rhythmic pattern repeats every 3 beats. Or for something like "da daa, da daa, da daa, da daa"

    It's more convenient to use a time signature that aligns with the repeating rhythm. But that only requires the top number.

    To me, the bottom number has always been utterly meaningless. Sure you can fit two triplets in a 6/8 measure as opposed to one triplet in 3/4, but you could compose the same thing in 3/4 and just use two measures for the motif instead of one, and make it a faster tempo, and suddenly it's played exactly the same way...

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