Rhythm & Meter

Cut Time (Alla Breve)

Pronounced AH-lah BREH-vehWritten as 2/2

Definition

Cut time is 2/2 time: two half-note beats in each bar, written as a C with a vertical line through it. The notes look like 4/4, but you count and feel two beats instead of four.

Cut time is the meter 2/2: two beats in every bar, with a half note getting one beat. It is written as a C crossed by a vertical line, a sign that "cuts" common time in half. Its Italian name, alla breve, comes from older notation, where it told the performer to feel the beat on the breve, a longer note value than usual. In modern use it simply means: count in two.

Same notes, half the counts

A bar of cut time holds exactly as much as a bar of 4/4: four quarter notes, eight eighth notes or one whole note. What changes is how you count and feel it. Instead of four beats, you feel two, each one a half note long. Each quarter note is now half a beat, counted "1 &".

Two identical treble-clef melodies: quarter notes C5 D5 E5 G5, then quarter notes F5 D5 and a half note C5. The first has the common-time sign C and the counts 1 2 3 4 and 1 2 3. The second has the cut-time sign, a C with a vertical line through it, and the counts 1 & 2 & and 1 & 2. — The same notes in common time and in cut time. In 4/4 each quarter note is a beat (here quarter note = 96). In cut time each half note is a beat, so the quarter notes are counted 1 & 2 &. This recording plays the cut-time line at half note = 96, so it moves twice as fast as the first.

Why composers use it

Cut time often suits music that moves quickly. Counting four fast beats in each bar can feel busy and heavy; counting two makes the line lighter and more flowing. You will often find it in marches, show tunes and the fast movements of Classical sonatas and symphonies. It can also be slow: the tempo marking determines the speed, while cut time identifies two half-note beats per bar.

Counting cut time

Count "1, 2" on the half notes.
Count "1 & 2 &" when quarter notes appear: each quarter note is half a beat.
Count "1 e & a 2 e & a" for eighth notes, if you need that much detail.

If you are new to cut time, it is fine to count in four at a slow practice tempo, then switch to two as the tempo comes up.

Cut time, 2/4 and 4/4

Cut time and 2/4 are both duple meters, with two beats per bar. The difference is the beat note: a half note in cut time, a quarter note in 2/4. Cut time and 4/4 look the same on the page; only the counting and the feel differ. Compare all three in Two Beats in a Bar: 2/4 & Cut Time, and practice reading in two with Count in Two.

Common questions

Is cut time the same as 2/2?

Yes. The cut-time sign, a C with a vertical line through it, means 2/2: two half-note beats in each bar.

How do you count cut time?

Count two beats per bar, one on each half note: "1, 2". Quarter notes fall on "1 & 2 &". At a slow practice tempo you can count in four, then switch to two as you speed up.