Rhythm & Meter

Meter

Definition

Meter is the way beats are grouped into a repeating pattern of strong and weak, usually in twos, threes or fours. The time signature at the start of the music shows it.

Meter is the way the beats of a piece are organized into a repeating pattern of strong and weak. Each group is one bar (or measure), and the first beat of each bar, the downbeat, carries the main accent. When you feel a march as ONE-two, ONE-two, or a waltz as ONE-two-three, you are feeling its meter.

Two treble-clef melodies. The first, in 2/4, has three bars of two quarter notes with an accent on the first note of each bar, then a half note, also accented. The second, in 3/4, has three bars of three quarter notes with an accent on each first note, then an accented dotted half note. The counts are printed under the notes. — Top: duple meter, counted ONE-two. Bottom: triple meter, counted ONE-two-three. The accent marks on each beat 1 are only there to make the pattern easy to see and hear; most music leaves the strong beat unmarked and lets you feel it.

Naming a meter

Musicians describe a meter with two words. The first tells you how many beats are in a bar:

Duple: two beats (strong-weak).
Triple: three beats (strong-weak-weak).
Quadruple: four beats (strong-weak-medium-weak).

The second tells you how each beat divides:

Simple: each beat splits into two equal parts.
Compound: each beat splits into three equal parts.

Put together, they give the standard names:

2/4: simple duple
3/4: simple triple
4/4: simple quadruple
6/8: compound duple
9/8: compound triple
12/8: compound quadruple

Meters whose beats are not all the same length, such as 5/8 or 7/8, are called irregular meters.

Meter and the time signature

The time signature is how meter is written down. It sits at the start of the music and tells you how much fits in each bar. The meter is the felt pattern behind those numbers. That is why 3/4 and 6/8, which both hold six eighth notes, feel so different: 3/4 has three beats, while 6/8 has two beats of three eighths each.

Hearing the meter

To find the meter of a piece by ear, tap the beat and count along. Try counting in twos, then threes, then fours, and notice which count keeps landing the strong beats on "1". The bass line and the chords help too: chords tend to change on the downbeat.

A piece can also change meter as it goes. Practice finding where each new bar starts with the Find the New Downbeat worksheet, and test yourself on time signatures with Meter Detective.

Common questions

What is the difference between meter and time signature?

Meter is the pattern of strong and weak beats you feel. The time signature is the written sign for it at the start of the music. One describes the music; the other tells the reader how to count it.

What is the difference between meter and rhythm?

Meter is the regular framework of beats and bars. Rhythm is the pattern of actual note lengths played within that framework, which can follow the meter or cut across it.