Don't quite get 6/8 time

[sinebar]

This time signature has always confused me and I have never been able to get a straight answer from my teacher. Is 6/8 used because it takes less written notes and therefore less pages of sheet music? Why don't they just use 3/4 time?

[Phineas]

Sinbar

6/8 is not quite like 3/4 6/8 is actually closer to 2/4. The reason you are having trouble is you are thinking about it the wrong way. Instead of thinking in straight 8th notes, think 2 triplets. 123 on the first count, 456 on the second.

Once you get the feel of it, you will see why the composer did it that way. It is easier to write in 3/8, 6/8, 9/8, or 12/8 then to write a piece in 1/4, 2/4, 3/4, or 4/4 with a bunch of triplets.

I hope this helps.

Phineas

[flutepicc06]

There's no way to be sure what exactly a composer was thinking when they chose a particular time signature, but most often it's because they want a certain feel to the music, which is easy to achieve by using different patterns of "strong" and "weak" beats. If you're taking 6/8 in 2 (two triplets to the measure), the strong beats are on the 1st and 4th eighth note, rather than the 1st, 3rd, and 5th eighth note in a 3/4 bar....To demonstrate this, try playing a waltz as if it were in 6/8 time. The feeling of the music should change noticeably. What time signature a piece is in will not change the quantity of notes a composer has to use to notate it...Perhaps which durations (eighth, quarter, whole, etc.), but the NUMBER of notes remains the same, so that doesn't work out as an explanation.

[sinebar]

Sinbar

6/8 is not quite like 3/4 6/8 is actually closer to 2/4. The reason you are having trouble is you are thinking about it the wrong way. Instead of thinking in straight 8th notes, think 2 triplets. 123 on the first count, 456 on the second.

Once you get the feel of it, you will see why the composer did it that way. It is easier to write in 3/8, 6/8, 9/8, or 12/8 then to write a piece in 1/4, 2/4, 3/4, or 4/4 with a bunch of triplets.

I hope this helps.

Phineas

I guess the triplet analogy makes a little more sense but does tempo have anything to do with it. I notice a lot of Irish trad is written in 6/8 time and it is always played very fast. Like the Irish Washer Woman which I think is in 6/8.

[flutepicc06]

Sinbar

6/8 is not quite like 3/4 6/8 is actually closer to 2/4. The reason you are having trouble is you are thinking about it the wrong way. Instead of thinking in straight 8th notes, think 2 triplets. 123 on the first count, 456 on the second.

Once you get the feel of it, you will see why the composer did it that way. It is easier to write in 3/8, 6/8, 9/8, or 12/8 then to write a piece in 1/4, 2/4, 3/4, or 4/4 with a bunch of triplets.

I hope this helps.

Phineas

I guess the triplet analogy makes a little more sense but does tempo have anything to do with it. I notice a lot of Irish trad is written in 6/8 time and it is always played very fast. Like the Irish Washer Woman which I think is in 6/8.

No, it really doesn't have much to do with tempo...It's entirely possible to have a ridiculously fast tempo (or a ludicrously slow one) in whatever time signature the composer wants. Basically, they'll choose the time signature that best fits the rhythms they plan to write, and will allow them to show these rhythms in the least confusing way for the performer, while maintaining the pattern of "weak" and "strong" beats they're after. You mentioned Irish music, and some types, like jigs and slides, are often (but not always) written in X/8 time, but other forms of traditional Irish music, such as Airs, Polkas, and Hornpipes are usually written in simple meters (where the basic beat is divisible by 2) rather than compound meters (where the beat is divisible by 3).

[bfloyd]

I love 6/8 time. Yes, it is widely used in Irish music but also widely used in Baroque music. It was probably the most popular dance used back then. Think the counting as a triplet pattern similar to 2/4 time, with the dominant beat on 1 and 4. i.e. 123, 456

[sinebar]

Sinbar

6/8 is not quite like 3/4 6/8 is actually closer to 2/4. The reason you are having trouble is you are thinking about it the wrong way. Instead of thinking in straight 8th notes, think 2 triplets. 123 on the first count, 456 on the second.

Once you get the feel of it, you will see why the composer did it that way. It is easier to write in 3/8, 6/8, 9/8, or 12/8 then to write a piece in 1/4, 2/4, 3/4, or 4/4 with a bunch of triplets.

I hope this helps.

Phineas

"The reason you are having trouble is you are thinking about it the wrong way."

Whew! you are right about that. I was thinking of 6/8 in the same way as 4/4 where the beat value is a quarter-note. Now I'm just learning that in 6/8 time, Which is refered to as compound time, that the note value is a dotted quarter-note??? Someone please tell me if that's right because it changes everthing and I've been playing 6/8 time all wrong. My teacher, who I'm paying $40 an hour, went over 6/8 time but NEVER mentioned that little tid bit. I was counting 6 beats per measure instead of 2 beats per measure and then wondering why I was getting behind in band rehersal when a multiple measure rest came up in the music. Well thank God for Wikapedia and this forum.

[fluteguy18]

The strong beats are indeed equal to a dotted quarter note.
So, if conducted at a moderate tempo, the conductor will show beats 1 and 4, or in other words, the dotted quarter. If it is at a slow tempo, the conductor will conduct each eighth note value, in either a modified 4/4 pattern, or two sets of 3/4.

[sinebar]

The strong beats are indeed equal to a dotted quarter note.
So, if conducted at a moderate tempo, the conductor will show beats 1 and 4, or in other words, the dotted quarter. If it is at a slow tempo, the conductor will conduct each eighth note value, in either a modified 4/4 pattern, or two sets of 3/4.

[Phineas]

Sinbar

6/8 is not quite like 3/4 6/8 is actually closer to 2/4. The reason you are having trouble is you are thinking about it the wrong way. Instead of thinking in straight 8th notes, think 2 triplets. 123 on the first count, 456 on the second.

Once you get the feel of it, you will see why the composer did it that way. It is easier to write in 3/8, 6/8, 9/8, or 12/8 then to write a piece in 1/4, 2/4, 3/4, or 4/4 with a bunch of triplets.

I hope this helps.

Phineas

"The reason you are having trouble is you are thinking about it the wrong way."

Whew! you are right about that. I was thinking of 6/8 in the same way as 4/4 where the beat value is a quarter-note. Now I'm just learning that in 6/8 time, Which is refered to as compound time, that the note value is a dotted quarter-note??? Someone please tell me if that's right because it changes everthing and I've been playing 6/8 time all wrong. My teacher, who I'm paying $40 an hour, went over 6/8 time but NEVER mentioned that little tid bit. I was counting 6 beats per measure instead of 2 beats per measure and then wondering why I was getting behind in band rehersal when a multiple measure rest came up in the music. Well thank God for Wikapedia and this forum.

A conductor may give you a "1" count for ever doted quarter. Example 3/8=1/4 just as if you were playing a triplet.

I hope things clear things up a little.

Phineas

[sinebar]

Sinbar

6/8 is not quite like 3/4 6/8 is actually closer to 2/4. The reason you are having trouble is you are thinking about it the wrong way. Instead of thinking in straight 8th notes, think 2 triplets. 123 on the first count, 456 on the second.

Once you get the feel of it, you will see why the composer did it that way. It is easier to write in 3/8, 6/8, 9/8, or 12/8 then to write a piece in 1/4, 2/4, 3/4, or 4/4 with a bunch of triplets.

I hope this helps.

Phineas

I'm a lot better off now than I was. Thanks!

"The reason you are having trouble is you are thinking about it the wrong way."

Whew! you are right about that. I was thinking of 6/8 in the same way as 4/4 where the beat value is a quarter-note. Now I'm just learning that in 6/8 time, Which is refered to as compound time, that the note value is a dotted quarter-note??? Someone please tell me if that's right because it changes everthing and I've been playing 6/8 time all wrong. My teacher, who I'm paying $40 an hour, went over 6/8 time but NEVER mentioned that little tid bit. I was counting 6 beats per measure instead of 2 beats per measure and then wondering why I was getting behind in band rehersal when a multiple measure rest came up in the music. Well thank God for Wikapedia and this forum.

A conductor may give you a "1" count for ever doted quarter. Example 3/8=1/4 just as if you were playing a triplet.

I hope things clear things up a little.

Phineas