History Main / CommonTime

Not to be confused with the poetic rhythm of CommonMeter.

For exceptions, see UncommonTime.

Listing examples here is rather pointless.

Listing examples here is [[CaptainObvious rather pointless]].

In music, Common Time refers to the 4/4 time signature. It means that each bar (measure) of music has four beats and that a beat is equal to a quarter note. It's so common that the notes (in American English at least) are pretty much named for it. Why else would a 'whole note' be four beats and everything else taken as fractions?

For exceptions, see UncommonTime.

Listing examples here is [[CaptainObvious rather pointless]]. Rather, list the exceptions. It's just as pointless to list 6/8, 2/2 or 3/4, which are less common but just as unremarkable.

For more remarkable exceptions, see UncommonTime.
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!!Exceptions:
* Most of the Medieval music is in 6/8 time.
* Many of J-rock artist Miyuki Nakajima's songs are in 12/8 time: The beginning of "Massugu na Sen," "Itsutsu no Koro," and "Wasurerareru Mono Naraba", "Yasuko no Kutsu", "Doko ni Ite mo", "Hitori", "Revival", "Konban'wa" (12/8), "Tsuyoi Kaze wa Itsumo". "Akai Kawa" from ''Tsuki-wings'' is one of the more unusual examples, in 5/4.
* The musical ''A Little Night Music'' is a full-scale aversion. StephenSondheim wrote most of the songs in 3/4, 6/8 or 3/2; "Send In The Clowns" is mostly in 12/8. The CutSong "Two Fairy Tales" is the only song in Common Time.
* Music/LedZeppelin were one of the earliest rock bands to deviate from common time, laying down the groundwork for metal bands for years to come. Sometimes, they were very subtle about it: the pre-guitar-solo section of "Stairway to Heaven", which is entirely in 4/4, is played in such a way that a lot of people perceive it as changing between 4/4, 3/4, 5/4 and 9/8, in that order (one way to understand it properly can be found [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXCXqsidPzg here]]). Other times they were very blatant, such as in their song "The Ocean" which constantly switches between 7/8 and common. Notably, "Black Dog" was written by bassist John Paul Jones to have lots of time signature changes, but drummer John Bonham ignored this and played the whole song in common time. It shows.
** Which actually makes the song ''harder'' to play as one really doesn't follow the rhythm. Yet it works!
* Very, very many hymns are in 3/2 or 9/8. Many older ones are either in combined signatures (such as 6/4 + 4/4 combos) or in no set time signature at all. "Blessed Assurance," for instance, is in 9/8, and "O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing" is in 3/2.
** 9/8 time has a numerological/religious significance for hymns. Three is considered a holy number, as it represents the Trinity, and thus three times three (=9) represents divine perfection. Three times three is often woven into other aspects of the structure of hymns and plainchants as well.
* ''[[OminousLatinChanting O Fortuna]]'' begins in 6/2 time, but is mainly in 3/2.
* Creator/RichardWagner's "Music/RideOfTheValkyries" is in 9/8.
** Unusually for an opera, ''Theatre/{{Lohengrin}}'' comes close to being ''entirely'' in Common Time, the exception being the chorale preceding the duel. (The famous Bridal Chorus is in 2/4, but that's too similar)
* The "Mars" section of Gustav Holst's orchestral suite ''The Planets'' is 5/4.
* Except for the 4/4 bridge, "Electric Feel" by [=MGMT=] was in 6/4. Luckily for all those [[SpeedyTechnoRemake happy remixing people]], it can be shoehorned into 4/4.
* Music/{{Gorillaz}} played around with this in [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tAEqUQ210M at least one song,]] with drums in 4/4 and everything else in 5/4, occasionally switching to 4/4.
* Music/MartinaMcBride's "A Broken Wing" is in 12/8, which is basically 4/4 in jazz triplets.
* JoannaNewsom uses this often. "Only Skin"'s main melody is in 12/8, but there are sections in 9/8, 3/4, and yes, Common Time. And that's not counting the isolated bars of 6/4. (The song's seventeen minutes long.)
* Dave Brubeck's jazz albums ''Time Out'', ''Time Further Out'' and ''Countdown'' were based on averting this trope, with various types of UncommonTime used.
* Jazz pianist David Benoit makes a point of having at least one composition per album use something other than common-time. Usually it'll be 7/8.
* While the chorus of Music/TheBeatles' "All You Need is Love" is in Common Time, the verses are all in 7/8.
* [[JethroTull Happy and I'm / Smiling, Walking / Miles to drink your / water...]]
** Living in the Past (5/4 time) isn't the only example of Jethro Tull using odd time signatures, but it's the most easily recognized. Other examples are:
*** The second 'movement' of Thick as a Brick - 5/8 time ("See there! A man is born...")
* Most of the music from the entire VideoGame/MegaMan series is in 4/4 time, or an equivalent such as 2/2 or 8/8 (which is almost audibly indistinguishable anyway). However, a select few tracks are in other time signatures, such as Crystal Snail's theme from ''VideoGame/MegaManX 2'' (a combination of 6, 7, and 8 to a bar, changing at different points) and Blizzard Buffalo from ''X3'' (3 beats to a bar).
* As with JethroTull, a lot of prog rock (in many cases drawing on Brubeck or on classical music) is in UncommonTime. For instance, the ''[[Music/{{Genesis}} Supper's Ready]]'' segment "Apocalypse in 9/8" is [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin precisely what its name says]].
** And unlike standard 9/8, which is divided into 3 groups of 3, "Apocalypse in 9/8" is divided as 4+3+2/8
* In the Royal Conservatory of Music's grade eight repertoire, there is a song titled "O Moon", which completely lacks any time signature for a large portion of the piece.
* Old British Broadsides are usually written down in mixed time signatures, reflecting the singer's personal style. This led to Percy Grainger (who tended to be kind of a troll about this sort of thing) rescoring pieces in fractional time signatures - i.e. two-and-a-half quavers (quarters) to the measure (i.e. 5/8).
* Try playing "guess the time signature" with Dream Theater music. By the time you think you found it, it changes again.
* Calgary indie rock band Women are rather fond of odd time signatures. They have songs in 13/8 and 7/4, and "Shaking Hand" has an opening riff that cycles through one bar in 13/8 and two bars of 4/4, and a closing section that cycles through one bar each of 3/4, 5/8, 3/4, 3/4, and 3/8.
* The beginning of the ''Film/MissionImpossible'' theme is 5/4. The original [[Series/MissionImpossible 1966 version]] is entirely in 5/4.
* So is "Everything's Alright" from ''JesusChristSuperstar''.
* Hollywood Movies often use variants on 3/4 for "epic" tunes. Think of the ''PiratesOfTheCaribbean'' and ''Film/HarryPotter'' themes.
* The InstrumentalThemeTune to ''Series/{{Cranford}}'' is in 4/4, but when it shows up for a ThemeTuneCameo at the end of the last episode, it's in 3/4 time.
* IronMaiden make often use of interesting times. ''Brighter than a thousand Suns'' or ''Alexander the great'' have their main riffs in 7/8. They often use 6/8 times (often for I-V-I'-V-I'-V arpeggios) and like to switch between several times during single songs.
* "America" from ''WestSideStory'' is in 6/8+3/4. It is commonly re-scored into 6/8 for less awesome conductors than LeonardBernstein.
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* Music/{{Gorillaz}} played around with this in [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tAEqUQ210M at least one song]], with drums in 4/4 and everything else in 5/4, occasionally switching to 4/4.

* Music/LedZeppelin were one of the earliest rock bands to deviate from common time, laying down the groundwork for metal bands for years to come. Sometimes, they were very subtle about it: most people miss the extra beat they add in to the pre-guitar-solo section of "Stairway to Heaven" (which is actually entirely in 4/4, however due to the way it's syncopated, it sounds like it's changing between 4/4, 3/4 and 5/4. One way to understand it can be found [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXCXqsidPzg here]]). Other times they were very blatant, such as in their song "The Ocean" which constantly switches between 7/8 and common. Notably, "Black Dog" was written by bassist John Paul Jones to have lots of time signature changes, but drummer John Bonham ignored this and played the whole song in common time. It shows.

In music, CommonTime refers to the 4/4 time signature. It means that each bar (measure) of music has four beats and that a beat is equal to a quarter note. It's so common that the notes (in American English at least) are pretty much named for it. Why else would a 'whole note' be four beats and everything else taken as fractions?

** Unusually for an opera, ''Theatre/{{Lohengrin}}'' comes close to being ''entirely'' in CommonTime, the exception being the chorale preceding the duel. (The famous Bridal Chorus is in 2/4, but that's too similar)

* While the chorus of Music/TheBeatles' "All You Need is Love" is in CommonTime, the verses are all in 7/8.

* Music/LedZeppelin were one of the earliest rock bands to deviate from common time, laying down the groundwork for metal bands for years to come. Sometimes, they were very subtle about it: most people miss the extra beat they add in to the pre-guitar-solo section of "Stairway to Heaven." Other times they were very blatant, such as in their song "The Ocean" which constantly switches between 7/8 and common. Notably, "Black Dog" was written by bassist John Paul Jones to have lots of time signature changes, but drummer John Bonham ignored this and played the whole song in Common Time. It shows.

* The beginning of the ''MissionImpossible'' theme is 5/4.

* Martina [=McBride=]'s "A Broken Wing" is in 12/8, which is basically 4/4 in jazz triplets.

** Unusually for an opera, ''Lohengrin'' comes close to being ''entirely'' in CommonTime, the exception being the chorale preceding the duel. (The famous Bridal Chorus is in 2/4, but that's too similar)