History Main / CommonTime

For some reason, 4/4 time is used in the overwhelming majority of rock and pop songs, to the point that it gives an impression of no other time signatures existing. A well-known joke among jazz bands is about a newbie trying (and failing) to read a piece written in 7/8 time, counting the beats "one - two - three - four - five - six - se - ven," being all too accustomed to 4/4 time. Classical music is rather more diverse in meter, with 2/2 ('Cut time'), 3/8, 6/8, and 3/4 being quite common.

** 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.)

* Old British Broadsides are usually written down in mixed time signatures, reflecting the singer's personal style. This led to Percy Grainger recoring pieces in fractional time signatures - i.e. two-and-a-half quavers (quarters) to the measure.

* Movies often use variants on 3/4 for "epic" tunes. Think of the ''PiratesOfTheCaribbean'' and ''Film/HarryPotter'' themes.

* Movies often use variants on 3/4 for "epic" tunes. Think of the ''PiratesOfTheCaribbean'' and ''HarryPotter'' themes.

->'''Jordan Raskopoulos''': ''Let me get this straight, Chicken Little. What you're trying to say is that you can take those four chords, repeat them, and pump out every pop song ever. Is that what you're saying?''
->'''Benny Davis''': ''Yeah.''
->'''Jordan Raskopoulos''': ''Fuck off.''
-->-- The Axis of Awesome, intro to ''[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pidokakU4I 4 Chord Song]]''

* Discussed and demonstrated by the Axis of Awesome in their [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pidokakU4I 4 Chord Song]].

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

* RichardWagner's "Music/RideOfTheValkyries" is in 9/8.

<<|MusicTropes|>>

* {{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.

* 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 Mega Man X2 (a combination of 6, 7, and 8 to a bar, changing at different points) and Blizzard Buffalo from Mega Man X3 (3 beats to a bar).

* Most of the music from the entire Game/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 Mega Man X2 (a combination of 6, 7, and 8 to a bar, changing at different points) and Blizzard Buffalo from Mega Man X3 (3 beats to a bar).

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 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?

* RichardWagner's "RideOfTheValkyries" is in 9/8.

* 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.

* 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 (to this troper's best guess) 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.

* As with JethroTull, a lot of prog rock (in many cases drawing on Brubeck or on classical music) is in UncommonTime. For instance, the ''[[{{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 the groups of 3, "Apocalypse in 9/8" is divided as 4+3+2/8

For some reason, 4/4 time is used in the overwhelming majority of rock and pop songs, to the point that it gives an impression of no other time signatures existing. A well-known joke among jazz bands is about a newbie trying (and failing) to read a piece written in 7/8 time, counting the beats "one - two - three - four - five - six - se - ven," being all-too accustomed to 4/4 time. Classical music is rather more diverse in meter, with 2/2 ('Cut time'), 3/8, 6/8, and 3/4 being quite common.

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 so common that the notes are pretty much named for it. Why else would a 'whole note' be four beats and everything else taken as fractions?

* Most of the music from the entire 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 Mega Man X2 (a combination of 6, 7, and 8 to a bar, changing at different points) and Blizzard Buffalo from Mega Man X3 (3 beats to a bar).

-->I learned from ''{{Achewood}}'' that since this poem [Because I could not stop for Death] is in ballad meter, it can be sung to the tune of ''GilligansIsland''. Since then, [[EarWorm try as I might]], I haven't ONCE been able to read it normally. \\
--{{xkcd}}, "[[http://xkcd.com/788/ The Carriage]]"