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That one took me a moment as well ... why is there a difference between 2/2 and 4/4, or 6/8 and 3/4 ...
It started to make sense once I saw it as an abstraction. It denotes a certain emphasis on certain notes that would look really awkward and hard to read if it was repetitively written out for every note (not that I can really read music anyway).
I have a much harder time with harmony theory ... like, I get that some successions have a "resolving" feel but other than that I never got why I shouldn't just jumble up pitches any way that sounds ok to me. Ultimately I decided that I'll spend my life composing music, deliberately ignoring harmony theory as material ...
Other things that elude me a mostly social nature ... like, some people are just amazing at striking up some or another deal or barter their way through life at a discount, simple because they connect well to people. I never got how they do that ... not sure whether it's something you can learn
Well the beauty of music is that you can do exactly this and it's fine.
Pretty much all "music theory" is Western-dominated anyway and far from all-encompassing.
There was a really good YouTube video about this a few years back, by I think Adam Neely. Let me see if I can dig it up.
Edit: here's the link - "Music Theory and White Supremacy"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kr3quGh7pJA
Very good video.
One thing this reminded me of is Bootsy Collins explaining funk. How when you're playing bass you put the root on the one. https://youtu.be/H2MMuNkCLZY
The time signature is about emphasis, and there are common ones. I've bolded and italicized big and small emphases on the beat numbers.
Common time: 1 2 3 4 , 1 2 3 4 ,... example peter gunn theme
Cut time: 1 2, 1 2, ... example stars and stripes forever
Waltz: 1 2 3, 1 2 3, ... example the blue danube
6/8: 1 2 3 4 5 6, 1 2 3 4 5 6,... example the wreck of the edmund fitzgerald
5/4: 1 2 3 4 5, 1 2 3 4 5,... example Mission Impossible theme
Some time signatures are very similar, like waltz and 6/8, the difference is where the emphasis is placed. Waltz has just one big, emphasis placed on the one, where 6/8 is also groups of three, but has a big emphasis on the 1 and a smaller emphasis on the 4th beat. An alternate way to count in 6/8 time is 1 2 3, 2 2 3; 1 2 3, 2 2 3;... which emphasizes how 6/8 time feels like two groupings of three, within one bar, with the biggest emphasis on the one.
This is the basic version -- composers will play with expectations and add their own accents on top, etc., so you won't always hear the emphasis as I described. Reasonable people might even disagree about whether a piece of music is better described by one time signature or another, because they can be so similar.
I was in band growing up and i also couldn't explain time signatures even though i was able to read music and play them; it is something you learn without necessarily being able to verbalize, since it is about how the music feels, based on subtle emphasis.
Adding my personal favorite, 7/8 time. (My wife and I bonded on our second date because we share the same favorite time signature…we’re dorks.) I love it because our brains are expecting an even number of beats, and since it’s missing just a single eighth note when the next measure begins it almost feels like the song is falling forward or rushing.
You CAN count it sequentially, but it’s much easier to count like this:
1 2 1 2 1 2 3
or
1 2 3 1 2 1 2
Or if the composer was feeling spicy, both alternating back and forth.
Example 1: I Am The Doctor Song begins in 7/8 time, it begins quarter quarter quarter eighth if you want help counting it.
Example 2: Subdivisions by Rush I count this one as beginning in 7/8 time, quarter quarter dotted quarter, and I especially love it because it seamlessly transitions into 4/4 time at about 19 seconds in.
Does money by Pink Floyd in 7-4 time feel significantly different to you than the other ones?
The difference between 7/4 and 7/8, in my mind, is one of pacing. Similar to how 4/2 and 4/4 are counted the same, but with different notation because the composer or engraver wanted to make the tempo intrinsic.
Money is a much slower song than the examples I gave, more of a laid-back pace, which shouts 7/4 in my mind. I still love it, but it feels more…I dunno, like walking with a jazzy gate rather than tripping forward, if that makes sense. And when Money does get faster it’s in 4/4.
Thanks that's a great explanation
Thank you! This actually makes sense
Well, we have a word for jumbling them up however you feel like: jazz 🙃
Okay, more serious response, at the end of the day it is all about having it sound good. No one's going to question why you did things a certain way, if it sounds good.
I try to see it more as a shortcut for making things sound good. It's just a set of known-good strategies that you can apply, if you feel like it.
Like a tube with premixed color. Yes, you can mix your own color, and many times it is necessary to get it just right, but sometimes you just know that a few dots of khaki are what you want.