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by camjam on April 21st, 2005

camjam

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In music, why do they have cut-time when they can just write the music in common time?

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  • by Aminor on June 9th, 2005

    Aminor

    It has to do with the difference between rhythm and pulsation, between the count and the beat. Cut time looks at first glance like 4/4, but it's really 2/2, felt and conducted in two beats per measure, not four, because of the tempo and the assignment of single pulsations to half notes. Listen to a Sousa march and try to count it in four -- just doesn't work (and of course you would march to it at two beats per measure). So why can't such music just be written in 2/4? It can be, and many marches are, with all the note values half of the cut time equivalent. But that's not always convenient, or just not the way the composer felt the situation. And there are almost certainly historical reasons I don't know -- that's almost always true when we come to ask why music notation is one way rather than another.

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    • Thanks. The convenience factor makes sense.

      camjam

      by camjam on March 24th, 2007

    • Good answer, though in the second line you mean 2/4, not 2/2. The latter would be two half notes per measure.

      Aristocles

      by Aristocles on April 17th, 2007

    • no, (in regards to Aristocles) cut time is 2/2. Two half notes per measure and each one getting one beat. Instead of the quarter note getting one beat in 4/4 its the half note getting one beat in 2/2. Same amount of notes in both signatures, its the way its counted and felt that makes the difference.

      supermegarockstar

      by supermegarockstar on September 20th, 2007

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