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by armoreddragon on April 6th, 2005

armoreddragon

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What is 6/8 in the key signature mean?

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Answers. 8 helpful answers below.

  • by Aminor on June 9th, 2005

    Aminor

    Not what you'd think. Mathematically, it should mean that there are six beats to a bar and an eighth note gets one beat, but that's not true. 6/8 time, unless it's extremely slow, is always felt and conducted as two beats per bar, each consisting of a three-note group -- like a triplet (although a triplet is really something else). So a bar of 6/8 is not
    ONE-TWO-THREE-FOUR-FIVE-SIX, but rather
    ONEtwothree FOURfivesix.
    Think two waltz measures per bar, but with the accent on one not as strong as in 3/4; feel a more even distribution of impulse, with an accent on one and a secondary accent on four.

    The perfect example: Norwegian Wood. It's published as 3/4, but that will have been some assistant editor in a publishing house (McCartney didn't read music, at least not then). But in fact it's a perfect 6/8, triples in double pulses (each of the following lines is a measure, with the beats falling on the capitalized words; double hypen is an eighth rest):

    SHOWED me her . . . ROOM and she
    TOLD me to . . . SIT an - y
    WHERE -- -- . . . -- -- --
    -- -- -- . . . -- -- so
    I looked a- . . . ROUND and I
    NO ticed there . . . WAS-n't a
    CHAIR . . . etc.

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  • by yup. on July 2nd, 2006

    yup.

    A short answer: the equivalent of six eighth notes in a measure.

    It's called a compound meter. In the case of 6/8 time, notes are beamed together to form 1.5 beats. For example, a bar with six eighth notes will be beamed as 2 groups of 3 eighth notes. in 3/4 time, on the other hand, notes are beamed together to form 1 beat. So, in the six eighth-note phrase, the eighth-notes are beamed as 3 groups of 2.

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  • by virtukid on May 13th, 2006

    virtukid

    First of all 6/8 would be in the time signiture. Not the key signiture

    Simply what 6/8 time is, a different waltz pattern, like 3/4, 6/8. and 12/8 time.

    Six is the Number of beats per measure. This will feel like a triplet (because of the waltz feel). The 8 means what kind of note gets one beat. Which is the eighth note, the strong beats will be on the first beat and the second beat, because of the triplet waltzy feel.

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  • by mister_c on April 10th, 2005

    mister_c

    The top number refers to the number of beats in a bar, in this case 6.

    The lower number refers to the length of each beat. In this case the 8 indicates eighth-notes (quavers). 4 would be a quarter-notes (crotchets) and 2 would be half-notes (minims).

    The 6/8 rhythm is very distinctive as it can counted as two distinct groups of triplets, like so:

    1 2 3 4 5 6
    1____2

    with the accent on each first note of a three note group.

    This is the classical definition, however in rock music the phrasing is more likely to be separated into two groups of 6 with 4 rhythm units:

    1 2 3 4 5 6__1 2 3 4 5 6
    1____2_____3____4

    By the way, this is not a key signature this is a "time signature".

    Edit: Comments well taken. I have ammended my answer. I was approaching the answer more from a informal rock point of view than a formal classical one.

    Edit: Answers101, you are commenting on an answer that USED TO BE WRONG but has now been ammended. Perhaps you'd like to tell me what is wrong about it now?

    Or perhaps you would like to withdraw your comment and stop giving me maliciously bad ratings before I report you to the Answerbag administrators.

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  • by Anonymous on April 6th, 2005

    Anonymous

      It means that each measure contains 6 beats, and that an 1/8 note gets one beat.

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  • by Michael-Appleyard on March 13th, 2007

    Michael-Appleyard

    six beats per measure and an eighth note gets one beat. so i am learning in choir... please correct me if i am wrong.

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  • by Gabstar on October 27th, 2009

    Gabstar

    the only thing i can add is it is 'compound duple' time :P 6 quavers in a bar with accents on 1 and 4 :)

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  • by ViciousKoalaBear on November 11th, 2009

    ViciousKoalaBear

    The other people here did a great job of explaining how 6/8 is played and conducted, but there is an easy way to determine how to play any key signature....

    6/8 means that there are 6 eighth notes in the measure.

    4/4 means that there are 4 quarter notes in the measure.

    3/4 means that there are 3 quarter notes in the measure.

    12/8 means that there are 12 eighth notes in the measure.


    Technically, the composer can write rhythms in any way he desires, making the subdivisions different, but like everyone here said, 6/8 is most commonly felt as a triple meter in 2.

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