by Seraphim Shinobi on September 16th, 2007

Seraphim Shinobi

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Is it possible to have 23/8 as a time signature in a song?

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  • by Takei-Shihan on September 16th, 2007

    Takei-Shihan

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    Selected by the asker, Seraphim Shinobi. (What's this?)

    YES.

    technically, you can set the song to any time you want ... the problems come when a listener tries to decide if they would call it musical, or when the musician tries to play at that beat ... I have heard some unusual progression patterns of tempo changes, and 23/8 may have been one of the tempos "passed through" ...

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  • by rustytheginge on June 17th, 2010

    rustytheginge

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    Yes it most certainly is!! Gorguts song Obscura off their album Obscura has 23/8 in it. The opening riff is one measure of 6/8 followed by a measure of 11/8 followed by another measure of 6/8 adding up to 23/8. I?t's very interesting sounding, especially when the guitarist (Steeve Hurdle) uses pick scrapes to accent.

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  • by Stillunion on July 5th, 2009

    Stillunion

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    Yes!!! it definitely is. You see the reason most pieces are written in smaller time signatures like 3/4, 4/4, 6/8, 5/4, 7/8, etc... is because for example lets say you had a piece in 16/8--well you could easily transpose it down to 4/2. But here comes the great catch with 23/8, it is a prime number so it can't be divided down to a smaller time signature. I wrote a riff in 23/8 yesterday and I think it's a great time signature...but it's really hard to follow. I think the best way to understand these larger time signatures is to construct them with an "internal pulse"--in example, to get a riff in 23/8, you could look at it like this, 7/8+7/8+6/8+3/8=23/8...it's kind of a big compound of time signatures just because it's such a large number. Anyway I hope that helps, and I hope you write some great music in 23/8.

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  • by supermegarockstar on September 22nd, 2007

    supermegarockstar

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    Yes, but what it actually may be is two measures of 4/4 followed by one measure of 7/8. 4/4=8 eight notes. Or to create a four bar phrase you could have 3 measures of 6/8 and one measure of 5/8. Depending on the feel of the phrase is how you divide the measures.

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  • by CuppyCake is actually missing Ohio... on December 18th, 2007

    CuppyCake is actually missing Ohio...

    All that really means is that there are 23 beats in a measure each getting the length of an 1/8 note. It means there are 23 1/8th notes in the measure. So, yes.

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  • by euphotic on September 26th, 2007

    euphotic

    Wikipedia has a "List of musical works in unusual time signatures".

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  • by Eclipse sleeping by moonlight on July 5th, 2009

    Eclipse sleeping by moonlight

    Yes, but usually the measures are broken up into things like triples or sevens. Like 8/8/7 or 8/3/8/4 or something like that.

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  • by dhcrazy333 on January 22nd, 2011

    dhcrazy333

    Yes, I played a song with my Jazz Combo at my high school in a 23/8 time signature. It was quite interesting.

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