- Hi, I'm Gareth Green,
and in this video, I'm going to talk about the difference
between two time signatures.
One is 3/4, and the other is 3/8.
So just a quick recap on what these two numbers
are telling us.
First of all,
the upper number tells us how many of something
we might find in the bar.
Not we might, but we will find in the bar.
So if we see three at the top,
well we know there are three somethings in every bar
or every measure of the music
and the lower numbers, tell us what those somethings are.
So I hope for now you can just accept from me
that if you see four as the lower number,
that's telling us that those somethings
are crotchet beats or quarter note beats.
So 3/4 means there are three crotchet beats
in every bar, every measure,
or three quarter note beats in every measure,
every bar of the piece.
3/8, well the eight is telling us
that we've now got eighth notes.
So 3/8, three eighth notes in every measure
or three quavers in every bar.
So that's the essential difference.
So you might say, well, that's all very well,
but is there really a difference then?
Let's just see what we can unpack, what this looks like.
So if I'm talking about 3/4, well,
here are my three crotchet beats
or my three quarter note beats.
There we are, that's a measure, a bar, of 3/4.
Let's have a bar or a measure of 3/8.
So here come my three eighth notes or my three quavers.
There's the bar or the measure.
So really it all looks the same, but here,
here are my beats one, two, three
one on each crotchet or each quarter note.
Here, one, two, three, one on each quaver
or each eighth note.
Now sometimes there's a little confusion with 3/8,
and I just want to mop this one up.
Lots of people will know about simple time
and compound time.
So they'll have come across times signatures like
6/8, 9/8, 12/8,
because any time signature with six,
nine or twelve at the top
is what we call a compound time.
Anything with two, three or four at the top,
is a simple time.
Now a lot of people get this confused though,
because in 6/8, this is what we call a compound time.
So let me just write out
the fact that you've got six quavers or six eighth notes.
And in compound time, we organise things in groups of three.
So in fact, two groups of three,
throws up two dotted quarter note beats
or two dotted crotchet beats.
9/8 on the same principle
is going to throw up three of these beats.
So here come nine quavers
or nine eighth notes.
I'm going to organise them in groups of three.
And that gives me my beat.
So I've got three dotted quarter note beats,
or three dotted crotchet beats.
In 12/8, here come my twelve quavers,
this will take a while.
Let's put them in groups of three,
one, two, three,
four, five, six
seven, eight, nine,
ten, eleven, twelve.
Organise them into groups of three again, here we go.
And you can see again,
this time I've got four dotted quarter note beats
or four dotted crotchet beats.
So that's how compound time works.
Whenever you have six, nine or twelve at the top,
you'll put down what that means.
So six quavers, six eighth notes,
nine quavers, twelve quavers, whatever.
And then you'll put them in groups of three,
and that will give you the beat.
So in 6/8, you've got two beats,
in 9/8, you've got three beats,
in 12/8, you've got four beats.
So we say that 6/8 is a compound duple.
It's compound because we're breaking into groups of three.
It's duple because there are two beats.
9/8 is compound triple,
12/8 is compound quadruple.
So some people then think, oh, well in that case,
3/8 must be another one of these.
So it must be something like this,
where we've got all that in one beat.
And it's a sort of compound uno or something.
Absolutely not.
There's a sort of logic about that,
but it doesn't work like that
because anything with two, three or four,
as the upper number is a simple time.
So because three is at the top,
it's not a compound uno time
because it's a bit odd to have a time where there's
one beat in every bar.
Can you imagine a piece that's going
one, one, one, one
all the way to the piece.
It's just going to be like a hammer
being driven into the ground, isn't it.
So you can't really do that.
If you've got two beats, well the first beat can be strong,
the second beat can be weak.
So in 6/8 you've got,
one, two, three, four, five, six
one, two, three, four, five, six.
You get a strong beat, you get a weak beat,
it makes music much more interesting.
So you can't really just have one beat thumping at you.
So 3/8, because it's got three at the top,
it's still giving us three beats in a bar.
So interesting, the difference between 3/4
and 3/8 is mathematically, they're different,
but musically, actually they're quite similar.
So it's kind of down to a composer really,
as to how they want to write something.
If I write a piece of music in 3/4,
three crotchets at a bar, could sound like this,
but I'm writing crotchet beats, quarter note beats,
one, two, three,
one, two, three.
Well, I could sort of write that piece in 3/8,
but this time writing quavers or eighth notes.
One, two, three,
one, two, three,
one, two, three.
Sometimes music in 3/8 goes a little bit faster.
So you sort of see that you've got
slightly blacker looking music if you like.
You've got more quavers and semiquavers,
more eighth notes and sixteenth notes
because you're writing in 3/8.
So sometimes that sort of encourages
a slightly faster tempo.
So some composers,
when they want to go slightly quicker,
will write in 3/8.
If you want to go at a slightly more sedate pace,
maybe you write in 3/4.
But actually in a funny sort of way, musically,
there's not a kind of huge difference.
Whereas in sometimes time signatures differences
there's a big musical difference,
but mathematically they're the same.
Here, mathematically they're different,
but musically they're somewhat closer to each other.
So it's an interesting one, isn't it?
The difference between 3/4 and 3/8.
So it's really down to the composer
to decide whether they'd rather write in 3/4
or in 3/8.
One thing you find as a composer
is that the score will look less congested in 3/4
than it does in 3/8,
because in 3/8,
you're going to write lots of quavers and semiquavers.
So the eighth notes and the sixteenth notes
are going to be all over the place.
Whereas in 3/4,
you might be writing crotchets and minims,
the quarter notes on the half notes.
So it might look less congested, less complicated to read,
but it's good to be able to read as happily in 3/8
as in 3/4.
And of course you can extend the same principle.
I mean, we can go for example, to 3/16,
well, that would look like this, wouldn't it,
where we would have three semiquavers in a bar
three sixteenth notes in every measure,
but it's the same principle and whatever it is,
if you've got three at the top, it's not a compound time.
So don't think, oh, twelve, nine, six, three.
It sort of feels logical, mathematically,
but it doesn't work musically
because you only end up with one beat.
So if it's got two, three or four at the top,
it's simple time.
If it's got six, nine or twelve at the top,
it's compound time,
but this is how it works out,
3/4, 3/8, 3/16.
So I hope you can see how that works in practise.
And you'll find examples in music
in 3/4, 3/8, and indeed in 3/16.
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