Time signatures help Musicians to understand how to start solving the riddle of reading the music.
The top figure of a Time Signature tells the player how the beats are measured.
The top figure tells you which Accent Beat to clap to give you a feeling of the Time Pattern or Meter.
- 2 at the top means beats are measured into groups that equal 2 beats.
- 3 at the top means beats are measured into groups that equal 3 beats.
- 4 at the top means beats are measured into groups that equal 4 beats.
There are many other ‘meters’ but the top figure will always tell a player how many beats are in each group of beats.
The groups are often called bars.
Sometimes they are called measures.