Question RE time signatures

Bob-Dubery

Hi all,

Last night the Better 5/8 and I were watching "Strictly Come Dancing". At some point a couple came out and started waltzing to "When A Man Loves A Woman". This puzzled because I'd never thought of it as being in Waltz time.

In fact it seemed to me that there were two ways that you count this song - certainly the way the band in the studio played it.

One was as a slowish 4/4. Indeed the snare drum was coming down on the 2 and the 4 beats as you'd expect in a 4/4 pop tune.

But you could count it in threes. Sort of threes within the fours.

1 2 3 2 2 3 3 2 3 4 2 3 and so on. The red beats are the ones on which the snare was coming down, just like the back beat in a 4/4 piece.

However you had to count it in what I can only describe 4 by 3. If I tried to count it
1 2 3 2 2 3 3 2 3 1 2 3
the that didn't work. Partly because the snare had now moved from the two beat to the one and three (and would move back again), but it just generally didn't fit with the song.

So I don't think this is 3/4 time, but what is it?

DonovanB

Bob it's actually triplets.

As in fractions you get a lowest common denominator, so 3/4 and 4/4 would meet again every 12 beats. and you hit it dead right,

1 2 3 2 2 3 3 2 3 4 2 3

but some would count that in triplets like

1 -and-a-2-and-a...

The Toto song Hold the line is like that as well, the piano bit starts out in what might be 6/8, but the guitar overlaps in 4/4.

A drummer and I used to practice different timings like we would start out playing 5/4, then he would play 4/4 an dcome back to 5/4 and I would change to something else. It's all about fractions and learning to fit the different times into one another.

Bob-Dubery

DonovanB wrote: Bob it's actually triplets.

I thought about that. Interesting that you can waltz to it. In this case the song is quite slow so instead of dancing to a regular 3/4 you are actually dancing to the triplets within the bar.

But is it triplets? Because now you have to have the triplets in EVERY beat of EVERY bar. Well, if you want to waltz to it. So this is why I was thinking that maybe this is a specific time signature or something that has a name.

Thanks

Bob

DonovanB

From what I've seen, traditionally triplets span across 2 beats. I've then also seen "quarter note triplets" (music teachers must hate my simple dialect..) that are 3 notes in the space of one beat.

PeteM

I reckon it's slow 6/8 with a cut common feel and would count it thus:
1.... 2.... 123456 (I wouldn't actually verbalise the 6 since the melody leads in on the 6th beat. My 2c worth.