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Line 1: {{trope}} [[File:~~time_signatures_3476~~time signatures 3476.jpg\|frame\|[[Dream Theater ~~(Music)~~\|Mike Portnoy]] going over the time signatures to [[Crowning Music of Awesome\|"The Dance of Eternity."]] Or as he likes to call it, [[But for Me It Was Tuesday\|just another Dream Theater song]].]] Line 7: In music, the most encountered time signature is 4/4, boring old [[Common Time]]. There's also 2/4 and 2/2, "cut time," which aren't too much different - all the bars still divide evenly into two. 3/4, sometimes called "Waltz Time", is also fairly intuitive- if you've ever been taught to dance by counting "step, two, three, step, two, three" then you know how it works. You can start mixing the twos up with threes and get 6/4, 3/2, 6/8, 9/8 and such, which don't have the same rhythms as [[Common Time]], but can still be counted out fairly easily. Music in Uncommon Time, however, does away with regular meters, and instead opts for totally unconventional rhythms that mix twos and threes with abandon. This can be done by choosing an oddball time signature such as 5/4 or 7/8 that can't be divided regularly into twos and threes, and/or by switching time signatures rapidly and seemingly at random. See also [[The Other Wiki]]'s [~~http://en.~~[wikipedia~~.org/wiki/List_of_musical_works_in_unusual_time_signatures~~:List of musical works in unusual time signatures\|list of musical works in unusual time signatures]]. '''How Time Signatures Work''' ~~The [[Useful Notes]] section of the trope:~~ * The "top" number of a time signature indicates how many beats are in a measure, and the bottom number indicates the length of the beat, as determined by how many multiples of the beat make up a semibreve (whole note). For example, a 4/4 time signature means "four beats per measure, counted in quarter notes." As such, the top number is usually what makes a difference: a song that's in 4/4 will sound more-or-less the same as a song that's in 4/2 because both of them go "one two three four", even though it'll ''look'' longer on paper. Likewise, a song in 4/4 is ''not'' the same as a song in 2/2, because while each measure has the same "duration" (4 x 0.25 versus 2 x 0.5), a 2/2 song only has two ''beats'' ([https://web.archive.org/web/20131112131845/http://www.homestarrunner.com/onetwo.html "One, Two, One, Two..."]). (And "duration" is a relative term anyhow since a song in 4/4 can be played super-slow and a song in 2/2 super-fast, or vice-versa.) * Time signatures are conventionally divided into simple, compound, and irregular. In a simple time signature, each beat is subdivided into ''two'' ~~-- thus~~—thus, a simple duple meter might be 2/4 ('''1''' and '''2''' and) and a simple triple meter might be 3/4 ('''1''' and '''2''' and '''3''' and). In a compound time signature, each beat is subdivided into ''three'' ~~-- compound~~—compound duple meter being '''1''' and a '''2''' and a, complex triple being '''1''' and a '''2''' and a '''3''' and a, etc. These time signatures are often written as 3/8, 6/8, 9/8, etc, which may seem somewhat counterintuitive; a 6/8 bar is the same length as a 3/4 bar and may look visually similar, but they sound nothing alike. For audialization purposes it might help to divide top and bottom of a compound time signature by 3 -- 6/8 is more properly understood as 2/2.666..., but fractional notation never caught on. * Irregular time signatures are those that are not evenly divided, and as such fall within the purview of this trope. For example, 5/8 can be divided into 2 + 3 or 3 + 2. As a rule, any time signature where the top number is not a multiple of 2 or 3 will be irregular. There are, however, a number of regular-looking time signatures that are often irregularly divided: 8/8, for example, is commonly divided in folk music into 3 + 2 + 3 or 3 + 3 + 2. Sometimes these will be notated in the score, e.g. as 3+3+2/8, to avoid confusion. * Finally, there are irrational time signatures. These are time signatures in which the beat is a ~~tuplet -- i~~tuplet—i.e. an equal subdivision of the semibreve that is ''not'' divisible by two. For example, a piece may call for 4/5 -- four quintuplet crochets (where five quintuplets equal four regular crochets) per bar. Since this in practice means simply a brief increase in tempo by 120%, irrational time signatures are only useful as occasional, brief "[~~http~~[wikipedia:~~//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metric_modulation~~Metric modulation\|metric modulations]]" and rarely show up outside the most esoteric works of experimental music. There would be no point to writing a whole song in 4/5; you could as easily notate it in 4/4 at a hundred and twenty percent of the speed and without giving musicians huge headaches. * And there is music in no time signature at all, mostly written before 1600 (in the days of mensural notation). Also realize that a pattern of several different time signatures (such as 3 bars of 4/4 and one of 2/4) are not usually combined and called by the combined time (14/4 in the example given). This is mostly because musicians rely on bar lines as a visual navigation aid; very large measures are easy to get lost in (and hard to fit on a single piece of paper!). So although unique combinations of time signatures are [['''Uncommon Time]]''', your musicians will hate you if you combine them into something like 27/4. {{examples}} == Examples in Music Genres == === Christian === * Many ancient hymns and chants don't even use time signatures. As a result, some have really weird settings where each line might have, say, 4 1/2 beats. * Overall, it's become almost ridiculously common for modern hymn composers to jump all over the place with time signatures: Line 28 ⟶ 30: ** And many more of the newly composed tunes in the same book will lack time signatures entirely, but have bars that are obviously meant to be treated as something like 5/4 or 7/4 when all the other stanzas are 4/4. === Classical === * Josh Groban's "In Her Eyes" is 5/4 time. * [[Igor Stravinsky]] loved changing time signatures almost every measure. "[[The Rite of Spring]]" is a good example of him playing havoc with time signatures: "The Naming and Honoring of the Chosen One" changes, in consecutive measures, from 9/8 to 5/8 to 7/8 to 3/8 to 4/8 to 7/4 to 3/4. Line 48 ⟶ 50: * [[Enya]] commonly uses uncommon time signatures in her work, often switching them mid-song. "Book Of Days" changes time signature nearly every measure (4/4 to 3/2 to 5/4 to 2/4 to 5/4, etc...) except for the bridge which maintains the opening 4/4 time. * Percy Aldridge Granger put the third movement of Lincolnshire Posy into 2.5/4 and the 4th movement switches between 5/8 and 7/8. * The trope is [[Played With]] in ''4'33"'', in that [[John Cage]] wrote it [https://www.quora.com/The-score-for-John-Cages-famous-musical-piece-433-instructs-the-musicians-not-to-play-Given-that-musical-scores-are-apparently-available-for-this-piece-what-key-and-time-signatures-are-supplied?share=1 with no time signature at all.] === Country === * A common verse pattern in country music: Two 4/4 bars, a 2/4 bar and another 4/4 bar (or 2/2 and 1/2, respectively). "Just Might Have Her Radio On" by Trent Tomlinson is one example; [[Randy Travis]]' "If I Didn't Have You" and "A Different World" by Bucky Covington use the 2/2-2/2-1/2-2/2 variant. * Dennis Linde was fond of slipping 6/4 and 7/4 bars into his usually 4/4 songs, including "Janie Baker's Love Slave" and "Heaven Bound (I'm Ready)" by Shenandoah; "Night Is Fallin' in My Heart" by Diamond Rio; "Down in a Ditch" by Joe Diffie; etc. * "Music on the Wind" by Suzy Bogguss is in 5/4 time. === Electronic === * Electronic music giants Autechre sometimes delve into unusual time signatures - "Drane" from ''Peel Session'' and "Cichli" from ''Chiastic Slide'' are in 10/4, while "777" from ''LP5'' is 7/8. The melody from "Slip on Amber" also seems to follow an odd signature. Inexplicably, ''Confield'', which is probably one of the weirdest albums in the world, uses common time. Gantz Graf is also very confusing, which makes it hard for some to figure out it's in innocent common time all along. ** They also have an interesting variation on polyrhythms, which assumes a straight 4/4 rhythm and expected four measures throughout the track, except for the bass drum pattern which only follows ''three'' measures, leading to interesting combinations. Listen to "Rotar" from ''Tri Repetae'' and "Cichli" from ''Chiastic Slide'' for examples. Line 60 ⟶ 63: * [[Iamamiwhoami]]'s "u-2," part of the "To whom it may concern." series, is in 7/4 time. * [[Venetian Snares]] is the all-time king of this, having used it so much he damn near inverts it. How crazy does he get? "Nineteen 1319" is written in '''13/4 and 19/7''' time. For him, [[Common Time]] is the least common ~~signature--he~~signature—he prefers 7/4. He appears to have a follower in Scottish musician Acrnym. * "Polyrhythm" by [[Perfume (~~Music~~band)\|Perfume]]. The bridge has 5/8 and 6/8 (vocal parts) over 4/4 (the drumbeat), then to 3/2 after the vocal 'hiccups'; the low synth has a 7:6 polyrhythm. It was such a radical song for what is essentially an [[Idol Singer\|Idol Group]] that the company initially requested that the bridge be cut altogether. The song's composer (and [[Record Producer]]) Yasutaka Nakata saw that the song was allowed to stand as is (although a radio edit version was made in concession), and it became Perfume's first top ten hit. * The aforementioned [[Autechre]] and [[Venetian Snares]] have actually collaborated on a track titled "Elephant Gear" under the alias "AEVSVS" as part of a compilation of tracks in memory of Elektron co-founder Daniel Hansson. Naturally, the track was in uncommon time, specifically 5/4. * The song "Good-N-Evil" from [[Traci Lords]]' album "1000 Fires" is a 7/8 song given a four-on-the-floor rhythm, which makes the meter sound like 3.5/4. * The title track of Lazerhawk's ''Visitors'' has a 5/4 bassline against a 4/4 beat, while "The Voyage" alternates between 37/8 and 4/4, basically the "Tubular Bells" rhythm minus a half-beat. "Punchinello" by Mr. 76ix is in 14/16, which is not the same as 7/8 since it is divided differently: 2/4 + 23/16 rather than 2/4 +3/8. === Folk and Blues === [[Vienna Teng]]'s "[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTdQRtU5O_I Harbor]", which is in 5/8 when it's not in 6/8, 3+3+2/8 (which is ''not'' the same as 8/8 due to the location of the stresses) or 7/8. ** A lesser-known but better example is "Signal Fire", ostensibly a 5/4 piece that changes meter at the drop of a hat. Line 75 ⟶ 79: * [[Sufjan Stevens]] loves this trope. You'll hear it several times per album, sometimes even per ''song''. * Bert Jansch was notorious for fitting the music to his lyrics, rather than the more common lyrics to music. As a result many of his songs veer off wildly into odd time signatures just for that one line, with little logic or reason aside from "it sounds better". * For added fun, the [[Leo Kottke]] and [[Phish\|Mike Gordon]] song "[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lY53bimDooE The Collins Missile]" has the vocals in 4/4 but the music in 5/4, such that the point at which the vocals come in constantly shifts. === Hip Hop === * Done rather oddly with the [[Gorillaz]] song "5/4" - the opening guitar riff is, indeed, [[Exactly What It Says Onon the Tin\|in 5/4 time]], but when the drums kick in they are in a much slower 4/4 time, so that the measures are of identical length. * [[Eminem]]'s "Underground" is in 5/8. === Jazz === * The "time studies" of the Dave Brubeck Quartet use unconventional time signatures. "Take Five", "Countdown" and "Castilian Blues" are in 5/4; "Three's A Crowd" and "Unsquare Dance" are in 7/4; "Eleven Four" is [[Exactly What It Says Onon the Tin]] (to be more precise, [3+ 2+ 3+ 3]/4). The outer sections of "Blue Rondo A La Turk" are in [2+ 2+ 2+ 3]/8 (the improvised middle section is in [[Common Time]]). "Three To Get Ready" alternates between 3/4 and 4/4 every two bars. "Take Five" is both the [[Ur Example]] of this trope in pop music (coming a decade or more before [[Prog Rock]] and even the Beatles' temporal experiments) and the [[Trope Maker]] for a new genre of jazz: despite the [[Uncommon Time]], its rhythm is simple enough that a ''lot'' of jazz songs have copied it since. [[Seinfeld Is Unfunny\|In the '50s, this was groundbreaking.]] They did do a piece in 4/4 on one of those records, the joke being that the piece [[Mind Screw\|promptly turns into a waltz in 3/4]]. * It's actually worse than that -- "Kathy's Waltz" features a saxophone solo by Paul Desmond in waltz time with the drummer (Joe Morello) playing 6/8 behind him, then segues into a waltz-time piano solo by Brubeck that suddenly ''breaks into a 4/4 swing'' right in the middle, with Eugene Wright playing bass in 3/4 while Morello continues to play 6/8... [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9qgI95n6rM it has to be heard to be believed.] * Jazz musician and arranger Don Ellis was known for his use of unorthodox time signatures. His ''Electric Bath'' album featured charts in 5/4 ("Indian Lady"), 7/4 ("Turkish Bath"), and 17/4 ("New Horizons"). A later chart, "Niner Two" is [[Exactly What It Says Onon the Tin]]. ** As is "33 222 1 222", in 19/4. {{quote\| "The first number we have is one that is based in what we call the 'traditional 19,' nineteen beats to the bar. Let me give you the subdivision here, it is 3-3-2-2-2-1-2-2-2. Of course, that's just the area code."}} * The Mahavishnu Orchestra's "Birds of Fire" off the album of the same name is in 9/8. * "Let Me Be Your Mirror" (by Hal David & Michel Legrand) is in 5/4. * Outsider jazz/classical composer Louis "Moondog" Hardin frequently experimented with [[Uncommon Time]]; he was quoted as saying "I'm not gonna die in 4/4." His chamber piece "[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRjiFrVbPm0 Chaconne in G Major]" features an unconventional method of stringing fours ~~together -- one~~together—one can make a case that the time signature is actually 8/4 or 16/8. ** His preferred method of working was to string together ''rounds'' in unconventional times. See "[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRjiFrVbPm0 All Is Loneliness"], which is performed in 5/4 (and was covered in 4/4, much to his annoyance, by Janis Joplin); or "[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akm8uVqe8pk Bumbo"] (first song in this link), which is in 4/4 but arranged in an unconventional three-bar measure. * Supersilent love ... ''unusual'' time signatures. I've asked many a classically trained musician to count the [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6-PlpmFc-c mid-section in 7.4] but few have dared. It's made all the more impressive by the fact that their entire catalogue is made up entirely of free improvisations being written on the spot, from scratch. They've never even played the same ''riff'' twice in 15 years together, let alone song, yet they still manage to modulate time signatures and polyrhythms on the fly. They are understandably tense and focused while playing live, though not beyond joking about. === Metal === * Many of Alice in Chains' songs (particularly the ones composed by Jerry) have unusual time signatures. Especially notable is [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_qRTMKDqXA&feature=channel "Them Bones"] which shifts between 7/8 and 4/4 at different points in the song. * The landmark [[Technical Death Metal]] band [[Atheist]] created musical insanity bound to force any person familiar with music to shudder in horror at the sound of their constant use of bizarre time signatures changing at a rapid fire pace. Their second album is 9 straight songs of this trope in abundance. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=6TajIq9I8BA#t=84s Try to guess the time signature at 1:24 in this song.] This is [[Alien Geometries]] as applied to music. Line 106 ⟶ 111: * "Schism" apparently holds the record for most time signature changes in a song that appeared on the Billboard Hot 100, with 47 changes in its nearly 7 minute running time. "Lateralus", the title track from the same album, is another example. The chorus is in 9+8+7/8, and the rest of the song combines 5/8 and 12/16 or 12/8(both of which feel like 4/4, but looking at it rhythmically, and tempo-wise, there aren't enough 16th notes in 4/4 for some parts). * "Lateralus" gets bonus points for [~~http://en.~~[wikipedia~~.org/wiki/Fibonacci_Sequence~~:Fibonacci Sequence\|following the Fibonacci Sequence.]] * There's also the bridge of the song where the drums are playing 5/8 and the rest of the band is using 6/8. Many other Tool songs make use of 5/4, 7/4, 9/4, and changing or compound meters, including "Intolerance", "Die Eier Von Satan", "Forty Six & Two", "The Patient", "Jambi", and "Vicarious" The Grudge is in 5/4 and Right in Two is in 11/8. * "Question!" by [[System of a Down]] continually shifts between 9/8, 10/8, 6/8 and 3/4, to the point that the band has had trouble playing it live. * [[~~Soundgarden (Music)\|~~Soundgarden]] was known for their unintentional usage of unusual time signatures, most famously in their song "Spoonman". * The main riff for the song "Ithyphallic" by [[Nile]] is in 7/4, but the song has numerous time changes and tempo changes, using 4/4, 5/4, 3/4, 6/4, and 7/4, and tempos ranging from 255 BPM to 60 BPM. ** Also, the song "Papyrus Containing the Spell to Preserve Its Possessor Against Attacks From He Who Is in the Water" has, as it's most odd time signatures, 11/8, 5/8, 9/8, 7/8, and a couple of bars of 17/16. * [[Meshuggah]], much like Tool (who they have toured with) love this trope, and they tend to do a lot with it. In the main riff to "New Millennium Cyanide Christ", for example, their drummer plays a slow 4/4 with his hands and a very brisk 23/16 with his feet, and it only gets more complex from there. [[The Other Wiki]] has a breakdown of [~~http://en.~~[wikipedia~~.org/wiki/New_Millennium_Cyanide_Christ~~:New Millennium Cyanide Christ\|its rhythmic structure]]. Have your headache pills ready. * Sludge/drone/noise metal outfit Normpeterson's "Attenuation" is in 7/4 time. * [[~~Dream Theater (Music)\|~~Dream Theater]] uses this a lot. "Learning to Live" starts in 15/8 and 7/4, and meanders around from there. Most notably, in [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7jikeIyKaE "The Dance of Eternity"] there is a section that changes almost every measure. For "The Dance of Eternity", there are 104 time changes in total in a song that is 6:13 long. That equates to a time change every 3.6 SECONDS! * [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7jikeIyKaE It's just as ridiculous as it sounds.] Musicians beware, actually seeing it laid out on paper just might make your head explode. Line 123 ⟶ 128: * Dethklok occasionally uses odd time signatures. "I Tamper With the Evidence at the Murder Site of Odin" is primarily in 7/8, with the bridge in 4/4; and "Dethsupport" constantly switches between 6/8 and 7/8. "Go Forth and Die" features parts in 5/8. === Progressive Rock ===▼ ▲== Progressive Rock == * Used extensively by two different drummers in progressive rock: Neil Peart of [[Rush]] and Bill Bruford of [[Yes]] and [[King Crimson]]. ** Mike Portnoy of [[~~Dream Theater (Music)\|~~Dream Theater]], ''[[~~Liquid Tension Experiment (Music)\|~~Liquid Tension Experiment]]'', Transatlantic, etc. frequently plays with odd signatures as well. * Many, ''many'' progressive rock bands do uncommon time signatures; two great examples are "Siberian Khatru" by [[Yes]] (13/8, for most of it) and "Tarkus" by Emerson, Lake & Palmer (10/8 for at least two of the segments). [[Yes]] manage to slip this into their pop rock albums - "Changes" from ''90125'' is part 7/4 and part 4/4. [[Yes]]' "Awaken" off of ''Going for the One'' goes through ten time changes during it's opening twenty-four measures - including briefly passing through 9/32, which is just silly, really. Less known (for their prog rock side, anyhow) example: Ambrosia had a habit of shifting signatures. See "Time Waits for No One," "Life Beyond L.A." and "Apothecary," just to start. Even their better-known ballads aren't immune: "How Much I Feel" shifts to 7/8 briefly about three-fifths of the way through. It was a song from their more pop days, but Genesis' song "Turn It On Again" is in 13/8 time. Line 142 ⟶ 146: The "See there! A son is born" part of "Thick as a Brick" is in 5/8. A similar part in the second section of the song is 6/8, but the difference is barely noticeable. Seriously - to notice it, you'd have to be counting it. "Boris Dancing", is, as Ian Anderson says during the ''Orchestral Jethro Tull'' recording, "written in alternating bars of 7/8 and 9/8, making it pretty difficult to dance to... unless you're Boris Yeltsin." * Obscure psychedelic/prog band Egg released a single called [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h95GtkBvMZ0 "Seven Is a Jolly Good Time"], about [[Stealth Pun\|the joys of playing in unusual time signatures]]. The verses are in 4/4, but the choruses are indeed [[Exactly What It Says Onon the Tin\|7/8]], and unlike some of the [[Serious Business\|prog rock]] out there, it's got a sense of humor and is [[Better Than It Sounds\|actually pretty catchy]]. * [[The Mars Volta]] really like their time signature changes too. The 'robot talk' solo in [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMUEn6bQ3LQ "Take The Veil Cerpin Taxt"] changes time signature every bar, with most of the time signatures being subdivisions of 16. * Peter Gabriel's "Solsbury Hill" is in 7/4 time. Line 148 ⟶ 152: ** Starless on the same album has sections played in 13/8. === Rock === * "Seven Days" from Sting's album ''Ten Summoner's Tales'' is one of the few oddities in 5/4 time. In fact, quite a lot of ''Ten Summoner's Tales'' is in uncommon time. "St Augustine in Hell" is in 7/8 (with a spoken interlude in 3/4), and the verses of "Love Is Stronger Than Justice (The Munificent Seven)" has verses in 15/8 and choruses in straight 4/4. In the ending of "Walking on the Moon" by [[The Police]], the guitar and bass maintain their 4/4 riff while the drums go into a triplet-based time signature. It fits smoothly from a listening standpoint, but would be hell to play. * Chicago's song "The Road" has continually shifting time signatures: 5/4 time, 6/4, 3/4, 4/4, etc. Actually, Chicago tended to play with time signatures a lot back in the old days, before Terry Kath's untimely death and before David Foster derailed the band into an '80s sugar-pop machine. Oh, and one of the band's most famous singles, "Colour My World", is in 12/8 time, as is the lesser-known "Goodbye" from ''Chicago V'' (aside from a brief excursion into 4/4 about two thirds of the way through the song). "Colour My World" is part of a longer suite called "[~~http://en.~~[wikipedia~~.org/wiki/Ballet_for_a_Girl_in_Buchannon~~:Ballet for a Girl in Buchannon\|Ballet for a Girl in Buchannon]]", which has a few time-signature shifts. It's a very good example of the experimental tendency that gave their early material some backbone that their later work missed. From ''Chicago VII'', "Aire" is 7/8 time, and "Devil's Sweet" is...mostly 12/8 with shifting signatures? It isn't 4/4, that's for sure. The intro to the full version of "Does Anybody Really Know What Time it Is?" is in 5/4. And if memory serves correctly, "South California Purples" includes some 7/4. * The standard blues verse is 12 bars of either 4/4, 6/8, or 12/8, unchanging. Each verse in "South California Purples" (vocal and instrumental) is 11 bars of 4/4, then three bars in 3/4, and back to four bars of 4/4 afterward. Its chords are a typical blues progression but is slightly "off blues" in the changing meter. And don't forget about the hook in "It Better End Soon"~~--a~~—a measure of 13/8 followed by a measure of 11/8! * The Stranglers' "Golden Brown" has alternating bars of 6/8 and 7/8. A.k.a. waltzing three times per doing foxtrot once for that song. (so 3 x 3/4 then 4/4) * A few songs late in [[The Beatles]]' catalogue have some rhythmical shenanigans. The bridge of "Here Comes The Sun" rotates between 11/8, 4/4, and 7/8, and "Good Morning Good Morning" has completely screwed up verses. "Happiness is a Warm Gun" (White Album) has alternating measures of 9/4 and 10/4 in one section. Line 181 ⟶ 185: ** Stone Temple Pilots do something similar with "Vasoline" (drummer in 4/4, guitar and bass in 3/4), and, to return us to the chaos, Battles' does this in "Ddiamondd" to ludicrous levels, with the guitar, bass, and vocalist in 7/4 time for two measures, before shifting to 4/4 time for four measures...while the drummer is playing 15/8 under them the entire time. * [[Five Iron Frenzy]]'s ''Car'' is in 5/4 with an occasional 6/4 at the end of a phrase. * Some of the more brutal tracks like "Up the Neck" on the first [[Pretenders]] album use key signatures such as 13/4 and 27/4 * Juliana Hatfield's "Spin The Bottle" is in 5/4 time. * Canadian indie rock band Women are rather fond of odd time signatures. They have songs in 13/8 and 7/4, and "Shaking Hand" has an opening riff that cycles through one bar in 13/8 and two bars of 4/4, and a closing section that cycles through one bar each of 3/4, 5/8, 3/4, 3/4, and 3/8. Line 188 ⟶ 192: * "Get On" by [[Covenant]] seems to be in 4/4 at first, but skips a beat every other measure, making it 7/4. * [[OK Go]]'s "WTF?" is in 5/4. ~~=== Other Media Examples: ===~~ == ~~[[Anime]]~~Examples ~~and~~In ~~[[Manga]]~~Other Media == * In ''[[Death Note (Manga)\|Death Note]]'', the first section of L's theme alternates time signatures for each measure in patterns of 4: the first measure is 7/8, the second is 3/4, the third is 7/8, and the fourth is 4/4. This rather unique pattern is repeated in Near's theme, further cementing the connection between the two.▼ === [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] === ▲* In ''[[~~Death Note (Manga)\|~~Death Note]]'', the first section of L's theme alternates time signatures for each measure in patterns of 4: the first measure is 7/8, the second is 3/4, the third is 7/8, and the fourth is 4/4. This rather unique pattern is repeated in Near's theme, further cementing the connection between the two. * "[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7tkWy7rEvQ 7 Minutes]" from the ''[[Cowboy Bebop]]'' movie is not only just under 7 minutes long, it spends a lot of time [[Epic Rocking]] in 7/4 (with interludes in 4/4). * A couple of character songs from ''[[Higurashi no Naku Koro Nini]]'' have sections written in [[Uncommon Time]], namely, Takano Miyo's "Bon ~[[Karma~]]" and Fuurude Rika's "Mugen Kairou". "Mugen Kairou" is in 5/4 except for its bridge and chorus, which is in 3/4; while the verse of "Bon ~[[Karma~]]" alternates between 3/4 and 4/4 measures -significant in that Miyo's name is written with the kanji for 3 and 4. === Ballet === * The Mexican dance in Aaron Copland's "Billy the Kid" is mostly 5/8. === [[Comic Books]] === * In one ''Foxtrot'' strip, Jason changes all of Peter's guitar music to 400,000/4 time, so when Peter counts off, he has to go all the way to 400,000 before he can begin playing. === [[Film]] === * The Uruk-Hai theme from Howard Shore's ''[[The Lord of the Rings (~~Film~~film)\|Lord of the Rings]]'' score, found within the track "Amon Hen" on the Fellowship OST, has 5/4 time. Shore explained that he was aiming to give Saruman's army a mechanical-sounding accompaniment. * The chorus of [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oiXaT_1I-vw "Now You're A Man"] from ''[[Orgazmo]]'' is in 7/4. It was almost like an inside joke to jack up the irony of so needlessly using anything but 4/4 in such a cheesy song. * The DVD insert for one pressing of ''[[This Is Spinal Tap]]'' state that one of the band's drummers quit, saying he "couldn't take this 4/4 shit". * The theme to [[John Carpenter]] 's ''[[Halloween (~~Film~~film)\|Halloween]]'' was written in a 5/4 meter. * "Tubular Bells" from ''[[~~The Exorcist (Film)\|~~The Exorcist]]'' uses three measures of 7/8 against one measure of 9/8. (or two 7/8 against two 4/4) === [[Live-Action TV]] === * The original version of the theme music to ''[[The Bill]]'' was in 7/4. Listen to it [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdQYX93_13U here]. * The theme to the ''[[Mission: Impossible]]'' TV series is in 5/4. It was changed to 4/4 for the movies. * The music playing as the "ghosts" shimmer into Cybermen in the ''[[~~Doctor Who (TV)\|~~Doctor Who]]'' episode "[[Doctor Who ~~(TV)/NS~~/Recap/S2 S28/E12 Army of Ghosts\|Army of Ghosts]]", is in 5/4. ** The Eleventh Doctor's theme is almost entirely in 7/4. 7 + 4= 11. * The reimagined [[Battlestar Galactica]] score by Bear [[Mc Reary]] uses some unusual time signatures for leitmotifs. The most prominent is Six's theme, which is in 9/8 time. * The theme song to [[Xena]] is in 7/8 time with a break around the bridge of 9/8. === Opera === * ''Candide'' has "The Ballad of Eldorado" in 5/8, and "Words, Words, Words" in 7/8, as well as "Oh Happy We" in 7/4 (although the measures are counted as alternating measures of 4/4 and 3/4). === Software === * [[MOD]] Tracker formats don't really have time signatures for the composer to be concerned about. Composing in such programs is more about getting things to sound good when played by the computer. Some files even change the speed of the song every couple of lines, making it at the very least, very difficult for a time signature to be deduced. "Danger Zone" by HMW uses a 5/4 against 3/4 melody on top of a 4/4 backbeat. Line 226 ⟶ 231: The same producer also wrote Luka's song "Significance of Existence" in 5/4. === [[Theatre]] === * For some reason, [[Andrew Lloyd Webber]] really likes doing this: ''[[Jesus Christ Superstar]]'' has "Everything's Alright" in 5/4, and parts of "The Temple" in 7/4. Line 233 ⟶ 238: The title song in ''[[Sunset Boulevard]]'' is in 5/8. The song "Notes" from ''[[Phantom of the Opera]]'' is partly in 15/16. [[Andrew Lloyd Webber]] loves 7/8 - there's a song in 7/8 somewhere in every one of his shows. * "Thank Goodness" in ''[[Wicked (~~Theatre~~theatre)\|Wicked]]'' sounds like mostly 5/8. "I Couldn't Be Happier" is in 5/8 mixed with 6/8, 3/4, 4/4, 2/4 and other time signatures. * [[Leonard Bernstein]]'s ''Mass'' has some very unusual time signatures: 5/8 for "Gloria Tibi," 7/8 (when it's not switching rapidly between 2/4 and 3/8) for "God Said," and the 9/8 of "In Nomine Patris" is divided into 3+ 2+ 2+ 2 beats instead of the usual 3+ 3+ 3. ** Bernstein's "waltzes" were sometimes in the usual 3/4 (e.g. the "Paris Waltz" in ''Candide''), and sometimes ''really'' different: the waltz in his ''Divertimento for Orchestra'' is in 7/8; the waltz in his ballet music for ''Fancy Free'' switches freely between 3/4, 3/8 and 4/4. Line 240 ⟶ 245: * [[Stephen Sondheim]] ''loves'' him some uncommon time. ''[[Into the Woods]]'' is particularly maddening. ''[[Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (~~Theatre~~theatre)\|Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street]]'' has two sections in (mostly) 5/8: the introductions to "Ladies in their Sensitivities" and "Pretty Women". * "Sensitivity" from ''Once Upon A Mattress'' is in 5/4. * "Feelings" from ''The Apple Tree'' in 9 (3+ 2+ 2+ 2). Line 249 ⟶ 254: * "On the Willows" from ''[[Godspell]]'' is in 5/4, and Alas For You from the same show is... all over the place. === [[Video Games]] === * Part of [[Touhou\|Hartmann's Youkai Girl]] is in 7/8. The rest is in [[Common Time]]. Similarly, the intro of [[Memetic Mutation\|U.N. Owen]] [[Crowning Music of Awesome\|Was Her?]] is in 5/4, with the rest of the song played in common time. And now Makai City Esoterica is in 11/4, constantly switching between (5+6)/4 and (6+5)/4. ** Like Makai City, [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBeftXHkrAI the ending theme] to Imperishable Night is in 17/8, switching between signatures of 9 and 8. * The [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2jdMqH9j0M Nippius level] of ''[[~~Jazz Jackrabbit (Video Game)\|~~Jazz Jackrabbit]]'' has several shifting time signatures in it. * Given Tim Follin's progressive rock influences, it's no surprise that his video game music sometimes uses unusual time signatures. For just one example, the [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ODKKILZiYY beach theme] from ''[[Plok]]'' starts out in 7/8, shifts to 4/4, and then shifts back to 7/8. * The obligatory [[Nobuo Uematsu]] section: ''[[Final Fantasy VIII]]'' used 5/4 time for its normal combat music. The boss music, by contrast, is mostly in 4/4 but has a bar in 5/4 and one in 6/4. While most of "One-Winged Angel" from ''[[Final Fantasy VII]]'' is in 4/4, the transition between the intro and the main body of the song has a few measures in 7/8. It's especially notable in the ''Advent Children'' version because the time signature shift is punctuated by the sudden entry of electric guitars and percussion, making the section the musical equivalent of a [[Dynamic Entry\|boot to the head.]] * Additionally, the chocobo theme from ''[[Final Fantasy VII]]'' was in 5/4, swung. Its title "Cinco de Chocobo" alludes to this. The fourth (and final) movement of [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Czi-JVLoKZI "Dancing Mad"], the [[Final Boss]] theme from ''[[Final Fantasy VI]]'', is a remix of [[Big Bad\|Kefka's]] [[Leitmotif]] that alternates between 4/4 and 7/8 time, as well as a few measures in 2/2. The chaotic feeling it creates fits Kefka very well. * Nobuo Uematsu used several unconventional rhythms in ''Final Fantasy VI'''s music; the main boss theme is 16-beat patterns (four Threes followed by two Twos - or two bars of 6/8 plus a bar of 4/8) for much of the music, and the AtmaWeapon/Goddess Statue fight music is in eight-beat patterns (two Threes followed by a Two). Both are great tension-building rhythms, and make for good listening even when you hear the things many times and often for multiple iterations in a single fight. * Hey, the Esper theme ("[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVFq1mjcdP0 Another World of Beasts]")! 7/4! Line 268 ⟶ 273: * The first level theme from the 1989 Namco [[Shmup]] ''Burning Force'' alternates between 7/8 and 4/4 time, much like the above-mentioned beach theme from ''Plok''. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGeLgx2bock Take a listen.] * A couple of examples from ''[[Knights in The Nightmare]]''-- [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5aZXBNeFTAY "Clash with the Dark King Zolgonark"] is written in 5/4, while [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j13rckXDFh4 "Clash with the Fallen Angel Melissa"] is written in half 7/8 and half 4/4. * In ''[[~~Mother 3 (Video Game)\|~~Mother 3]]'', you can do combos by tapping the attack button in time with the battle music's rhythm after your attack lands. This grows difficult later in the game; for instance, [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjRCgPFS2Jw "Strong One"] is in 15/8 time, while [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DdEF9FlXNno "Masked Man"] variation skips a beat and becomes ''29/16'' time. * In ''[[~~Iji (Video Game)\|~~Iji]]'''s soundtrack, "Tor" uses 7/4 and 5/4 time, while "Seven Four" is named after the time signature. * [[~~Chrono Trigger (Video Game)\|~~Chrono Trigger]]: The "Sealed Door" (the music that plays when you use a [[MacGuffin]] on certain areas) starts in 5/4 time before going to 6/8. * The ''[[~~Chrono Cross (Video Game)\|~~Chrono Cross]]'' soundtrack frequently experiments in polyrhythm and unusual meter - "Snakebone Manor" is in 5/8 and 7/8 time, for instance. The most cited example is the game's love-it-or-hate-it main battle theme, [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRkqWdE_Nd0&feature=related "Hurricane"] - a polyrhythm of 9/8, 3/4, 4/4, and 5/4 times. * The alert theme from ''[[Metal Gear]] 2'', and the song "Holic" from ''[[Beatmania]] IIDX'' and ''[[Dance Dance Revolution]]'', both [[Konami]] games, are in 7/8 time. The latter later changes to 7/4 and then 4/4. The [[Cut Song]] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GqMKO70J9Qk "Life"] from ''[[Silent Hill 3]]'' is also 7/8. ** [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdyRuGz0tIM 100% minimoo-G] is even worse. Songs in ''IIDX'' usually have the proper markings for measures, even if they're in a non-4/4 time signature or change signature at some point. This song? NO MARKINGS. Line 278 ⟶ 283: * The Ridley battle theme from the ''[[Metroid]]'' series is in 5/8. ** And the Mother Brain theme in ''Super Metroid'' is in 7/4. * [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GLZtzclcnw Dreatnaut]'s theme from [[~~Runescape~~RuneScape]] is 5/8. However, that theme is very disorienting so it's easy to lose beat. * Most of the music in ''[[Twisted Metal]]: Black'' uses uncommon or mixed time signatures. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWHmDEDcQeM Prison Passage] uses 7/8, 5/8, and even 17/16 and 19/16. "[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tWZzAUg_2k&playnext=1&list=PLAE4949A2F32C3AFC Darkness Prevails]" is 5/4. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_c6InKre-k Minion's theme] rotatez between 7/4, 4/4, 7/8+5/8, and 3/4. * "[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2z28mutY1E Suicide Mission]," one of the crown jewels of the ''[[Mass Effect 2]]'' soundtrack, combines ethereal synths, [[Orchestral Bombing]] and [[Ominous Latin Chanting\|Ominous Choral Chanting]] in a heavy, deliberate 7/4. * ''[[Kingdom Hearts]]'' 1, "[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JUlNMAklhs Night of Fate]." Takes the cake by seeming to be in a duple meter (10/4), but actually being in compound: "'''1'''&a '''2'''&a '''3'''& '''4'''&." This is also a good example of why numerically large timesigs are hard to read and understand; this song would be easier to play if it was rendered as two measures, one of 6/8 and one of 4/8. * The [[Metal Slug]] series seems to have made this into a composer in-joke. Most installments include a version of the song Steel Beast. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ku1hkgh6b88 No] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SLEdRSYQ5XM two] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6ZJSj0yREE versions] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NP9b5mJCPJY share a] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efD-0ARSqgw time signature.] (Except 2 and 3) * [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxizUSV1EM8&playnext=1&list=PL637F5279DF7E69BD "Chomber"] from ''[[Marathon ~~(Video Game)~~Trilogy\|Marathon]]'' is in 7/4 time, has a [[Arc Number\|seven-letter]] title, and plays on the [[Arc Number\|seventh level]] of the game. * [[Kirby Super Star]] has [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3YPdBY1fvE Marx's Theme], which changes time signature ''14 times in under a minute''. Appropriate for a character who {{spoiler\|has gone completely mad with power.}} ** The Milky Way Wishes [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NroQ84XR5XM Overworld Theme] is primarily in 7/8 with some 8/8 (4/4) to complete melodies, while the final part is in 7/4. Yup. Line 290 ⟶ 295: * In the [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9OO5VAKk0d8 Kanto Gym Leader battle theme] from ''[[Pokémon Red and Blue]]'', the first four bars after the intro are played in 7/4 before the tune switches to [[Common Time]]. * [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IpRonML3WaU Hidden Land] from ''[[Pokémon Mystery Dungeon]]: Explorers of Time/Darkness'' is primarily in 6/4, with a bar of 5/4 followed by a bar of 7/4 followed by 6/4 again. * The theme to the first stage from ''[[~~Klonoa (Video Game)\|~~Klonoa]]'', "The Windmill Song", is written in 6/8 time, but occasionally switches to 5/8. * Crystal Snail's theme from ''[[Mega Man X 2]]'' switches between 13/8 and 6/8 time. * The middle eight in the Gran Turismo 5 version of "Moon Over the Castle" is in (3+4+3+4.5)/4 * The ''[[World of Warcraft]]'' raid Trial of the Crusader was often criticized for its unoriginality, but one of the main musical themes for it had an original time signature of 11/4. * The [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktKe4iG6okA Cross Examination] theme from Phoenix Wright: [[Ace Attorney]]: Justice for All is written in alternating measures of 7/8 and 13/16, and then 13/16 and 12/16 (3/4). * [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPudxb0S1iI Blockade], from the identically-named fourth mission in [[Ace Combat 04: Shattered Skies\|Ace Combat 04]], is in 7/8. === [[Web Original]] === * [[Songs to Wear Pants To]] song [https://web.archive.org/web/20130430150605/http://www.songstowearpantsto.com/songs/never/ "Never"] is in 5/4 time; the time signature being specifically part of the song's request. There's also [https://web.archive.org/web/20130514122649/http://www.songstowearpantsto.com/songs/bow-down-to-my-pwnzorness-i-guess/ this one] in 7/4. And [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAgGBfLgKmY this one] in 15/8. * [[OCOverClocked ReRemix]]: ~~Mix\|~~Mazedude's]] [http://ocremix.org/remix/OCR01491/ "Microscopism"] is in an incredibly bizarre 7.5/8 (15/16) time signature. Only if you believe in reducing fractions, which - to the consternation of mathematicians everywhere - ain't the right thing for a musician to do. 7.5/8 looks impossible (and is), but 15/16 is just 5/4 with triplets ('''1'''&a '''2'''&a '''3'''&a '''4'''&a '''5'''&a). Just to clarify: the song is ''not'' in triple meter. Having said that, it's also not in a single coherent time signature: it's a repeating pattern of 4/4 and 2+2+3/8. * [https://web.archive.org/web/20130922085134/http://homestuck.bandcamp.com/track/the-broken-clock The Broken Clock], a piece in [[Homestuck (/Music)\|Homestuck]]'s discography, is written in 13/8 (it'd be [[Arc Number\|13/4]], except the composer "didn't really plan for it" and—taking a little jab at the below—"sometimes I like to put possible playability/sheet music over numerical references for the sake of references"). Given that the album it's in boasts [[Running Gag\|"time shenanigans"]], this is just a more literal interpretation of the theme. ** Then there's "[https://web.archive.org/web/20140219023131/http://homestuck.bandcamp.com/track/judgment-day Judgment Day]", 13/4 at 413 bpm (only the drums sound as fast as this would imply, but catching the beat is still not so easy). * The main theme of ''[[~~Meat Boy (Video Game)\|~~Meat Boy]]'' and ''Super Meat Boy'' is in 7/4 time, as is the world-select version in Super Meat Boy. * Pomplamoose's cover of "[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OvYZMqQffQE My Favorite Things]" starts in 5/4 as a tribute to Brubeck and mostly keeps that time signature in the verses before switching to 3/4. === Other === * [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2es-lfRSDOI This] opening to [[American Broadcasting Company\|ABC]]'s 4:30 Movie is partially composed in 5/8 time. {{reflist}} [[Category:~~Trope~~{{PAGENAME}}]]▼ [[Category:Music Tropes]] ~~[[Category:Uncommon Time]]~~ ▲[[Category:Trope]]