What is a musical meter?

Answer 1

When listening to a piece of music we usually feel some beats more strongly than others, so that we can count a recurring pattern of loud and soft, or "accented" and "unaccented" beats. (an accent is a stress placed on a note or beat). For example, in a march we could count a ONE-two pattern, the ONE being the accented note and the beginning of the bar. In a waltz the pattern would be ONE-two-three. Most songs have a ONE-two-three-four pattern.

The patterning of beats into repeated groups is called "metre". The unit of time occupied by one group of beats (that is, from one accented beat to the next) is called a bar. Metre provides a framework of bars within the sounds and silences of music occur.

The are three basic metres in music:

1. duple metre - two beats in a bar

2. triple metre - three beats to a bar

3. quadruple metre - four beats to a bar