Meter (Division, Simple vs. Compound)

Meter is the way we organize beats and rhythms into larger patterns. We collect beats—commonly in groups of two, three, or four—into measures, separated by bar lines.

When a meter uses only two beats in each measure, we call this duple meter. Three beats per measure is triple meter, and four beats per measure is quadruple meter. Duple, triple, and quadruple describe the metrical accent, or how strongly we feel each beat in a measure. For example, we feel the two beats of a duple meter as strong - weak. Triple meter is felt strong - weak - weak and quadruple meter is felt strong - weak - somewhat strong - weak. In each of these meters, the first beat is always the strongest.

In the previous chapter, we saw that undotted rhythms can be divided into two equal parts and that dotted rhythms can be divided into three equal parts. The same idea applies to meter as well. When a meter’s beat is an undotted note, the beat naturally divides into twos; we call this a simple meter. On the other hand, when a meter’s beat is a dotted note, the beat naturally divides into threes; we call this a compound meter.

When we talk about a meter, we refer to both its metrical accent and beat division. For instance, when a meter has two beats per measure and the beat is divided into groups of three, we call it a compound duple meter.

A meter’s full name combines both of these ideas — its metrical accent (duple, triple, or quadruple) and its beat division (simple or compound). For instance, a meter with two beats per measure whose beat divides into three is called a compound duple meter. The same logic gives us simple triple, compound quadruple, and every other combination you can think of.

In the next chapter we will look at time signatures, the two numbers at the beginning of a piece of music that tell us what kind of meter it is in.