Protip: Changing Time Signatures

By A-R's house editors

Time signatures are a fundamental attribute of musical notation that indicate the meter in a piece of music. In general, when changing time signatures in an edited score, the score should follow the source. However, there are certain issues to keep in mind that depend on the type of music being edited.

Music of the Common Practice Period

In general, a time signature change should follow a single barline (see example 1).

Example 1. Miriam Gideon, Fortunato, “Scene 1” (mm. 138–41), from Miriam Gideon, Fortunato: An Opera in Three Scenes (1958), ed. Stephanie Jensen-Moulton (A075), 10.

If, however, the source systematically employs double (thin-thin) barlines at time signature changes, this policy may be adopted for the score as well (see example 2).

Example 2. “Du wirst ufstehen von Wieg” (mm. 3–6), from Jewish Folk Songs from the Baltics, ed. Keven C. Karnes (OT011), 23.

If a change of time signature occurs at the beginning of the system, a cautionary time signature is required at the end of the previous system, following a single barline (see example 3).

Example 3. František Kocžwara, “The Battle of Prague (ca. 1788)” (mm. 227–38), from Descriptive Piano Fantasias, ed. Halina Goldberg and Jonathan D. Bellman (N081), 15.

Occasionally, time signature changes occur in only one or a few parts. In these instances, only the part(s) that change receive a new time signature. This also applies to the application of cautionary signatures (see example 4).

Example 4. Louis Spohr, “Larghetto” (mm. 79–83), from String Quartets, Opp. 29 and 45, ed. Nancy November (forthcoming), 273.

When a time signature change coincides with a key signature change, the new key signature precedes the new time signature (see example 5).

Example 5. Georg Anton Benda, “Introduction” (mm. 18–21), from Philon und Theone, ed. Austin Glatthorn (C115), 7.

Renaissance and Early Baroque Music

In Renaissance music, source mensuration and proportional signs need to be changed to modern time signatures. The current practice of transcribing sixteenth-century Renaissance notation in a 1:1 ratio (i.e., retaining the original note durations) commonly requires a 2 in the time signature’s denominator; the meter symbols C and cut-C, for example, would be transcribed as 4/2 (see example 6).

Example 6. Adrian Willaert, “À l’aventure” (mm. 1–2), from Canzoni francese libro primo: Ottaviano Scotto’s 1535 Collection of Twenty-Three Chansons for Four Voices, ed. Paul Walker (R170), 3.

For mensuration/proportional sign changes in which the tempus changes (from perfect to imperfect or vice versa) but the tactus stays the same, the modern edition only requires a time signature change (following a single barline). Example 7 shows the change from mensural sign cut-C to proportional sign 3, which in modern notation has been transcribed as 3/1. NB: As in example 7, the original mensuration sign should be included above the modern signature.

Example 7. Gregor Aichinger, “Magna quereris” (mm. 17–18), from Gregor Aichinger, Lacrumae Divae Virginis et Joannis in Christum a cruce depositum (1604), ed. Alexander J. Fisher (B211), 23.

When only a tactus change occurs (e.g., diminution), no time signature change is required. However, an equation can be placed directly above the score at the change showing the equivalences between the two section of music (see example 8). In example 8, the double barline that corresponds with the tactus change indicates a section break and is not associated with the change in mensuration sign, which would normally follow a single barline.

Example 8. Johannes Martini, “O beate Sebastiane” (mm. 72–75), from Songs in Times of Plague, ed. Remi Chiu (R172), 8.

When a mensuration/proportion sign change indicates a change in both tempus and tactus, a time signature should be included, and an equation may be added if considered helpful (see example 9).

Example 9. Johannes Martini, “O beate Sebastiane” (mm. 61–62), from Songs in Times of Plague, ed. Remi Chiu (R172), 7.
 

As with music in the common practice period, mensuration/proportional sign changes sometimes occur in only one or a few parts. In these instances, only the parts that change receive a new time signature (see example 10).

Example 10. Franchinus Gaffurius, “O beate Sebastiane” (mm. 114–116), from Songs in Times of Plague, ed. Remi Chiu (R172), 32.

It is not uncommon for renaissance and early baroque music to require over- and/or underfilled measures (i.e., measures that contain more or fewer beats than are required by the modern time signature) in the modern transcription. For these measures, no time signature change is required in the score. However, after consultation with your developmental editor or copyeditor, a sentence should be added to the editorial methods which describes the approach employed in the edition (see example 11).

Example 11. Rinaldo del Mel, “Standomi un giorno” (mm. 266–67), from Songs in Times of Plague, ed. Remi Chiu (R172), 302.

Notice that example 11 also includes a cautionary time signature with an equivalency equation at the end of the system. If a change in tempus and tactus occurs at the beginning of the system, a cautionary time signature is required at the end of the previous system, and the required equivalency equation is placed above the cautionary signature as in this example.

Music in Oral Traditions

For music whose sources are unnotated or notated in a manner that does not translate easily into Western notation, the question of changing time signatures should be considered on an individual basis. If time signature changes are deemed appropriate for the music, the policies adopted should follow the general practices in place for music of the common practice period, i.e., the time signature should follow a single barline, and cautionary time signatures should be employed if the time signature change occurs at the beginning of the system (see examples 12–13).

Example 12. “Sutra Opening Verse” (mm. 1–2), from Chanting the Medicine Buddha Sutra, ed. Reed Criddle (OT013), 3.
 

Example 13. “Yangchun (Sunny Spring)” (mm. 18–20), from Celestial Airs of Antiquity, ed. Bell Yung (OT005), 25.

For the complete Recent Researches in Music Style Guide, click here (PDF).