Masterclass: Making Sense of Meter Signature Changes - PHH 061

Welcome to Practicing Harp Happiness, the Harp Mastery Podcast. My name is Ann Sullivan and I'm a harpist, teacher, and founder of Harp Mastery. I'm all about creating more harp happiness in the world by helping harp players like you play the music they want the way they want. But as a harpist who nearly flunked out of one of the most prestigious music schools in the world, I, although later not only graduated, but I went on to teach there. I know from personal experience that learning the harp is way harder than it looks. Here, each week on the Practicing Harp Happiness Podcast, I show you how to solve the challenges of practicing and playing the harp. Whether it's about making your fingers behave or learning music faster, or getting your piece's performance ready, or just learning to enjoy your playing every day. Sounds great, doesn't it? Let's get started.

Welcome to the show. Has this ever happened to you? You're sailing along, playing through a new piece. You're feeling pretty good because the piece is actually flowing along. You can tell you've been making progress because a year or so ago, this piece would have felt difficult. But just about the time you're ready to pat yourself on the back and imagine yourself tackling that piece that you always thought was too hard, your playing comes to a screeching halt. There's a new meter signature or time signature in front of you. Your easy piece in 44 time suddenly has a measure of 7. 8. What the heck is this about? Well, on today's show, we're going to find out exactly what meter changes, like that imaginary one, are all about. While we often associate meter changes with contemporary music, changing meters have been a part of music since music began. If you play traditional folk music from any tradition you encounter meter changes all the time. In fact, the meter signature itself is a relatively recent invention. Now, today's podcast is a masterclass style podcast. Not that there will be other students playing today, but meaning that I will go into some depth on this particular topic. And in today's masterclass, you're going to learn what the meter signature can tell you, if you're paying attention, why meters may change in the middle of a piece, and most importantly, how to count your way easily through any meter change you encounter. Now, you may want to push pause right here and download the PDF that is linked in the show notes so you can follow along with me. Of course, if you're driving or, you know, on the exercise bike, no worries. You can listen now and download the PDF later. One other note before we start. You may not have noticed, but all of our podcasts are categorized. We put them in one of three categories, Technique and Musicianship, Practice and Performing, or Music and Meaning. Now I've put this particular show in the Music and Meaning category because, as you will find out in a minute, changing meters isn't just about learning how to negotiate them. Meter changes are directly related to the music itself, to its energy, its flow, its message. That's why it's so important for us all to feel comfortable and confident with them.

Now, one more thing before we get going on our masterclass today on a podcast. A while back I had asked listeners to do an act of harp courage and to tell me about it, and that I would celebrate it on the podcast in a future episode. And I have an act of courage that I want to share with you now. Now, my promise was that I would celebrate the act of courage by letting everybody know what it was, but I would keep it anonymous so you don't have to worry about that. If you have an act of harp courage and that you would like to share something that you found difficult to do and you went ahead and you did it anyway, then that is a huge step toward harp happiness, my friend. And I would love to celebrate it with you. So go ahead and feel free to email me your act of courage. You know, you can reach me@podcastarpmastery.com and on a future podcast episode, we will celebrate it with you too. So let me celebrate this act of courage that came into the podcast email inbox. It's this.

I am an adult learner. I have always wanted to learn the harp since I was young, but life didn't seem to accommodate it until I came into my mid-40s. For the past three and a half years I've been playing and practicing and exercising from numerous books and videos. I'd stuck my neck out after intense practicing and made a couple of videos on YouTube and shared them with my friends on social media. That's courage right there, isn't it? Wow. Okay, back to the email Videos were fine and interacting on social media was just as fine. But I had a couple goals over which I had begun obsessing to interact in real life with like minded heart people. Now that the pandemic has finally toned down to a dull roar and sharing my experiences specifically as an adult learner in in a blog just in case someone may actually have thought my journey would be interesting and if I could allay others fears about adult learning for the social bit. My first step toward the storm was to find out actually, quite by happenstance and by luck, it found me to find and join a harp circle once a month. I've already met with the circle five times and have even played a couple solo pieces to show showcase what I've been working on for my blogging ambition. My first step was to comb the Internet for blogs and podcasts and other forms of media to give me an idea of how I want to proceed in that process. I was led right here to practicing Harp happiness and by nature, harp mastery. I don't know all of the splits and bends in the road I'm on, but at least I'm on the road and moving forward. And yes, you certainly are. I thank you so much for sharing that with me. That's a terrific, terrific step forward and a really great act of courage and I hope that you continue on the path. But I also hope that all of you listening can find courage in that act of courage and feel motivated to continue and to aspire and to just take that first step, as this person said, that first step toward the storm, right? So go right on into it and come out on the other side. So congratulations, kudos. You get a big, you know, harp happiness gold star. And I'm so pleased to be able to share that. So now let's get on with our masterclass about changing meters. Now, we're mostly going to be talking today about how to negotiate those meter changes when you encounter them in music you play. But I'd like to start by thinking about them from the other end of the experience just for a moment. So think. I want you to think about what a meter change sounds like when you hear it. Now, my first experience with this, and maybe yours too, although maybe you didn't know it is, was when I was listening to a song on the radio and sort of, you know, tapping my foot and feeling the beat. And then all of a sudden it felt like the, you know, to use a really old fashioned term, it felt like the record had skipped, right? It felt like all of a sudden I wasn't lining up anymore the beats. That felt like those strong downbeats, the first beat of a measure, you know.

1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3.

All of a sudden I was still kind of feeling that beat, but it wasn't with the music anymore. And so, you know, quick caught up and then maybe it changed again. And to further date myself, I can remember.

As a young person listening to a song by the group Chicago and the song was just yout and Me. And I remember thinking that this is Just so much fun.

And the.

You know, it was a great song to drive to when I was a. Just a brand new driver. And I'm. You know, it's like, ooh, a nice steady beat. Except that then you got to the bridge of the song, that middle part, and all of a sudden could tell that I wasn't in four, four anymore. You know, kind of like Dorothy and Oz, right? Not in Kansas anymore. So instead of just going 1, 2, 3, 4, all of a sudden there.

Was a 1, 2, 3, 1, 2.

3, and then all of a sudden back to 4, and then back to 3, and then. And it wasn't till later, of course, when I found the sheet music and looked at it, that I could really see what was happening on happening in the piece. When I was just listening to it, all I knew was that it was doing something. It wasn't matching up. And sometimes meter signatures sound just like that. The. The changing meter signature is just like, okay, well, I felt like I was in four, and now I'm not. Oh, wait, now I'm lining up again. Oh, wait, now I'm not. And sometimes that can happen. I just. One of those pieces is, you know, the Chicago one was an easy one. Another one that I remember noticing, and this might be more familiar to you, is the Beatles song All youl Need Is Love that changes all the time. You feel like you're in four, then you feel like you're in three, then you feel like you're in four or three, or it just goes back and forth. And if you're not paying attention and counting, then it just sort of feels like the beat's kind of changing around. But that's what a meter change can. Can feel like. It doesn't always. And we'll talk about the other kind, too. But if you've ever experienced that feeling, you have experienced what a meter change is like. And that's because the meter of a piece is telling us something very specific. So I want to make sure that we have our terms straight. Now I'm using the term meter signature. That's the same as time signature. And you're welcome to call it a time signature, but I get really picky for this particular reason. Meter and time are not the same thing. A piece has a meter, which is simply a pattern of beats that repeats. Right? When you see a meter, we think of something like 4, 4 or 2, 4 or 3, 4 or 6, 8 or whatever it happens to be. And those numbers in the meter signature, they're not a fraction, right? Those number Remind us how many beats are in the pattern and what kind of note is getting the beat. So in a 4, 4 meter signature, we have. That top number is telling us that there are four beats in the measure. The bottom number is telling us that it's the quarter note, like 1, 4. It's the quarter note that's getting the beat. Now, this is where, if you call them crotchets and quavers and all that good stuff, the numbers in the meter signature don't come out quite the same. But for us who quarter notes, it's really simple. So if you have a meter signature, 3, 4, there are three beats in the pattern. The quarter note is getting that beat. Compare that to a meter signature of 3, 8. There are still three beats in the measure. That's that top number again. But this time the eighth note is getting the beat. So that's what the meter signature is telling you. Now, it's not telling you anything about the time, despite the fact that we call it a time signature. It's not telling us about time, it's telling us about pattern.

Time is tempo. In fact, tempo is the Italian word for time. And time, the. The tempo of a piece is the speed, right? Whether it's going fast or slow, allegro, andante, largo, adagio, that's tempo. A metronome number is a tempo, and it tells you quite literally the time. A metronome number tells you how many beats per minute or how many clicks, because the metronome doesn't know what kind of beat you're doing. It just tells you how many clicks per minute.

Right?

That's the idea. So time and meter are, strictly speaking, a little bit different. And so that's why I'm pretty careful to be talking about meter signatures today. I just want to be really precise and really accurate. So there's that little tidbit for you, but it doesn't change the fact that when we have changing meters, the tempo of the piece isn't necessarily changing, although it may, and we'll talk about that in a moment. But the pattern of beats, the number of beats in the pattern, is what's changing. So let's talk. Let's go through some specific examples and figure out why those meters might change. First of all, it's important to remember that the printed page of music is a composer or an arranger's attempt to tell you, the performer, how the music goes. So they're trying to write it down in a way that represents what they hear.

And in a way that a performer can read and understand.

So sometimes you'll find traditional music, ancient music, or music from an old folk tradition. Sometimes it has no meter. I'm thinking that there are some songs, particularly in the harp repertoire, some Hebrew songs that are arranged by the composer Natra. And not all of those are metered. There are some pieces, the Nasien by Eric Satie. These are piano pieces. They're not necessarily written with a meter, although those particular pieces are written with very clearly repeating metrical patterns, just not with measures the way we're used to. So composers are always trying to figure out how to write something so we can read it. And so sometimes things have to shift because, as you can imagine, folk songs particularly have a tradition that is part of an oral tradition, one that's passed along without necessarily being written down. There are different versions, there are different ways people hear it. And so somebody who's trying to write that down has to figure out how to write down what they've heard. There's a collection of Peruvian songs for flute and harp that are collected and were collected from various traditions in Peru. And they're written with all sorts of meters, some of which are very constant because they were dance music. And, you know, dancing to something that changes meters is a little bit tricky. So those usually have a constant meter throughout. But a song, a love song, a lullaby, not always so consistent. So arrangers of music in a folk tradition often struggle to figure out how to write it down. Now, one of the examples we have in American music is the song Shenandoah. Shenandoah has a background as sort of a, you know, a working song. And so in that sense, the meter should be very steady and uncomplicated because it would be a song that would, you know, help you work in rhythm. But there are various traditions that go with this song that make the meter a little bit less consistent, a little bit less concrete, a little bit bit with a little bit more play in it. And so there are. There are versions, you will see, that are not strictly in 4, 4, but have changing meters. I'm going to play for you now a little piece of an arrangement of Shenandoah that I did that has changing meters in it. And while it starts in four, four. And I'll count that first measure for you. You'll see that, or you'll hear that the measures don't line up for 4, 4. After that, they don't feel quite right. So I'll count the first measure for you, and I'll play just a little bit of the arrangement, and then we'll go back, and we'll talk about how those meters shift. Okay, so this is Shenandoah.

So, 1, 2, 3, 4.

Sam.

Okay, now, were you able to follow along and to follow the pulse? What I'm going to do now is I'll play it again and I will count it through the way I've written it out. And as I said, there are lots of different versions and different. Different metrical representations. Don't you love that phrase of this melody? But this is the one that I have chosen to write, and I'll count it through for you, right. Realizing that some of these beats, some of these measures rather, are going to have four beats and some will have three. So here we go. Four.

One, two, three, four. One, two, three. One, two, three. 1, 2, 3. 1, 2, 3, 4. 1, 2, 3. One, 2, 3. One, two, 3. 1, 2, 1, 2, 3.

So that's a completely different way to count it, isn't it? So notice again, just to come back to that earlier topic, the time isn't changing, the tempo isn't changing, the beat. That quarter note pulse, we've gone from 4, 4 to 3 4. And then there's that wacky measure of 2, 4. The pulse isn't changing. The quarter note stays constant, but the number of beats in each measure changes. So we get the feeling of that steadiness. It's just that the pattern is broken up. And this is the same kind of thing that you would hear in one of those popular songs I mentioned earlier. We find it a lot in regular music, especially music of the 20th century and beyond, where the pulse isn't necessarily changing, but the number of beats in the measure is. One of the harp examples you might know is the Nocturne from Marcel Granjni's set of three easy pieces. There's a reverie, there's a nocturne, and there's a barcarolle. And the nocturne is essentially in 4, 4. But as you play through, some of those measures are in four. And then there are some measures in three. And that's just part of the feeling of the piece. And the. The quarter note doesn't change. We're still counting 1, 2, 3, the tempo, the time is the same, but the number of beats in the pattern is what's changing. And so that's perhaps the easiest kind of metric change to think about, where the music is just a little bit ambiguous, or the composer has wanted to express something a little bit different, and he's thrown in this random measure or two to just make things fit. The way he or she thinks they need to go. So that's one reason to have changing meters. And it's pretty simple because what you're going to do in any meter shift like that is look for the common denominator. Now, in the example that I played for you, the Shenandoah, and in the Grand Nocturne example, and in a lot of folk music, that common denominator is going to be the easy pulse, right?

The 1, 2, 3.

In these examples, it was the quarter note that stayed the same even though the number of quarter notes in the measure changed. There are changing meters that are not quite so straightforward. For instance, if you have a meter like 4, 4, and then interspersed with the regular quarter note kind of measures, we've got maybe a measure of 3, 8 or a measure of 7, 8, right? So now the bottom numbers of those meter signatures are different. And what you're going to do is you're going to have to find that common denominator. Well, in that case, if you're going from 4, 4 to 7, 8 and then back, it's going to be the eighth note. And the eighth note will stay the same. So that your measure of 4, 4.

1 and 2 and 3 and 4.

And will be followed by the measure of 7, 8, where the 8th note pulse is the same. This is the 8th note, 1 and.

2 and 3 and four, and then 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 1 and 2 and three and four and 1, 2, 3, 4th, 5, 6, 7, one.

Be careful when you're counting in seven.

That you don't slip into 1, 2, 3, 4,. 5, 6.

Because that's really eight, right? Just, just, you know, one of those little quirks in English. So be careful that the word seven only takes up one beat. But could you hear how the eighth note stayed the same? So in any meter shift like that, you're looking for the common denominator, the common note value between those so that you can keep the pulse related. You'll keep the pulse related. Even though the note values and the number of notes in the measure are shifting, the measures are going to sound related. And that's how you deal with that. Now, there is a second kind of meter change that you need to be aware of, and this is much less subtle. And this is when a meter change marks the change in, in sections in the music. And you've probably seen this pretty often, you just might not have thought of it before. But this is a pretty common thing. And remember that the meter signature itself is, you know, when you think about how old music is. The meter signature is relatively recent, just like our whole notation system is relatively recent. So, you know, if you could clap to a beat, you didn't necessarily have to write down the note values. Note values didn't come along until the 1200s. And then lining them up in meters was a little bit later. So.

There'S a lot of history that existed before we got a meter signature. But a change in meter signature that denotes a change of section happens in music that we have throughout the centuries. So some of the newer examples you might know, I'm thinking of.

Let's see, there's some music by Bernard Andress that you might know. One of his. Well, his pieces in the collection et piece Spices, many of them have. This pistache is one of them. That occurs to me right away where the different moods in that piece, and it's a pretty short piece, but there are lots of meter changes and section changes. Right.

One of his petal heart pieces, Duke has, Has a big section change at the end where all of a sudden the, the, the whole feel of the piece changes. Where you've been in 1 meter, like kind in a 12, 8 meter, and all of a sudden you go to a 4, 4 meter, and he just tells you that it's, you know, it's slower. Minamoso, it's slower. And he gives you a new metronome marking for it. And those meters are totally unrelated. It's just a brand new section and you're just going to sort of count it new. Almost like, you know, a different chapter in a book. Right. It's got a different feel to it. Um, Renaissance music is another one where you will find changing meters all the time. And sometimes those meters relate to each other and sometimes they don't. So that you'll have a section of a piece in one meter and one tempo, right. It's got a, A specific speed that goes with it as well and another section that will change. I have a piece here I'm going to play for you. It's a piece by John Dowland called Orlando Sleepeth. And the first part of this piece is. It's slow. The whole piece is kind of a lullaby. Orlando is sleeping, right? And it's in cut time. Cut time is that when you have the C with the vertical line through it, that's called cut time. And it stands for the key signature, not key signature, the meter signature. 2, 2 or 2 half notes per measure. So that's the starting meter. And then after 16 measures, we go into a completely different meter which is 6, 4. Now, it's a little bit related in that in 6, 4, kind of like 6, 8, right? But there are six quarter notes in the measure. And in 6, 4 we have two big beats. One that is the first three beats, 1, 2, 3, and one that is the second three beats, 4, 5, 6. So we've gone from a meter that has two half note beats, 1 and.

2 and 1 and 2, and to.

One that has two beats that are dotted half notes.

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. 1, 2, 3,4, 5, 6.

And although I don't imagine John Dowland noted this in his particular arrangement, most modern publications of it will try to help you out here by telling you that the dotted half Note in the 64 is equivalent to the half note in the first section. So the feel of the piece is changing, but the actual time of, of each half measure does not change. So the half note of the first.

Part, 1 and 2 and 1 and.

2, is actually the same as the dotted half Note in our 64 section.

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. 1, 2, 3,4.

Boy, it's hard to talk and do that at the same time. But that's the idea. So let me play this Dowland piece for you. And once again, the PDF that goes along with this episode has those examples so you can see them. Okay, so here's the Orlando Sleepeth. Now what I'm going to do is play a little bit of the first section and I'll count it so you can hear what it does. So this is the part that's in cut time.

So 1 and 2 and 1 and.

2 and 1, 2, 1, 2, 1, 2.

Now we're going to take that same pulse and a few bars later this turns into six, four. So our pulse is now 1, 2, 3.

1, 2, 3. 1st, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. 1, 2, 3, 4, five, six. 1, 2, 3, four, five, six.

Now, there's a relationship between these sections, even though the meter is different. So that's what you're listening for. I'll play the whole thing through. But you're listening for that change from.

The 1 and 2 and 1 and 2 to the 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. 1, 2, 3, 4,.

5, 6. So here it is from the beginning. Orlando Sleep it.

Sa.

Sam.

You can really hear that different section, can't you? You can hear it all change and that sort of change between sections, whether it's. Whether they're related to each other, the way they are here in the Dowland or not, the way they are in some of The Andres pieces I mentioned. Or in another famous piece with a lot of those kinds of changes. The Salzedo Chanson Dans La Nuit, the.

Song in the Night.

Some of those changes aren't related to each other metrically the way this one is. You know, it's like, okay, this. The half note from the first section equals the dotted half from the second section. Whether they're related or not. Those kind of metric changes reflect the change in texture, the change in section, the change in feel or mood or atmosphere of the piece. So you know it's a musical choice. And you have to be very aware of when you are making that choice, because that's what the composer's trying to tell you. So look for those signs. So if those sections don't relate to each other or have just a note value relationship like they do here in the Dowland, decide whether that new one's going to feel faster or slower. Sometimes the actual relationship of the two tempos is up to you. So be sure you think of it in terms of what you want the piece to say. But if it's just that occasional measure that's changing meter, be sure you find that common note value. Find what stays the same, and then just count the change.

And remember, as we saw before, you've got the quarter note that might be a common denominator. Or the main beat might be the common denominator, that bottom number. But it's possible that that common note value won't be the bottom number in each meter signature. If you're, for instance, switching between 4, 4 and 3, 8. Just to say that the eighth note's going to stay the same, go with the smaller note value and keep that the same between the meters so that you can count easily and make that meter change seamless. One last thing to think about. One of the famous examples that we always like to think about with sort of this metric ambiguity is from west side Story America, right?

I want to be in a bum.

Bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum. And that is a specific case. And actually we don't see the meter change in that. When in the music for that piece there's one meter. But what we hear is a consistent change between a feel of 6, 8 and a feel of 3, 4. Even though it's not notated with a different meter. Right? We have some measures. Every other measure sounds like six, eight or three, four, six, eight.

I want to be in a one, two, three, four, five, six. One, two, three, four, Five, six.

But the next measure, America of 1.

And 2 and 3 and 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. One and two and three and one, 2, 3, 4, five, six, one and two and three and.

And that's very common in Latin music. Latin American music, we have that particular pattern of shifting between a 6, 8 feel and a 3, 4 feel. So that's a meter change that isn't always indicated. You'll find that in some of the Latin American music, either written by or arranged by Alfredo Ortiz as well. Right. That metric change that happens whether the meter is notated as changing or not. And once again, what are you doing there? You're looking for that common denominator in that case, particularly the common eighth note.

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 1 and 2 and 3.

And as long as the eighth note stays the same, that's gonna come out exactly the way it should. So just one last example there to help you make sense of what you might be seeing or hearing. I realized that was a lot of information to digest at once. Be sure to go to the Show Notes, find the link for the PDF that goes along with today's episode. You'll find a couple of the musical examples and just a brief outline of what we talked about today that hopefully will help you remember what we talked about today and use it when you need to in your own harp playing. Now, next week on the podcast, we'll be talking about perfect octaves, about how to play octaves so you don't get those extra notes and you don't get the buzzing stuff and the different techniques, the different ways to play them and everything octaves. So that is next week on the podcast. In the meantime, until I get to talk with you again next week, remember that every day is a day you can add more harp happiness to the universe, to your world, and to your spirit. And all you have to do is play. I'll see you next time. Thanks for tuning in to another episode of the Practicing Harp Happiness podcast. I release a new episode every Monday morning so you can hit your practice week running. Until then, remember to practice your harp happiness every day. See you next time.