Compound Meter

Compound Meter Each beat is divided into three equal parts instead of two. Also called Compound Time.

Most compound meters have an 8 in the bottom of the time signature. In simple meter this would mean the 8th note receives the beat, but in compound meter the eighth note is the subdivision of the beat and the dotted quarter receives the beat.

The most common compound time signatures are:   

To review how Time Signatures function in Simple Time see Understanding Time Signatures.

For a review on Meter see Understanding Meter.

Counting Compound Meter

In very slow tempos the eighth note may receive the beat. So in reality there are two different ways to count compound time: slow or fast. In slow compound time you count each eighth note and then divide each beat into two subdivision just like simple time. In fast compound time you count each dotted quarter as the beat and then subdivide using the numbers 2 and 3. The method you use is up to you and somewhat dependent on the speed of the music.

Slow: Fast:

Speaking Compound Meter

Beaming Compound Meter

In compound time it is important to remember to beam the eighths in groups of 3 so that the compound nature of the beat can easily be seen. Notice the difference between the compound meter beaming and the simple meter beaming. Notice that both rhythms are the same note values but the time signature and the beaming are different.

Compound Meter:

play_circle   𝅘𝅥    𝄀 𝅘𝅥   𝅘𝅥.  𝄂

Simple Meter:

play_circle   𝅘𝅥     𝄀 𝅘𝅥  𝅘𝅥  𝄂

Examples of Compound Meter Rhythms

Below are a few examples of rhythms in Compound Time.

Compound Rhythms with Eighth, Quarter and Dotted Half

This is just an introduction to the rhythms we can create in compound time. In future levels we will practice more complex rhythms with 16ths, dotted eighths, rests and ties.

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