Thread: Do you have a favourite time signature?

A stupid question, I know, but I'm serious. Is there a time signature that catches your attention more than others?

I may well just be asking this because I'm in a very bright mood at the moment, and I've temporarily fallen in love with 2/4 because Marches are just so damn fun! Of course, not so far removed from 2/4 is my other favourite, 6/8, which you may well know is because I can't get enough of the Tarantella.

5/4 is a curious one - tends to be quite evocative and engaging; especially ever since I listened to the second movement of Tchaikovsky's 6th.

I like 1/1

7/16 ftw!

If you want to mention something off the wall, you are required to cite an example available on recordings.

4/4. I'm boring.

4/4 is good. I am surely fascinated by 5/4, the meter of the Kalevala, Finland's national epic.

(3+3+6)/8 as in America from West side story.
If I remember correctly, it's printed in 3/4 (not even 6/8), but it's so transparently not: an interesting example of the difference between what is written to aid comprehension and learning, and what is actually performed.

And Philip Glass, who is often criticised for repetition, you find actually has a deal of detail when you get your hands on the score. Eg, Vessels from Koyaanisqatsi alternates bars of (2+2+2)/6 and (3+3)/6.

Pat Metheny has a track on his album Letter from home which is certainly in 17 beat units (it's called 5-5-7 which, sort of, gives a clue but it's so across the (dotted) barline that it can be hard to hear the individual 5 and 7 subbars). The previous (inevitably) brief track is called 45/8, but I can't count quickly enough to verify that it is indeed in that time signature.

Originally Posted by Polednice

If you want to mention something off the wall, you are required to cite an example available on recordings.

Move to Bulgaria!

Originally Posted by Dodecaplex

I like 1/1

Have you heard the scherzo to Borodin's 2nd Symphony? It's in 1/1 for a large part of it.

In general 3/4 would prove to be my favorite, because I love dance music (waltzes, mazurkas, etc.). But 7/8 takes the crown for originality. And snazz:

Originally Posted by Huilunsoittaja

Have you heard the scherzo to Borodin's 2nd Symphony? It's in 1/1 for a large part of it.

That's exactly what I had in mind. Also, I've written a number of pieces in 1/1.

Originally Posted by Polednice

...
I may well just be asking this because I'm in a very bright mood at the moment, and I've temporarily fallen in love with 2/4 because Marches are just so damn fun! Of course, not so far removed from 2/4 is my other favourite, 6/8, which you may well know is because I can't get enough of the Tarantella.
...

I'm not a musician, but I have also begun to like folkish-things with strong rhythm, esp. getting into guitar music of many kinds lately. Eg. Rodrigo, Castelnuovo-Tedesco and esp. Boccherini's Guitar Quintet #4, which is called the Fandango (after it's final movement), a Spanish form which I'm sure has a time signature attached, I'll have to dig out the cd notes which might mention that, it makes me move my body and the repetition is akin to an early form of minimalism...

Its hard to pick a favorite for me on this one. Sometimes I don't know the time signature of a piece till I've seen the score.

There is one Alkan piece for piano that is written with two time signatures, one for the right hand and one for the left!

i feel like 3/4 is a very intimate time signature. But I like 7/128

I like them all.

I think oddball time signatures are more apparent when used in pop or rock (to our modern ears) because they are not as expected. When Brahms uses polyrhythms it doesn't seem as startling to me as this weird corny little piece "Seven is a Jolly Good Time" which is only partly in seven time and partly in several times I think. (People allergic to cheese should avoid this link. You have been warned.)

Then again maybe Brahms was just smoother and subtler at it.

I do like the 5/4 from Tchaikovsky's sixth symphony, but my favorite is probably 3/4.