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IV.1Part IV, Meter and Rhythm
Bar Lines
Let's open Part Four with the measure: you'll learn what it is, where to place bar lines, and when to use a double bar line.
6 min7 questionsDanhauser § 177 to 179
In Part One, you learned the signs that stand for durations: the values of notes and rests, how long they are compared with one another, the dot, the double dot, the triplet and the tie. Now let's see how to group them and put them in order. The rules that govern this organization make up the study of meter and of the measure.
Measures and bar lines
Let's start with the measure itself. A measure, which British musicians call a bar, is one of the equal parts into which a piece of music is divided. You see this division as vertical lines drawn across the staff: these are the bar lines.
Everything written between two bar lines, notes and rests alike, forms one measure. And here is the key rule: the total of these values must be the same in every measure of a piece, unless the meter changes along the way. So every measure lasts the same length of time.
However it is filled, each measure holds the value of a dotted half note, or dotted minim, which means three quarter notes, or crotchets.
The double bar line
Now that you know the single bar line, let's look at the double bar line. It always marks the end of a piece, and you also use it in three other places:
to separate two sections of the same piece;
just before a change of key signature;
just before a change of meter, that is, a new time signature, which you'll study in Lesson 3.
Here are the three uses of the double bar line, followed by the final bar line that ends the piece.
Exercisein the method's spirit
1. Add up the values in each measure below, and check that the total is the same all the way through.
Solution
In measure 1, a half note plus two eighth notes makes six eighth notes. In measure 2, a quarter note, a quarter rest and a quarter note also make six eighth notes. In measure 3, a dotted quarter note, worth three eighth notes, plus an eighth note and a quarter note, again makes six. In measure 4, the dotted half note is worth six eighth notes too. So every measure is worth a dotted half note, and the meter is 3/4.
Exercisein the method's spirit
2. Each measure of the following fragment must hold the value of a half note, that is, two quarter notes. Draw in the bar lines.
Solution
Group the values half note by half note: C and E in the first measure, then G, then F, E, D and C, then B, then C and a rest, then E, G and C, and finally the last C.
You now know how music is cut into measures. In the next lesson, we'll look inside the measure, at its beats. But first, a few questions to check that everything is clear.
Check your understanding
7 questions
1.
How does Danhauser define the measure, the “mesure” in French?
2.
If the meter doesn't change, what must all the measures of a piece have in common?
3.
How is the end of a piece shown?
4.
In which of these cases do you NOT use a double bar line?
5.
In this 3/4 example, which measure is incomplete?
6.
A measure contains a half note, a quarter note and two eighth notes. What is its total value?
7.
The values contained between two bar lines are called:
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