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Reading the staff

Time signatures

A time signature shows how beats are grouped and which note value represents the written unit.

See it in the score

3/4 in Bach's Minuet

Three quarter-note beats create the dance's recurring one-two-three frame.

Open measure 1 in the piece
3/4 in Bach's Minuet From Minuet in G Major by J.S. Bach (attrib.; BWV Anh. 114, likely Christian Petzold), source measure 1.

Passage playback follows the literal encoded notes, rhythm, tempo, and written directions in this excerpt. It is a study aid, not a model of a pianist's touch, phrasing, ornament realization, or pedal technique.

In a sentence

A time signature shows how beats are grouped and which note value represents the written unit.

In simple metre, the upper number counts beats and the lower number names their note value. Three-four therefore groups three quarter-note beats per bar.

Compound metres group written eighth notes in threes. Six-eight contains six eighth-note units but is commonly felt as two larger beats; common-time C is another way to write 4/4.