6.4.3 Time signature

Time signature indicates the metrum of a piece: a regular pattern of strong and weak beats. It is denoted by a fraction at the start of the staff.

The time signature is set with the \time command

     
     \time 2/4 c'2 \time 3/4 c'2.

Commonly tweaked properties

The symbol that is printed can be customized with the style property. Setting it to #'() uses fraction style for 4/4 and 2/2 time,

     
     \time 4/4 c'1
     \time 2/2 c'1
     \override Staff.TimeSignature #'style = #'()
     \time 4/4 c'1
     \time 2/2 c'1

There are many more options for its layout. See Ancient time signatures for more examples.

\time sets the property timeSignatureFraction, beatLength and measureLength in the Timing context, which is normally aliased to Score. The property measureLength determines where bar lines should be inserted, and how automatic beams should be generated. Changing the value of timeSignatureFraction also causes the symbol to be printed.

More options are available through the Scheme function set-time-signature. In combination with the Measure_grouping_engraver, it will create MeasureGrouping signs. Such signs ease reading rhythmically complex modern music. In the following example, the 9/8 measure is subdivided in 2, 2, 2 and 3. This is passed to set-time-signature as the third argument (2 2 2 3)

     
     \score {
       \relative c'' {
         #(set-time-signature 9 8 '(2 2 2 3))
         g8[ g] d[ d] g[ g] a8[( bes g]) |
         #(set-time-signature 5 8 '(3 2))
         a4. g4
       }
       \layout {
         \context {
           \Staff
           \consists "Measure_grouping_engraver"
         }
       }
     }

See also

Program reference: TimeSignature, and Timing_translator.

Examples: input/test/compound-time.ly.

Bugs

Automatic beaming does not use the measure grouping specified with set-time-signature.

Other languages: French.