in this series of videos I'll be explaining what time signatures are and how they work in this video part two I'll be explaining the difference between simple and compound time signatures and I'll be exploring duple triple and quadruple time signatures if you're not sure what time signatures are have a look at part one of this series of videos first okay let's look at the difference between simple and compound time signatures first all time signatures can be referred to as either simple or compound simple meaning that the pulse can be divided equally into two inab beats I'll explain this in a moment whereas compound time is when the pulse is divided equally into three inner beats so what do I mean by Inner beats well here's 44 we already know that this means that the beats are crotchets and that there are four of them in each bar to determine whether 44 is a simple or compound time signature we split the pulse in this case a crotchet into equal parts each crotchet can be split into two Quavers as the pulse can be divided equally into two then the time signature can be referred to as simple in other words 44 is a simple time signature here's 32 we know that this means the beats are minims and that there are three of them in each bar we split the pulse a minim into equal parts it can be split into two crotchets this time signature along with 44 can also be referred to as simple now you may have notied that I've started to use the word pulse in place of Beats there's a reason for this identifying simple and compound time signatures is actually dependent on the pulse as opposed to the beat let's look at six now you'll know that this time signature means six Quaver beats in the bar however have a look at this tune it's the opening bars to the nursy rhyme Humpty Dumpty pause this video and have a go at singing or humming this tune but tapping your feet to the pulse at the same time now if you did have a go at that you probably tapped your feet on each of these notes that I've highlighted this is what we call the pulse the feel of the music and you can see that there are two pulses per bar even though the beat is six Quavers it would feel very odd if we try to tap our feet to all six Quavers in the bar if you don't believe me try singing or humming the tune again and tapping your feet to every Quaver beat so although there are six Quaver beats in each bar we've calculated that there are actually two pulses in each bar in 68 it's this pulse which we use to help us determine whether the times inure is simple or compound the pulse is on the first beat of the bar and on this note which is Quaver Beat 4 this means that the pulse occurs every three Quavers if we add three Quavers they equal a dotted crotchet and we can use this as our pulse we use the pulse to determine whether the time signature of 68 is simple or compound we split the pulse into equal parts it can't be two cravers as these equal a crotchet whereas three Quavers equal a dotted crotchet as the pulse can be split into a group of three the time signature 68 is compound let's look at another time signature 34 we know that there are three crot beats per Bar happy birthday is in 34 sing it if you need to and tap your feet to the pulse and if you know what an anac Cruis is there's one at the beginning the tune actually starts on beat three you'll soon see and feel that there are three pulses per bar therefore we can safely say that the pulse is the same as the beat three crotchets we take one of these crotchets and split it into equal parts that gives us two Quavers as each pulse can be split into two this means that 34 is a simple time signature I will look at more time signatures and whether they are simple or compound in part three of this series of videos I'll also look at 38 which is a bit of an anomaly in a moment so we now know that time signatures can be referred to as simple or compound but they can also be referred to as duple triple or quadruple for example we've already worked out that 44 is a simple time signature we can actually call it a simple quadruple time signature the quadruple merely referring to the number of pulses as quad means four we'll look at some other examples in a minute but just remember that duple means two so time signatures with two pulses triple meaning three and as I mentioned a moment ago quadruple means four so 34 which we calculated to be a simple time signature a moment ago could be referred to as simple triple as it has three beats per bar let's look at two4 it is a simple time signature as each crotchet beat can be split into two Quavers and as it has two beats in a bar it is therefore duple or to give it its correct name a simple d time signature 68 well we calculated it a moment ago to be a compound time signature we also worked out that it had two pulses so it is duple 68 is a compound duple time signature now I mentioned a moment ago that 38 is somewhat of an anomaly or at least not as straightforward as other time signatures firstly is it simple or compound well you might understandably argue that if you listen to a piece of music in 38 it feels like there is one pulse or a single dotted crotchet in each bar if you split this into equal inner beats you'd get three Quavers making it compound however the problem is when you try to call it duple triple or quadruple if 38 does have one pulse in the bar we can't use any of these words to describe it there is no such word for one pulse in a bar therefore we have to revert back to the three Quaver beats per bar rather than just a pulse of one as there are three beats we can refer to as triple we also need to split each beat into equal parts each Quaver can be split into two semiquavers as the beat can be split into two it is therefore a simple time signature or when you give it its full name a simple triple time signature I appreciate that 38 is a bit of a tricky one and it's sometimes just best to learn and remember that it is triple simple rather than trying to calculate it in the middle of a music theory exam so before we finish just a quick recap simple time signatures where the pulse can be split into two equal in beats compound time signatures where the pulse can be split into three equal in beats duple two beats or pulses per bar Triple Three beats or pulses per bar and quadruple four beats or pulses per bar in this video I've covered most of the common time signatures you're likely to come across and they are all listed on on the screen the time signatures in red are other common time signatures which I didn't quite have time to discuss in detail in this video just remember that for any time signature always refer to it as either simple or compound and whether it's duple triple or quadruple thanks for watching this video please do keep watching for part three where I'll be looking at some other less common time signatures