[jancsika]

Bug: rapid calls to 3/4 get parsed as 6/8

1. Take the 3/4 example and convince yourself you fully understand the difference between 3/4 time and 6/8 time.

2. Let your ostensible understanding lead you to listen to a waltz.

3. Get familiar enough with the waltz that you can sing along with the melody.

4. Now ask yourself: does the melody sound like it divide up into groups of measures, or is the melody just freely moving around in no discernible pattern?

5. Realize very quickly that the melody divides up into groups of measures.

6. Realize that the melody very likely divides up into groups of two measures to build larger phrases.

7. Realize that many waltzes move at a rapid tempo so that each measure of 3/4 moves by quite quickly.

8. Realize that regularly recurring fast 3/4 measures which divide up perceptually into two-measure groups sounds exactly like... 6/8.

This bug affects all CPUs.

The only currently known workarounds are genre literacy and knowledge of notational convention.

[rhapsodic]

My understanding is rudimentary compared to yours, but I learned (perhaps incorrectly) long ago that for 3/4 time (waltz time) you can count:

ONE two three TWO two three ONE two three TWO two three

and that indeed sounds more similar to the article's 6/8 example than its 3/4 example.

[bdhess]

That’s a common thing to hear when trying to follow the steps for a waltz (counting out RIGHT left right LEFT right left can only be correct for one partner at a time).

[tgb]

I don't think genre literacy counts as a workaround: I think it's really the definition of what is or is not 6/8. The 6/8 time wheel gives a heavy bass drum on the four count. I don't notice such a thing in the waltz every other measure.

I'm more familiar with 4/4 time due to the genres I know well, but it's a similar thing there. I used to think that the 1 and the 2 beats were indistinguishable - you can start off by one and it still repeats with period 4. But now I can reliably pick up the difference, generally by listening to where the bass drum lands versus the high hat. However I'm not as good at telling the 1 and 3 counts apart or the first measure in a phrase from the second. These are just more subtle conventions on longer scale.

6/8 and all time signatures are just notations, just ways to encode information about the song. There's a correct answer but yes, it depends upon conventions. You can call it 1/1 time if you want, but it's not going to help you play your part or dance along if the conductor tells you that.

[jancsika]

> The 6/8 time wheel gives a heavy bass drum on the four count. I don't notice such a thing in the waltz every other measure.

Here's 6/8 beat hierarchy:

Beat 1: Strongest

Beat 2: Weak

Beat 3: Weak

Beat 4: Strong

Beat 5: Weak

Beat 6: Weak

The first beat of the measure is the strongest. Beat 4 is strong but typically not as strong as the first beat.

Now here is the 3/4 beat hierarchy for many types of pieces that are in 3/4 time:

Measure 1 Beat 1: Strongest

Measure 1 Beat 2: Weak

Measure 1 Beat 3: Weak

Measure 2 Beat 1: Strong

Measure 2 Beat 2: Weak

Measure 2 Beat 3: Weak

The first beat of the measure 1 is the strongest. Beat 1 of measure 2 is strong but typically not as strong as the first beat of measure 1. These two measure groups typically continue for the entire piece, as in a waltz.

The two are functionally equivalent in terms of rhythm.

It's confusing because there are three variables: the number of beats in a measure (top of the fraction), which duration gets the beat (bottom of the fraction), and the tempo (how long each beat lasts).

[LanceH]

I just stick with 4/4 and do two lines of melody every three measures.