Time Signature

The time signature is the pair of numbers after the clef. The top number says how many beats are in each measure; the bottom says which note value gets one beat.

In 4/4 there are four beats per bar and a quarter note is one beat. In 3/4 there are three, which is why waltzes feel like they do. In 6/8 the eighth note is the beat and they group in twos of three.

Two numbers stacked at the start of the piece, right after the key signature. It is written once and holds until it changes.

Read the time signature of any piece, then count that many beats per measure through the first line. If the count comes out even at every bar line, you have read it right.

Open any piece of sheet music on this site and do it now. Reading is a recognition skill, and recognition is built by finding things, not by reading about them.

Count one two three, and lean on the one. In 3/4 the first beat of every bar is the heavy one and the other two are light, which is the whole sound of a waltz.

Say it out loud while you play. The left hand in a waltz usually takes a bass note on beat 1 and a chord on beats 2 and 3, so your hands spell the count out for you.

Every bar holds three quarter notes' worth, however it is filled. Three quarter notes, or a half note and a quarter, or one dotted half note held right through. The count does not change when the notes do.