Three-four time

Three beats, one point of weight

The bar divides time into units of equal length, separated by barlines. With the time signature 3/4 the upper number says that three beats fit into a bar, the lower that a quarter note forms one beat. On the page Rhythm it says: three quarter notes, the typical waltz, counted one-two-three with a clear stress on the one.

The table sets 3/4 beside two neighbours from the learning path. Unlike in four-four time there is no second, middle stress: on the heavy one two light beats follow. Rhythm Dictation describes it like this: in three-four time the waltz character arises from the grouping in threes.

Counting and feeling

Count aloud “1 – 2 – 3” and tap the basic beat with your foot. If a beat divides into two eighth notes, you slip in an “and”: “1 and 2 and 3 and”. That is the same way of counting as in four-four time, only with one number fewer.

Waltz and minuet

The building block Tempo shows through dances how closely time signature and tempo are connected. A waltz, it says, swings in a flowing triple time whose tempo is chosen just so that couples can turn. A minuet is measured and dignified. In both cases the tempo is not arbitrary: a waltz played too slowly is no longer good for dancing.

Three minuets in the archive

In the sheet music archive there are several minuets in 3/4. The following three are easy to compare in the score. All three come from the Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach; for the Minuet in G major the sheet names Christian Petzold, for the Minuet in G minor the archive gives Bach, but the sheet itself notes that it is attributed to Petzold. Only for the Minuet in F major does the sheet name Bach without reservation. All three numbers carry the addition “Anh.” (appendix of the Bach catalogue).

Minuets in three-four time

• Menuett G-Dur Christian Petzold, from the Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach, BWV Anh. 114 · piano · 1 page

  The time signature 3/4 appears on both staves, with one sharp in the key signature. The melody begins with a quarter note on the one, followed by four eighth notes on beats two and three.

• Menuett F-Dur from the Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach (1725), BWV Anh. 113 · piano · 1 page

  3/4 with one flat. Triplets already appear in the first bars, recognisable by the small 3 above every three notes. The archive names Bach as the composer; the addition “Anh.” in the BWV number marks the appendix of the catalogue with pieces of doubtful authenticity.

• Menuett g-Moll from the Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach, BWV Anh. 115, attributed to Christian Petzold according to a note on the sheet · piano · 1 page

  Also 3/4, with two flats in the key signature. The melody begins with three quarter notes, so it fills the first bar completely with the three-step.

How you recognise 3/4 in the score

• The time signature at the start of the line shows 3/4.
• The sum of the note values per bar gives three quarter notes. An example: a dotted half note fills the bar on its own, a half note plus a quarter note likewise.
• An upbeat is an incomplete first bar whose missing beats are completed at the end of the piece.