Let me see if I can help a bit.
The top number tells you how many counts there are in a bar. The bottom number tells you what kind of note gets a full count.
For example.
4/4 time. The top number tells you there are 4 counts per bar.
The bottom number tells you that a 1/4 notes gets a full count. So, in a bar in 4/4 time can hold the equvilant of 4 1/4 notes. You would count it 1,2,3,4
6/8 time. The top number tells you there are 6 counts per bar.
The bottom number tells you that an 1/8th note gets a full count. Therefor in 6/8 time, each bar can hold the equvilant of 6 1/8 notes. This can be somewhat confusing as a 1/4 note in 6/8 time is actually worth 2 counts!
The difference between 2/4 and 4/4 time.
You would notice this difference more significantly if you were a drummer as it is about accents. When playing music, we use accents but drummers especially pipe drummers need to know if a song is 2/4 or 4/4 so that they can do the right patterns.
In 4/4 time, the accents are generally done like this. 1st beat the strongest, 2nd beat light, 3rd beat medium, 4th beat light.
In 2/4 time, the first beat is strong, the second beat light.
So the difference is that music in 2/4 has beats accented: Strong, light, Strong, Light, Strong, Light, all through the song. In 4/4 you have Strong, light, medium, light, Strong, Light, Medium, Light.
Some people will write 2/4 music in 4/4 so that the faster notes don’t look so cluttered and you may actually find that a song in 4/4 was originally in 2/4 but unless you are doing some really serious drum work, I wound not worry about that too much!
An interesting note is that 6/8 music is closer to 2/4 music than 3/4. That is because 6/8 music is often played with groupings of 3 notes. 123 456 etc. These notes grouped together form 1 beat, so while there are 6 counts per bar, there are really only 2 beats. 123 & 456. If you like to tap your foot while playing, you would tap on Beats 1 & 4.
Music that divides up into even groups of notes, ie:
2/4 = 1&2&
3/4 = 1&2&3&
4/4 = 1&2&3&4& etc
are refered to as SIMPLE TIME
Music that divides up into groups of 3 notes:
6/8 = 123 456
9/8 = 123 456 789 etc
are refered to as COMPOUND TIME
As for what are different kinds of music?
Much of the Celtic terms we use for tune types refer to dances.
Horn pipes, jigs and reels are all dances.
A great way to see the differences between these different kinds of tunes is to watch Irish or highland dancing. Another good way is to take out 4 tunes of each type and look for the simularity. Jigs for instance are written in Compound time, they are done in groups of three notes. 6/8, 9/8 etc. Reels, marches & Hornpipes are in Simple time.
Hope that helps some!!!
Sandy
To figure out jigs versus slides or reels vs hornpipes, which may look identical in print, listen to cd’s with examples.
