Performing Common Time

4/4, Cut Time, & 2/4

In the 18^th century, there were only two types of time – Common Time and Triplet Time.

Before reading this article, check out my discussion of ‘Why did armies march so slow?’ to learn more about Mensural Notation and pre-18^th century music theory.

According to 18^th century fife tutors, According to 18^th century fife tutors, musicians understood Common Time as being:

“known by the following Characters, as thus C, or [Cut C], or [Inverted Cut C], or with Figures thus 2/4 or 4/8”

(Rutherfoord 3; see also Skillern 3; Longman & Broderip 16)

Early 19^th Century sources agree, though they’ve done away with 4/8. Additionally, instead of the Inverted Cut C, they more often show an Inverted C.

Mensural Notation: History of Common Time

The idea of Common Time and its related symbol ‘C’ emerged as a product of an earlier form of musical notation called mensural notation. There were two types of ‘time signatures’: a circle to indicate perfect or triple time and a broken circle (a C) to indicate imperfect or duple time.

Notes function differently in Mensural Notation. A whole note in imperfect (duple) time was broken into two half notes. A whole note in perfect (triplet) time was broken into three half notes. The beat was always on the whole note. Changing the time signature didn’t change where the beat fell, but changed how notes interacted with one another.

From the late 14^th century to the beginning of the 15^th century, “Mannered Notation” (a period of mensural notation) cultivated the earliest forms of Time Signatures, or signs of mensuration, although they are still quite rare and cannot always be trusted to mean what they later mean (Apel 405).

Time Signatures Emerge

During this time, the sign C and an inverted C emerged, but they “are very inconsistently used” (Apel 405). C tends to indicate roughly modern 2/4, but can also indicate 6/8 or Cut Time. The inverted C tends to indicate Cut Time, but can also indicate 2/4 or 6/8.

By the mid-15^th century, much of these earlier advancements and experiments in musical notation converged into White Mensural Notation, which existed from approximately 1450-1600. During this time, the signs of mensuration become somewhat more standardized.

C is known as tempus imperfect andrepresents the equivalent to 2/4 or 4/4. A C with a line through it (C cut) is called proportion dupla or tempus imperfect diminutio and represents a halving of the notes’ values (147). C cut often utilizes larger notes, which can then be reduced by half (191); this relationship between C and C cut is analogous to the modern relationship between 2/4 and Cut Time.

Musicians continued to use the inverted C continues, but confusingly it could still have multiple meanings. Apel notes that inverted C can mean the same as C cut (147); it could also indicate proportion sesquitertia, meaning to quarter the value of the note, or double cut the piece (152). Musicians also used another symbol, an inverted and cut C, which appears to have the same meaning as the sign C3 or C dot. These signs indicate the equivalent to 6/8 or to cut the value by a third (155).

In sum, coming into the 17^th century, there existed four signs of mensuration, or primitive time signatures, that included C (2/4), C cut (2/2), Inverted C (Cut Time or Double Cut Time), and Inverted Cut C (a form of 6/8).

Modern Duple Time Emerges

While these symbols developed a degree of consistency during the White Mensural period, during the 1700s, their continued inconsistent use bothered theorists. This period marks the true shift from mensuration to time signatures, as theorists stopped explaining meter in terms of degrees and proportions and instead spoke of it in terms of duple and triple time.

Because it was possible to retain some of the original rules to describe the new duple time:

“theorists and practical musicians seem to have found it acceptable to retain – albeit in a slightly corrupt form – the mensuration sign for this mood […] Thus the various types of semicircle signs were consistently used throughout the period”

Herissone (65-6)

During this time, Playford coined the term ‘Common Time’ in reference to the C in his A Musicall Banquet (1651) on account of

“the shape of the broken circle, in conjunction with the fact that duple is the most frequent kind of time”

Williams The Story of Notation (178) qtd. in Herissone (66)

3 Types of Common Time

By the later 17^th century, these symbols cohere into three fixed types of Common Time. In Playford’s Introduction (1694), he explains that there are 3 sorts of common time: C, which is the slowest, indicating the modern 4/4; [cut C], which is a little faster, indicating 2/2 or the modern sense of cut time; and [inverted cut C], which is the quickest. Theorists of this time use these three divisions (Herissone 58; 66).

Based on Playford’s Introduction (1694) and Daniel Robinson (1715), the slowest sort of common time, 4/4, is measured such that every swing of a clock’s pendulum equals a quarter note, which means it’s played at 60bpm on the quarter note (52).

Playford also notes that in the fastest common time (inverted cut C):

“you may tell one, two, three, four in a Bar, almost as fast as the regular Motions of a Watch”

Introduction, Playford, 1694 (26) qtd. in Herissone (51-2)

Malcolm’s Treatise of Musick helps to clarify that a watch pulses every half-second (398). This implies the musician strikes every quarter note at 120bpm. Since the inverted cut C is also in 4/4, this time signature is merely Cut Time.

relative Speed in Common Time Time Signatures

The distinction between C cut and inverted C appears to be the relative speed, in which inverted C employs smaller notes values, allowing for a swifter feel to the tune without being quicker in tempo.

In other words, C or 4/4 is played at 60bpm on the quarter note. C cut and inverted C are played at 60bpm on the half note, but C cut contains more half notes and quarter notes, whereas inverted C contains more eighth notes, making it feel quicker.

If this example of Common Time doesn’t make sense, check out this video for a fuller explanation of the difference between Common Time, Cut Time, and 2/4.

Overtime, these three modes eventually collapse into the modes generally seen in mid-19^th century music: C or C cut and 2/4. Originally, the three modes of Common Time – C, cut C, and inverted C – retained their proportional distinction from mensural time by still all being written in 4/4, but utilizing different note values as part of their general character. While all three of these time signatures would have been performed at the typical 60 bpm, the proportional differences in the note values meant that each successive time signature would indicate a swifter and swifter movement.

During the 17^th Century, the symbol 2 or Cut 2 was introduced, which many considered to be equivalent to Inverted Cut C. Herissone suggests that, while many theorists could explain the new 4/4, 4/2, and 2/4, they could not grasp the subtle difference in pulse that the time signatures offered (67-8). 18^th century fife tutors count 2/4 as a form of Common Time and early-19^th century fife tutors add 2/4 as the fourth mode of common time (Hazeltine 16-17; Robinson 22-23; Robbins 3-6; Steele 6).

Common Time in the 18th Century

The function of the different time signatures becomes more acute moving into the early-19^th century.

Fife tutors of this era appear to pair C and inverted C as being slower movements, still performed at the old 60bpm, with C inverted a little swifter, or a “brisk airy movement” (Robbins 6), reflecting its 2/4-nature. Likewise, cut C and 2/4 are paired; these are played at the new American 75bpm. Cut C represents the slightly slower, stately march like C, whereas 2/4 is also a “brisk airy movement”.

By the mid-century, the third mode (inverted C) seems to have disappeared and the performance of C in a slower time has been discarded. Generally, the Americans and British consider a Slow March to be written either in C and later only in cut C. Potter (1817) explains that a C should “be played in Ordinary time [so that] the left Foot goes down at the 1^st [note] and the right at the third Crotchet in each Bar” (The Art of Playing the Fife, 10).

This aligns with the manner of beating the 1^st Mode of Common Time (C) in earlier fife tutors. Both later British manuals, Metzler (c. 1840) and Tamplini (1850), generally agree with Potter, with the exception that Slow Marches are now in Cut Time, as described in the 2^nd Mode. Both Bruce & Emmet and Strube note that Cut Time is played as described in the 2^nd Mode.

2/4 Associated with Quicksteps in early-19th Century

Additionally, the swift character of 2/4 pieces attaches this time signature with the quickstep. This tendency is seen as early as 1812 when Robbins notes that, for 2/4:

“I should prefer beating this twice as quick as the last [inverted C], generally”

Robbins (6)

This implies a sense that 2/4 has begun to take on the notion of a Quickstep, at 120bpm. Potter explains that 2/4:

“is marched in quick time[:] the left Foot to go down at the one [and] the right at the two”

Potter, The Art of Playing the Fife (10)

Metzler and Tamplini agree with this. Tamplini adds that Quick Marches will be played at 108bpm on the half note for Cut and quarter note for 2/4 (Drum-Major, 7). Strube explains that Quicksteps are played as 2/4 “in swiftness” at 110bpm on the quarter note (48).

Want to know how Triple Time functions in French Music?

Performing French Duty Calls

3/4 Beatings in Philidor

Want to know more about performing Common Time in French music?

Performing French Duty Calls

2/2 Beatings in Philidor

Should all 2/4 being performed as quicksteps?

The short answer: No.

What this brief history illuminates is that our modern sense that Common Time is C, cut C, or 4/4 and that Quicksteps are 2/4 crystalizes in military music theory in the mid-19^th century.

These time signatures, however, evolve from an old and complicated system of time signatures.

An 18^th century understanding of these tempos indicates that C, cut C, inverted C, and 2/4 were all performed at the marching pace of 60bpm. These symbols did not indicate any significant different in performance, but rather suggested the character of the piece, with C a slower movement and 2/4 a swift movement.

By the early 19^th century, the shift in relative tempo has begun to take hold. Pieces written in C and inverted C should be performed slower, at the old 60bpm; pieces written in cut C and 2/4 should be performed at the new 75bpm marching pace. Potentially any of these time signatures could be played at the Quickstep rate.

By the mid-century, Slow Marches in C or cut C should be performed at the correct marching speed (75bpm for British and 90bpm for American), while Quicksteps or Quick Marches in cut C or 2/4 should be performed as quicksteps (108bpm for British and 110bpm for American). At this point, all 2/4 pieces should be considered quicksteps and no longer “Common Time” or the ordinary step; whereas cut C may be performed at either tempo depending on the beating.

Summary

Time Signatures	18th Century	1812-era
C	60 bpm on the quarter note	60 bpm on the quarter note
C [cut]	60 bpm on the half note	75 bpm on the half note
C [inverted; inverted & cut]	60 bpm on the half note	60 bpm on the half note
2/4	60 bpm on the quarter note	75 bpm on the quarter note 120 bpm on the quarter note

Selecting an appropriate drum beating

Time Signatures	Character of Beating	Look For
C	Slow, stately	Predominately quarter notes and rests on beat 2 that emphasize the left foot.
C [cut]	Stately, but a bit livelier	Predominately quarter notes and rests on beat 2 that emphasize the left foot, which when played in Cut time will be livelier than in uncut time.
C [inverted; inverted & cut]	Livelier and quick	Mixture of quarter notes and eighth notes, featuring flamadiddles, Lesson 25s, and rolls. This beating should feel or be a 2/4 beating.
2/4	Lively, quick, and light	Mixture of eighth notes and sixteenth notes, featuring paradiddles, lesson 25s, and rolls.

Do you have any evidence or observation concerning how 18th C. fifers and drummers understood the relationship between Time Signature and Tempo? Please contact me or comment below.

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If you want to know more, check out how Triple Time and Compound Time evolved from Mensural Notation.

Or explore how Time Signatures and Tempo may have played a role in the performance of The Troop and our understanding of The Singlings and The Doublings of The Troop.