3/4, 3/8, & 6/8
In the 18th century, there were only two types of time – Common Time and Triple Time.
Before reading this article, check out my discussion of ‘Why did armies march so slow?’ to learn more about Mensural Notation and pre-18th century music theory.
According to 18th century fife tutors, musicians understood Triple Time as being:
“marked […] 3/2, 3/4, or 3/8, or thus 9/4, 9/8, 9/16, 6/8, and 12/8”.
(Skillern 3; Rutherfoord 3; Longman & Broderip 16)
Mensural Notation: History of Triple Time
The idea of Triple Time originates with the concept of “perfect” time. Like common time has its origins in mensural notation, so does Triple Time.
Originally, a circle indicated that the beat was on the whole note, but that this whole note was broken down into three lesser notes; in this time signature, everything was proportional based on triplets or threes.
However, by the 1670s, most instructors had stopped referring to the old method of perfect versus imperfect, and instead focused on duple (Common) and triple. By the early 18th century, triple time no longer had the precise connotation as the original perfect time, but now had several variations (Apel 34).
Only two military duty calls are typically in triple time: Singlings of Troops and Retreats.
Triple Time in Military Step: Singlings of the Troop
The Troop summoned regiments to march to the grand parade as part of the guard mounting procedure every morning.
Want to learn more about The Troop and how to perform during guard mounting?
The Troop is also referenced as a form of beating used to march the men in a tight, formal method, which is consistent with guard mounting and certain field maneuvers.
The duty call breaks into ‘Singlings of the Troop’ and ‘Doublings of the Troop’.
Based on fife music, the doublings is a 2/4 or Common Time beating; the Singlings, however, is almost always a 3/4 or 3/8 beating. Drummers perform a proscribed beating which Potter writes out as a 6/8. While there is a proscribed beating for the guard mounting, there are period beatings known as “Short Troops” that seem to answer for marching the guard to their stations. These Short Troops are in 6/8 or 3/8.
To the modern reader, it may seem odd that there is only one regulation drum beating, likely a 6/8, that answers to both 3/8 and 3/4 fife tunes. Based on the history of triple time, we can assume that all Troops – whether written in 3/4 or 3/8 – should all be performed the same. That is, they should be performed as if they were 3/8.
3/4 Read as “Cut Time” or 3/8
Thus a 3/4 Troop should be read in “cut time” so that the beat always falls at the beginning of the measure.
This assumption allows the drum beatings to match both time signatures without the need to alter the drum beating; it also matches common shifts seen in the early 19th century.
Potter’s fife Troop shifts from 3/4 and 3/8 fife parts to a 6/8 Troop. Scott’s Infantry-Tactics notes that the Troop, listed as a 3/8, receives one step to a bar. By B&E, Troops are almost entirely in 3/4, many referred to as Waltzes.
Strube also notes that Troops are in 3/4 and should be performed at 80 bpm on the dotted half note (50). This corresponds to Scott’s use for The Troop and the suggestion that, in the early 18th century, 3/4 could be “cut” into 3/8 for Troops.
Triple Time in Military Step: The Retreat
The Retreat, on the other hand, seems to act in a more modern manner in that they feel more like a quickstep.
Want to learn more about The Retreat and how to perform it?
The English Retreat was originally a 2/4. By the 1812-era, the Retreat became more ceremonial. Fifers in both the British and American armies substituted the tunes at will, so long as they matched the drum part, which had now been converted into a 3/4.
Marching to a Retreat
At this point, Potter explains that in Triple Time, one steps with every quarter note, so that the left foots steps on the first note of the first bar and the right foot steps at the first note of the second bar, and so on. It should be marched to in ordinary time, or at 75bpm on the quarter note (The Art of Playing the Fife, 11).
Scott’s Infantry-Tactics re-enforces this when he notes that The Retreat (a 3/4) should have 3 steps to a bar (so that each quarter notes gets a step) at 110bpm on the quarter note. This essentially makes the 3/4 a quickstep.
In B&E and Strube, Slow Retreats are written as 3/4 and described as moderato, which corresponds to the tempo of a quickstep. Quick Retreats are written as 9/8 and described as allegro, or little quicker and livelier than a quickstep, but still performed as three steps in a measure.
Want to know how Triple Time functions in French Music?
Compound Time: Triple Time as a Quickstep
A mixture of Common Time and Triple Time, Compound Time first appears in 19th century sources and includes 6/4 and 6/8.
This is essentially counted like Common Time, in which the beats must be counted by stepping with the left foot on the 1st note in the bar and raising the foot in the middle of the bar (Hazeltine 17; Robinson 23; Glazier, 1830; Bruce & Emmet, 1862, 13), or “at the expiration of two thirds of the bar” (Steele 6).
Whereas Common Time has four notes per measure, Compound Time has six; therefore, the right foot steps on the 4th note (Potter, The Art of Playing the Fife, 10).
6/8 as Quicksteps
Early-19th century sources explain that 6/8 should be performed in 1.5 seconds, which means it the same speed as a 2/4, or 75 beats per minute (Robinson 22-23).
Just as the 2/4 becomes associated with the quickstep during the early-19th century, 6/8 appears to have been performed swiftly. Potter states that 6/8, like 2/4, ought to be performed in quick time (The Art of Playing the Fife 10), which for Potter is 120bpm. Similarly, Scott’s Infantry-Tactics notes that 6/8 should be played as a Quick Step, therefore 110 steps per minute.
The inclusion of 6/4 was most likely of French influence, as it is rarely seen in American or British music. The majority of beatings in the French ordonnance Instruction des Tambour (1754) are in 6/4. The manual demonstrates that there are 2 steps in a measure, on the first and fourth beat, as described in American manuals for compound time. This allows the 6/4 notation to be cut and thought of as 6/8.
If this doesn’t make sense, check out this video that talks about performing 6/4 in the French ordonnance beatings.
Compound Time: The Double Drag
The Double Drag is a form of 6/8 beating containing a rudiment known as a Double Drag that is triplet-based.
Hulbert’s manual (1807) contains suggestions for metronome string length and indicates that a Double Drag should be played at a different speed than a “Trio,” or a flam accent based 6/8 (1). Double Drags should have a string of 27 inches, which roughly equals 72bpm, and a Trio should have a string of 22 inches, which roughly equals 80bpm.
Scott also includes a Double Drag in his Reveille that is meant to be played at 140bpm on the quarter note, but the double drags are noted in a way that each double drag spans two beats and therefore are played at 70bpm, corresponding with Hulbert’s value.
Because of the nature of double drags, they are difficult to perform well at speeds much above 70, and therefore even as 6/8s become faster and associated with the quickstep, Double Drag beatings apparently retain a slower speed reminiscent of the earlier common time speed of 60-75bpm.
Summary
| Time Signatures | 18th Century | 1812-era |
| 3/4 | 60 bpm on the dotted half | 75 bpm on the dotted half 120 bpm on the quarter |
| 3/8 | 60 bpm on the dotted quarter | 75 bpm on the dotted quarter |
| 6/8 | 60 bpm on the dotted quarter | 75 bpm on the dotted quarter 120 bpm on the dotted quarter |
| 6/4 | 60 bpm on the dotted half | |
| Double Drag | 60 bpm on the dotted quarter | ~70 bpm on the dotted quarter |
SELECTING AN APPROPRIATE DRUM BEATING
| Time Signatures | |
| 3/4 Troop | Select a 6/8 |
| 3/4 Retreat | Use a Retreat beating |
| 3/8 | Select a 3/8 or 6/8 |
| 6/8 | Select a flam accent based 6/8, especially for quicksteps in 6/8 |
| Double Drag | Select a Double Drag for 6/8, especially for slower 6/8s or swung rhythms in the fife part |
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.
If you want to know more, check out how Common Time evolved from Mensural Notation.
Or explore how Time Signatures and Tempo played a role in some of the major duty calls:
I have for some time wondered whether or not the title of a tune referred to its tempo. In the British army of Samuel Potter the “quickstep”, 108 steps per minute, was only to be used for moving troops quickly and then only for short periods. It was also used as part of a formal review. Given the infrequency the soldiers march at the “quick” I wondered why there is such a significant number of tunes entitled “quicksteps”. Does your conclusion above suggest that they all should be played at 108 bpm in the Napoleonic British Army?
In my personal opinion, if the musicians of the era were calling a tune/beating a quickstep, then we should assume it was being performed as one. (The same, I think, for tunes/beatings called marches or troops, should likely be performed at the Common Time.)
I’ve wondered as well about the number of Quickstep tunes, since you’re right – they aren’t marching for long durations at the quickstep. For the most part, they seem to use the quickstep to perform certain evolutions – like wheels, column into line, etc.
Rumrille (1817) for example lists a number of quicksteps, describes as: “calculated for performing the various evolutions of companies on a March” (13).
But if we think about this mathematically, this might make perfect sense:
A standard quickstep (AABB, 8 bars each line), will take 35 seconds to perform at 108bpm. (30 seconds at 120bpm).
I would expect these kinds of maneuvers at the company or regimental level would take about that long to perform. So once through a quickstep to complete a maneuver.
I’m also curious how much soldiers are marching at the quickstep during the Guard Mounting / The Troop. If the Doublings of the Troop is meant to be at the quickstep, then they musicians would be playing at least 1 quickstep every day. The variety would then make even more sense. I talk about these suspicions in my discussion of the Troop.
And what, then, are we to make of the fact that there are tunes that in some ms are referred to as quicksteps but in others not?
Perhaps, if one tune is labelled “X quickstep” and another is simply “X” – we might assume the latter musician was simply being lazy and still performed it as a quickstep? If you’ve seen examples where the same tune is called “X quickstep” by one person and “X march” by another, then I think we’d have to find more evidence to give us an answer. Perhaps it was a tune performed both at the common time and quickstep; perhaps it’s nature changed over time?
I can’t speak for the Amercian Army and how they used Quicksteps, but the British Napoleonic Army used the quick march very infrequently. And yet there are over 73 tunes named Quicksteps in the Buttrey manuscript c 1800. As a result, I remain unconvinced that the name of the tune means anything more than the piece sounds faster than a “slow” march. I am willing to be convinced in the context of the British army, but so far, I have not been. I’m hoping to get clarity through this wonderful site
Your question / thoughts have really got me curious about this topic. Once I finalize some work on this site, I definitely would like to take up this research question and see what more I can find out. Thanks for the great topic / line of questioning!