Hey Sharon,

Very glad you're back in business.

I'd add 12/8 to your list...that's like "Blueberry Hill."

Usually, time sigs in pop music relate to dancing. That's why those are the most common. Adding a 3/4 bar in a song of all 4/4 makes the dancers fall over.

There are unusual time songs. The best of them don't "feel" unusual. "Money" by Pink Floyd is in 7/4 but people dance to it all the time. "Take 5" by Dave Brubeck is another famous one...he did a whole series of odd time songs, including my fave "Blue Rondo ala Turk." And, wasn't the old Mission Impossible theme in 5/4?

In the sixties and seventies, rock musicians experimented with odd times (they experimented with a lot of other odd things). The Grateful Dead did things in 11/4 and one I recall in 10/4 called "Playing in the Band," which some folks argue is in other times. Those were other times.

Math, being what it is, all times break down into duple or triple segments, sometimes a duple segment will be subdivided in triple segments and verse vica, sometimes one will "overlay" the other as in the famous Creedence version of "Midnight Special." Odd times are almost invariably a combination of duple and triple...for example, "Money" sounds to me like 3/4 then 4/4, and "Take 5" sounds to me like 3/4 then 2/4.

The most important time in music is the "good time." If you're having one...it's good music.

All the Best,
Mike

You've got to know your limitations. I don't know what your limitations are. I found out what mine were when I was twelve. I found out that there weren't too many limitations, if I did it my way. -Johnny Cash

It's only music.
-niteshift

Mike Dunbar Music