Help understanding subdivisions of beats in a bar
Why can two consecutive beats be subdivided into "subbeats"?
If a rhythm consists of four beats in a bar, and those beats are subdivided into two "subbeats", can we call it a 8/4 time signature ?
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If meter consisting of bar of four beats...
That would look like this...
...the meter is 4/4 and there are 4 beats and quarter notes represent the beat.
...sub divided by two sub beats ...in between two consecutive beats
That wording is a little unclear, but "subdivsion of the beat" would look like this...
...there are 8 notes, but because they are subdivisions of the beat we use eight notes to represent eighth notes are half the duration of the beat. Notice the meter does not change. We still have 4 beats.
...call it as 8/4 signature?
That meter would mean 8 beats, like this...
...technically nothing is incorrect about 8/4, but it is not normally used. Instead 2 bars of 4/4 would be used, like this...
While 8 eighth notes in 4/4 and 8 quarter notes in 8/4 give the same number of notes (8 notes) the difference is whether the notes represent a full beat or half a beat.
This might become clearer if we use some actual music and follow a common convention of one chord per beat.
Here is a basic four chord progression with all the rhythms at the beat level...
Now let's increase the rhythmic activity to 8 notes by subdividing each beat. When we do that we will keep the chord rhythm to one per beat (the technical name for the rhythm of the chord changes is harmonic rhythm)...
...this kind of subdivision of the beat might happen where the tempo of the beats does not change.
In other words, subdivision of the beat, is a rhythmic change of splitting the beat, without necessarily changing the meter, tempo, or harmonic rhythm.
This is not the only way to subdivide the beat, but it's an example that brings together a few key ideas regarding meter, beat, subdivision, tempo, and harmonic rhythm, all concepts that are intimately inter-related in homophonic (chord based) music.
you mean: why is the time signature of a measure consisting of 8 quarters not a 8/4 signature?
why is it divided in 2 measures of 4/4 ?
I have seen 8/8 or a 4/2 but not a 8/4 measures
in other words you mean to ask: is there a difference between a 4/2 an 4/4
this question has been answered recently
Is there any real-world difference between time signatures such as 4/4 and 8/8?
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