Great video - very informative. Possibly it’s on the list you mention but - at least for those of us on the other side of the pond (UK and Ireland) - the one traditional song that I was given as an example of 6/8 is “My bonnie lies over the ocean, my bonnie lies over the sea..”.
Someone that doesn't know about music theory here, isn't 3/4 and 6/8 sort-of the same thing? Couldn't a composer decide that one of his 3/4 pieces is 6/8 and be technically correct? Edit: thanks for the answers!
meter is your answer here. for example, a song in 3/4 is usually felt as 3 quarter notes, which can be further subdivided into 3 groups of 2 eighth notes. 6/8 is usually meant to show 2 groups of 3 eighth notes. the difference can be felt by comparing a waltz time vs a song like “maggot brain” by funkadelic. in the former, you can feel the three separate pulses. in the latter, there are only two. so technically, they can represent the same music (6/8 can also show the same feel as 3/4), but 6/8 allows clarity in representing 2 groups of 3 rather than 3 groups of 2. hope that helps
Often times too, the harmony will match up with the downbeats. Not always, but a composer will often have the chord changes match up with the downbeat. And yes, as the others have comments one m. of 3/4 will often have 3 stronger pulses (3 quarter notes as beats), where 6/8 will more often have only 2 stronger pulses (the 2 dotted-quarters as beats). Technically the 3/4 still does have 6 8ths, but the emPHAsis is on a different syLLAble =)
Ohh, that makes sense now. So 3/4, 3 points of emphasis, 6/8, 2 points of emphasis.. I was thinking of the song meter as too objective of a thing, like "this song is objectively 3/4 and cannot possibly be considered 6/8" when that doesn't seem to be the case from what I gather. Thank you everyone for answering!
Great video - very informative. Possibly it’s on the list you mention but - at least for those of us on the other side of the pond (UK and Ireland) - the one traditional song that I was given as an example of 6/8 is “My bonnie lies over the ocean, my bonnie lies over the sea..”.
Great suggestion - thank you for sharing! That's a great one I hadn't thought of. I'll need to add it to a future version of the list =)
Great video! One more method is to listen to melodic phrasing. It's not always clear but it can give us hints.
Thanks so much! And yes, great method that often helps too =)
This is a lovely explanation, thank you :)
Glad it was helpful! =)
Someone that doesn't know about music theory here, isn't 3/4 and 6/8 sort-of the same thing? Couldn't a composer decide that one of his 3/4 pieces is 6/8 and be technically correct?
Edit: thanks for the answers!
different metre
@@TheNewslandian different what (I use the metric system I just dunno what you meant)
meter is your answer here. for example, a song in 3/4 is usually felt as 3 quarter notes, which can be further subdivided into 3 groups of 2 eighth notes. 6/8 is usually meant to show 2 groups of 3 eighth notes. the difference can be felt by comparing a waltz time vs a song like “maggot brain” by funkadelic. in the former, you can feel the three separate pulses. in the latter, there are only two. so technically, they can represent the same music (6/8 can also show the same feel as 3/4), but 6/8 allows clarity in representing 2 groups of 3 rather than 3 groups of 2.
hope that helps
Often times too, the harmony will match up with the downbeats. Not always, but a composer will often have the chord changes match up with the downbeat.
And yes, as the others have comments one m. of 3/4 will often have 3 stronger pulses (3 quarter notes as beats), where 6/8 will more often have only 2 stronger pulses (the 2 dotted-quarters as beats). Technically the 3/4 still does have 6 8ths, but the emPHAsis is on a different syLLAble =)
Ohh, that makes sense now. So 3/4, 3 points of emphasis, 6/8, 2 points of emphasis.. I was thinking of the song meter as too objective of a thing, like "this song is objectively 3/4 and cannot possibly be considered 6/8" when that doesn't seem to be the case from what I gather. Thank you everyone for answering!