A piece of music with no time signature?!?

Question

I was looking through one of my piano books, and I found a piece in it with no time signature. It's "Trois Gnossiennes", by Erik Satie. I've never seen this before. Why is there no time signature? Are there other pieces like this?

Answer 1

There is something called "free time." This is usually done in the context of a time signature and allows the player to take a tempo that is comfortable and musical to them. However, I would interpret something without a time signature just as an expression of relationships between the notes. For example, each half note has to be twice as long as a quarter note, but not necessarily having any measures. If there are measures, it may be for the sake of convenience to help you understand the phrasing. Chant is also written with no time signature, since those types of notations did not exist in the 15th-16th centuries. Check out Für Alina by Arvo Pärt, it also uses this concept and is for piano. It's one of my favorite works to play on piano.

Answer 2

There are plenty of pieces (mostly in the 20th century) without time signatures. And yes, many of them still have barlines. This doesn't necessarily mean the piece is "free," although it often does. Sometimes composers (publishers?) leave out time signatures if they feel that a constantly changing time signature will be more confusing for the performer.



Happens a lot, actually! :-)

Answer 3

Another benefit of carefully choosing time signatures is that it tells the performer where you want the stresses to fall. Generally, in 4/4 time, there is a primary stress on the first beat and a secondary stress on the third beat. However, in 2/2 time, there is should only be a stress on the first beat. Both measures would contain one whole note, or two half notes or four quarter notes, but the emphasis on those notes would be different.

Answer 4

Satie was making a statement to the performer to not be encumbered by the bar line. telling the performer to make long phrases. in Satie's original manuscript there are also only barlines in the left hand to exaggerate this point. Though there certainly is a meter in this piece even without it being explicitly notated.



There are many pieces like this. the best known is probably one of the movements from Messian's Quartet For The End Of Time. it also has no time signature.

Answer 5

Ahhh, Bohemians. As someone else pointed out, this is because Satie didn't want the peace to feel too constrained by a specific time signature. After all, strict adherence to time signatures dose inherently limit the boundaries of line and phrasing. Not all melodies are 16 beats long. So Satie here is simply saying that you should still follow the rhythm of his notes, but don't let your phrasing be limited by measure markings.

Answer 6

For the best answers, search on this site https://shorturl.im/awoED



The bottom number does NOT indicate the number of beats per measure. Most people say that the bottom number indicates what kind of note receives one beat, but there are cases where this is not true. The main reasons to use a different meter signature is for readability, phrasing, and certain tempo considerations. Musician, composer, director.

Answer 7

A piece that doesn't employ a time signature or bar lines is considered to have an "absolute time."

I don't know of any other pieces that have been written using the same structure, as, with its Physics counterpart, are believed to be just a matter of interpretation.

Answer 8

That one's in four. There are others that have mixed time signatures (x number of measures in 4/4 then y number of measures in 3 etc.)



... It's not completely uncommon.

Answer 9

If there's a snazzy-looking C or a C with a dash through it, that means it's either 'common time' aka 4/4, or 'cut time' aka 2/4.



Otherwise, there are many artistic reasons that would lead a composer to omit a time signature. Schnittke, Schoenberg, and many other composers like them have written pieces without time signatures.

Answer 10

I don't know so much about piano music, but in a situation where there is a large group of people and a conductor it would mean that the conductor has complete control over the time. He/she will dictate everything to you.



IRS

Answer 11

Sometimes when there is no time signature it just stands for 4/4.

Check for a little C in the beginning-that stands for 4/4 as well.

Answer 12

I have never seen that. Without a time signature, there would be no measures.

Answer 13

LOL



that's funny... I don't' think it's possible for a piano piece to not have time signature.



how would that work?

Answer 14

it is a 4/4 which they just put nothing or a c for it

Answer 15

its 4/4 coz those other people above me says so...