The concept of meter, produced by time signatures and measures, is the essence of notated music. A Time Signature consists of two numbers, one over the other. It is written after the Key Signature but unlike the key signature, the time signature does not get repeated on each line of music. |
The top number tells the number of beats per measure, the bottom number the type of note to equal one beat.

Together the numbers denote the meter. The meters described above are four-four, six-eight, and three-four (often called three-quarter time). |
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