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Two stacked numerals at the start of a piece, stating the metre.
Also known as: Metre signature, Two numbers on top of each other
Sometimes confused with: Music fraction
Two stacked numbers state how many beats a bar holds and what note value counts as one. It is not a fraction, and writing it as one — with a line between — is a common error.
States how many beats each bar contains, in the upper numeral, and which note value counts as one beat, in the lower.
Contexts: Music
Is not a fraction and is never written with a dividing line, despite being read aloud as though it were one.
Contexts: Music
Applies until it is replaced, so a change of metre mid-piece is written as a new signature at that point rather than restated each bar.
Contexts: Music
Two numerals set one directly above the other at the start of the staff, occupying the full height of the five lines with no bar between them.
The C is an abbreviation for one particular time signature, not a separate kind of marking.
One states the content of a bar, the other marks its end.