When discussing the “non-proportional” relationshipsbetween duple meters in chapter 2, we saw how metricdivision, or number of beats per measure, affectedtempo. The basic rule was “the more beats permeasure, the slower the tempo.” This chapter looksat metric division—couched in terms of beats permeasure, conducting patterns, or metric feet—in moredetail.

The basic rule of the relationship of metric divisionto speed in itself is easily understandable. But itquickly raises a few more questions. For example,how many metric divisions does each time signaturehave? Does a simple triple meter have three evenparts or two uneven parts? Does [c|] have only twobeats or can it also have four beats—[c|]? Justbecause an author described a measure as having acertain number of parts, does this mean it had thesame number of conducting patterns? For example,just because one might have considered [c|] ashaving four parts, must there also be four handmotions per measure, or can there still be two? Whatwere the most common conducting patterns in theGerman Baroque? How consistently were they describedfrom author to author across the entire Baroqueperiod (approximately 150 years)? Were there otherways that authors described measure divisionsbesides conducting patterns (which were by far andaway the most common tactus descriptor)?

In an attempt to answer these questions, this chapteris divided into the following three sections:

• 1. The types of conducting patterns used;

• 2. The relationship of conducting patterns,beats, and metrical feet to speed;

• 3. Notable trends and variations in beatpatterns across the German Baroque.

For the entire discussion below, refer to figures5.3–5.7 appended to this chapter.

Performer's Corner

As stated above, the most important feature of thisdiscussion of metric division is the followingprinciple: the more beats per measure, the slowerthe pulse. For the majority of the Baroque period,the conducting pattern for duple meter was an evenlydivided “down-up” motion: (↓༚↑༚). For triple meterit was the same, except that the measure was uneven:(↓༛↑༚). Compound meter took all triple divisionsinto one beat: |↓ ↑|. Toward the end of the Baroqueperiod, this stable pattern changed so that c couldhave four beats and four conducting motions, andsimple triple meters could have three conductingmotions.