I've tried many times to write a song in 9/8 but I end up messing up the phrasing or accidentally changing it into 12/8 without realizing until I'm done... :P Why is this time sig. so hard to write in? Is it just me? Or am I not alone? :)

12/8 and 6/8 are so simple... so why is 9/8 so ridiculously hard? @_@

there is such thing as 9/8? woah, i'm totally sheltered from music theory then cause i'm so use to 4/4 and 2/4 and all those basic ones.....

I divide 9/8 by 3 . . . so 3 times 3/8, try to think of that to help you. 12/8 is easier because it's 4 times 3/8, which is more even and balanced in terms of phrasing.

EDIT: I remember playing a short piano piece by Beethoven in 9/8 or 12/8 :think: in any case, it's good to look up other songs written in that time signature.

wow! 9/8 is a very hard signiture to write in, maninly because it is an abnormal signiture... I commend anyone who can write a piece in this time!

Which beats are accented? All 3...? :P Or just the 1st? ... Seems a bit unmathematical compared to the other time sigs.

=P beat 1 is the strongest, but you can also accent beats 4 and 7 . . . think of it in terms of 3/4 time with triplets.

I've always been avoiding key signature changes, so could you give a sample song (that normal people like me know of) as a demonstration?

X_X wow im ltotally lost................al this 12/3 and that is the tempo that is always at the start of the sheet music .............is that right :think:

I jus play music i dont know the complexity of things like that @_@

Sephiroth, to the best of my knowledge 12/3 doesn't exist.

Anyway Gnomish, you should just think of it like 3/4 using triplets. However, I can't think of too many songs off the top of my head that use it so I can't give you an example but you may be better off using 6/8 or 12/8 unless you really need the triple meter feel.

Alphonse is right about the accents. Like 3/4 the first is the strongest. Since it subdivides into triplets the beginning of each triplet may also be slightly accented but the first beat is the strongest.

yea i meant to say 12/8 but well like i was trying to say i know nothing about it...........................maybe i should just shut up as im no help to this thread :(

Originally posted by Mies@Sep 21 2004, 08:29 AM
wow! 9/8 is a very hard signiture to write in, maninly because it is an abnormal signiture... I commend anyone who can write a piece in this time!
Would anybody like to take up this challenge?

I've never written in 9/8, nor have I heard anything written in it.

Err... Try looking at my song Ojoyous on "my first composition" forum. I didn't really think about writing it in 9/8, but it seems right. :think: There seemed to be something missing cause I thought about doing it in triplets in 4/4 and it didn't work. Mebbe you could adapt the melody into 9/8, phaps?

aside: speaking of unconventional meters.. Shawn Lane (http://www.shawnlane.com) composed a song called "tri 7/5". It's cool. ^.^

Al actually gave you a good piece of advice; I always think of 9/8 as 3/4 with triplets. I personally found 9/8 to be easy, however, 5/4 5/8 7/4 7/8 are extremely difficult for me; I never composed anything in those before because they are such irregular meter signatures. I do know how to play a song in 5/4 though, which is a start.