Variable time signature

• Sep 19, 2022 - 03:14

Just a question; I'm curious.

I have a piece, the same piece, in two different books. The piece has a mix of 3/4 and 4/4 measures. In the older book the time signature is printed 34/44, to be understood as 3/4 and 4/4. In the newer book the time signature is omitted, which is how I've had to do it in MuseScore. I'm not aware that MuseScore is able to display and use a mixed time signature (and find it hard to imagine how that might be implemented in the general case).

Is there an older convention to print mixed time signatures like that, which has been abandoned in more recent times? Or was it never a convention or common practice at all? What's the history?

Comments

OpenScore Lieder

• Sep 19, 2022 - 13:56

"Is there an older convention to print mixed time signatures like that, which has been abandoned in more recent times? Or was it never a convention or common practice at all? What's the history?"

It is a long-established convention to show two separate time signatures, where the time signature will alternate on a regular or random basis through the piece.
The convention has not been abandoned.

For example, see this example from a 1926 edition of Johannes Brahms Op.59 No.5 "Agnes":
Brahms Op.59 No.5 Agnes.png

... and its transcription in the OpenScore Lieder collection:
Brahms Op.59. No.5 Agnes -OpenScore.png

MuseScore doesn't yet handle mixed time signatures very well, and this example has the second time signature "faked" with an image (done with MuseScore's Image Capture option):
https://musescore.com/user/27638568/scores/5087729

Attachment	Size
Brahms Op.59. No.5 Agnes -OpenScore.png	56 KB