TimeSignature

class maelzel.scorestruct.TimeSignature(*parts, subdivisions=())

Bases: object

A time signature

In its simplest form a type signature consists of one part, a tuple (numerator, denominator). For example, a 4/4 time signature can be represented as TimeSignature((4, 4))

Parameters:

• parts (tuple[int, int]) – the parts of this time signature, a seq. of tuples (numerator, denominator)

• subdivisions (Sequence[int]) – subdivisions as multiples of the denominator. Only valid for non-compound signatures. It is used to structure subdivisions for a single part. For example, 7/8 subdivided as 2+3+2 can be expressed as TimeSignature((7, 8), subdivisionStruct=(2, 3, 2)).

Attributes Summary

denominator	The denominator of this time signature
numerator	The numerator of this time signature
quarternoteDuration	The duration of this time signature, in quarternotes

Methods Summary

copy()	rtype: TimeSignature
isHeterogeneous()	Is this a compound meter with heterogeneous denominators?
parse(timesig[, subdivisionStruct])	Parse a time signature definition
qualifiedSubdivisionStruct()	The qualified subdivision structure, a tuple (denominator, subdivisions) where the denominator is the max.

Attributes Documentation

denominator

The denominator of this time signature

For non-compound signatures, this is the same as the denominator of its only part. For compound signatures, this corresponds to the denominator of the fused signature

>>> TimeSignature((7, 8)).denominator
8
>>> TimeSignature((2, 4), (5, 8)).denominator
8

numerator

The numerator of this time signature

For non-compound signatures, this is the same as the numerator of its only part. For compound signatures, this corresponds to the nominator of the fused signature

>>> TimeSignature((7, 8)).numerator
7
>>> TimeSignature((2, 4), (5, 8)).numerator
9

quarternoteDuration

The duration of this time signature, in quarternotes

Methods Documentation

copy()

Return type:

TimeSignature

isHeterogeneous()

Is this a compound meter with heterogeneous denominators?

Heterogeneous meters are 3/4+3/8, 4/4+1/8, 3/8+3/16. Homogeneous meters are 3/8+2/8, 3/4+4/4

Return type:

bool

Returns:

true if this is a compound meter with heterogenous denominators

classmethod parse(timesig, subdivisionStruct=())

Parse a time signature definition

Parameters:

• timesig (str | tuple) – a time signature as a string. For compound signatures, use a + sign between parts.

• subdivisionStruct (Sequence[int]) – the subdivision structure as multiples of the fused signature denominator.

Return type:

TimeSignature

Returns:

the time signature

qualifiedSubdivisionStruct()

The qualified subdivision structure, a tuple (denominator, subdivisions) where the denominator is the max. common denom. of the parts of this signature and the subdivisions are the subdivisions as given in the subdivisionStruct

This method will raise ValueError if this time signature does not have a subdivision structure

Return type:

tuple[int, tuple[int, ...]]

Example

>>> t = TimeSignature((7, 8), subdivisionStruct=(3, 2, 2))
>>> t.qualifiedSubdivisionStruct()
(8, (3, 2, 2))
>>> t2 = TimeSignature((2, 4), (3, 16), subdivisionStruct=(4, 4, 3))
>>> t2.fusedSignature
(11, 16)
>>> t2.qualifiedSubdivisionStruct()
(16, (4, 4, 3))