2/4 time

2 quarter notes per bar, stressed on 1. Polka, march, children's songs, ragtime. With notation, sound and a metronome already set to 2/4 time.

Counts: 2 quarter notes
Beats (as felt): 2 per bar
Stressed: 1
Groups: 2

Two bars, counted

The upper number says how many counts the bar has (2), the lower which note is one count (quarter notes).

How to count

Count 1 2; eighths as 1 and 2 and.

Start the metronome in 2/4 time

At 108 beats per minute, stressed as above — tempo and stress can be changed there.

Where it occurs

Polka, march, children's songs, ragtime. Two quarters per bar: like 4/4 cut in half, with a stress on every other beat — which is why it gets into the legs.

Pieces on this site in this time

Related time signatures

4/4 timeThe most common time of all 2/2 timeAlla breve, written as a C with a stroke through it 6/8 timeSix eighths in two groups of three

Note values and rests · All time signatures

Anotona does this for you

Photograph a page of sheet music or play the melody — Anotona finds the key, engraves the notes and transposes them into any other. Free.

See Anotona

Every note on this page is computed, not typed in — following the rule that also makes F# major spell its seventh degree E#, not F.