Number of vars (light music)

[Nowan]

Hi everyone...

I'm writing this new tune... and I'm having some troubles with the ending of the first line... it's too short...

So I was wondering if it's like an obligation to have 4 bars per line,
or can you also have, lets say 5...?

Ofcourse, keeping this number for the rest of the tune...

Because i don't think i've seen a tune with an other number of bars than 4??
Well, not in light music anyway...

It's another hornpipe (yea, i know... _again_) so it's in 2/4...
would changing the time to 3/4 be an option?

I wouldn't think so..., since that won't be a hornpipe anymore...


I'm just thinking out loud... any of you musical genies who could please help me out?


Thanks in advance,


-Gert

[phyx]

You're saying it sounds too short as it's written? It would be hard to help without seeing the music or hearing it.

Why does the end of the first line have to be the end of the first part/phrase? Can you not make the first part/phrase end in bar 8 (make each part/phrase 2 lines rather than 1) and make the entire hornpipe a bit longer? I'm thinking along the lines of Pumpkin's Fancy here....

Just some thoughts.

[Nowan]

Yea i was thinking the same... i'll give it a shot...

i still think it's interesting if it's actually aggreed or something, or if there is a reason why there's always 4 bars in a line...

thanks :)

[phyx]

I've noticed that trend too. Couldn't say why it's done like that, except maybe for the purpose of memorization. It's easier to think of sections to memorize as halves. First half of line 1, etc. Would be difficult if there were 5 or 7 bars to the line.

[Nowan]

It's working!

what i wanted to be the first line is now 1st line + 2st two bars of the 3nd line, so what was supposed to be the 2nd line will now just fill up the rest of the 2nd and the third line!

Thanks a lot phyx

Well, A part of 3 lines shouldn't be a problem would it?

Thanks again,

Cheers

-Gert

[Bobby]

Good God man !! Are ya daft???
5 BARS !! Sacrilege. You'll suffer eternal damnation & burn in the fiery pits of hell for such blasphemy!

Then again, turn the page sideways and you can run all 8 bars on the same line.

I don't think there are any hard and fast rules as to time signatures for any genre of music. Marches can be virtually any time signature. Jigs are in multiple combinations if 8. Can;t think of any reason why hornpipes MUST be 2/4. Someone correct me if I'm off base here. How many bars comprise a part is up to the composer. the convention as typically been 8 bars for a part, but it's not a rule and we have all seen parts with multiple endings.

[PowerBoozer007]

8 bars probably comes from the phrasing of a tune!

Anyone ever hear of the terms:

Question, Answer
responce, resolve.