Hi Carl, > Just curious, because I know precious little about polymetry. > Does 9/8 (3/4) mean anything different from (3 + 3 + 3)/8 ?
Yes: the parenthetical notation is usually an instruction to alternate time signatures, not simply a clarification of intention. For example, in “West Side Story”, Bernstein uses 6/8 (3/4) to indicate that alternate bars should be felt/conducted as 6/8 then 3/4 then 6/8 then 3/4… Hope that helps! Kieren. p.s. > To my novice eye, both mean that it's 9/8 with three primary beats per > measure. Also to my novice eye, it seems that 9/8 can/t have a 3/4 alternate > time signature; perhaps a (3/4.) , but not a (3/4). Perhaps the intention is to save the notational ink of changing between triple and duple feel? So there continue to be three primary beats per measure, but alternating between “triplets“ and “straight eighths” without having to add tuplet numbers?
