Am I playing a waltz or not when ACMP is set to 4/4 ?

[YammyFan]

Some times when I prop a piece  of sheet music  in 3/4 time  up on my keyboard i start playing it, and  I switch on the Accompliment and it still sounds pretty good.. Later on I discover that my keyboard ACMP shows up as 4/4.
It shows up as 4/4 because that is a Style which just happens to be activated on my keyboard.
I'm wondering if I ever was asked to play for people dancing and the above occurred  whether they would think "What the hell is going on here"

[mikf]

They certainly would😁
A waltz by definition is a dance in 3/4.
Mike

[YammyFan]

They certainly would😁
A waltz by definition is a dance in 3/4.
Mike
[/quote
Thanks for your reply Mike, but with respect  I would like to say that when i play, I follow exactly the  the quavers and crochets and rests as shown on the sheet music propped up on the keyboard.

[Fred Smith]

Some times when I prop a piece  of sheet music  in 3/4 time  up on my keyboard i start playing it, and  I switch on the Accompliment and it still sounds pretty good.. Later on I discover that my keyboard ACMP shows up as 4/4.
It shows up as 4/4 because that is a Style which just happens to be activated on my keyboard.
I'm wondering if I ever was asked to play for people dancing and the above occurred  whether they would think "What the hell is going on here"

As a ballroom dancer, I can assure you the dancers would know you're not playing a waltz. It's not what you play in your right hand. It's the style that determines the dance. And a waltz must be 3/4.

Cheers,
Fred

[YammyFan]

Thank you Fred and Mike.  I am learning slowly. There is so much to learn in the field of music.

[alanclare]

There is so much to learn in the field of music.

True. How very true.

Alan

[Toril S]

And learning is fun😀

[Denn]

Hello John, There are many melodies, probably thousands, that can be played over just about all the styles on the kbd. That's OK for listening but not for the dance. Having written that, I play Lara's Theme (Somewhere my Love) as a cha cha works well. For the dance, not only is the time (3/4 4/4 etc) important but also the tempo. Emmerdale Mod waltz is at 90 BPM whereas the Killarney Waltz is at 150 BPM
Regards. Denn

[mikf]

Its the beat that matters. Waltz is 3 beats to the bar, The style will have that beat if it's a waltz. There are different kinds of waltz with different tempo but all 3 beats to the bar.
Although many tunes may be traditionally a certain beat, it's not unusual to play a tune to a different beat. For example Moon River is originally written, and usually played, 3 beats to the bar, but you could re interpret it with 4 if you want to do something unusual. But then of course it's no longer a waltz.
Mike

[DrakeM]

If you can't hear the difference between a 3/4 and 4/4 style, it is just because your EAR hasn't been developed well enough yet. It just takes practice listening to be able to tell when something is off. With enough practice you can even hear and figure out the chord changes and when they occur in any song.

I remember when I just started out on guitar and arranging music for my band, my lead guitarist pointed out that I had missed hearing a repeating minor chord in the song. I inserted the minor and he was correct, it sounded much better. I asked how he figured out that the minor was used there in the song. He replied, " I can hear it." I thought to myself, how in the heck do you learn to hear that minor? It just took practice, practice, practice (and time).

I have transcribe literally thousands of songs in my life time. I enjoy doing it as much as playing the songs. You had to learn to do it yourself before the internet came along. Today I find many of the transcribed music are missing chords that I see online posted (probably by people just starting out learning). But it is a good starting point and easy to fix them up, so it is a time saver.

Regards
Drake

[Denn]

Hello Drake, My wife has a very keen ear for music. I had downloaded a piece of sheet music from the net and it looked fine. It was in full score. I was playing it and she screamed at me "That's the wrong chord!" I said that it was what was written – she came back at me and said "I don't care, it's wrong." She stood beside me and I played all the notes in the chords of the left hand. "That's it" she said. I wrote the notes of the chord that she said and the music flowed. Later in a music shop we looked at the original score in the music book and she was correct. She was my best teacher!
Regards, Denn

[mikf]

You know that horrible squeaking sound that sometimes happen with chalk on a blackboard that makes you cringe - that's how it sounds to me when someone plays a wrong chord. Thats what years of playing by ear will eventually develop. Like Drake says it's repetition and practice. I always tell people that the first step to getting the right chord is hearing when it's wrong.
mike

[Toril S]

Absolutely! And sometimes you don't play a chord that sounds wrong, it sounds right although it is not the chord the original artist used. In that way you can make the song a little different, but it sounds all right. Other times the chord just is SO WRONG that you jump in your seat and put your hands over your ears!
When it comes to styles, most songs can be played in many styles, but for dancing you have to keep track of it and play the right beat for the dancers

[Misu]

Yes <a waltz by definition is a dance in 3/4> but I have a very good midi file 4/4 waltz.
So, I tried to make a Sty from midi directly in my second keyboard, Intro was perfect but Main only when I choose 12 measures (4 x 3)
Maybe I'm wrong but I think is possible.
Regards!
Mihai

[mikf]

Not possible to have a 4/4 waltz. That would be like saying I have this bottle of red wine that happens to be white. The midi is either wrong time signature or wrong name.
Mike

[Janus]

Yamaha use 4/4 for 6/4(Slowrock Blues|
The trick is the use of triolen
The count is
--- --- --- ---


Gr.Jan

[Gunnar Jonny]

Well, you can play a lot of songs in different time signatures, but if perform for people that love to dance, it has to be right beat and tempo.
Or else, it's probably much more fun be at the keys than at the dancingfloor.

Some nice theory and drumbeat samples here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_signature

[mikf]

The use of triplets in time signatures like 12/8 or 6/8 is normal. They are closely related to 4/4 or 2/4. 
Time signatures have two main purposes - to group notes in a logical way so it's easy to read and to provide some information to the musician about the beat emphasis and overall feel. So if for example it says 6/8 jig the experienced musician knows exactly what it should sound like. Likewise if it says 6/8 blues or 12/8 doo wop.
Mike