compound metre

In music, compound meter, (chiefly British variation) compound metre, or compound time, is a time signature or meter in which each measure is divided into three or more parts, or two uneven parts (as opposed to two even parts, called simple metre), calling for the measures to be played with principal and subordinate metric accents (the latter called subaccents), causing the sensation of beats. In Western music, the predominant form of compound meter is the division into three parts, often preferring to reduce a higher number of parts to written time signature changes, but more parts are possible, and frequently used, for example, in Balkan music; some examples are given in the article Bulgarian dances.
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