Okuzeka
Music vocabulary · Rhythm, Meter and Tempo

Cut time

Meaning in music, with examples

nounCommon term

In music, cut time means: A meter shown by 2/2 or a cut C sign, felt in two half-note beats per bar.

In Turkish: alla breve

How it is used

Used in conducting, notation, and rehearsal when music should move in two broad beats rather than four smaller ones. Common in marches and fast passages.

Example sentences

  1. Please conduct this chorus in cut time, or the singers will drag because they are counting too many small beats.

    Here cut time tells performers to feel two main beats in each bar, which keeps the passage moving efficiently.

  2. The editor changed the score to cut time so the fast string figures looked cleaner on the page.

    In this example, cut time affects notation and reading, making rapid notes easier to group and understand visually.

Common collocations

  • in cut time
  • conduct in cut time
  • cut-time feel
  • cut-time signature
  • time signatureThe two numbers at the start of a piece that show how many beats are in each bar and which note value gets one beat, for example 3/4 or 6/8.
  • beatThe steady pulse that you tap your foot to in a piece of music. Beats are grouped into bars, and their speed is the tempo.

More terms: Rhythm, Meter and Tempo

Practise with graded reading

Reading at the right level is the fastest way to make new words stick. Pick free English books by level: