How it works
The 4/2 time signature counts the half note, four to a bar. Open Music Theory files it under simple quadruple, the metre of 4/4: it prints one rhythm in both and says they sound and are counted the same.
Read the full guide
Start
Tap the pad, or press Space. Say one, two, three, four on the louder clicks, beginning at the highest, and "and" on the quiet tick between. Tap again to stop.
Change the tempo
Tap the number under the pad and type a half-note tempo, or step it with minus and plus. A mark in quarter notes is halved first: 120 becomes 60, 144 becomes 72.
Questions and answers
What does a 4/2 time signature mean?
Four half notes to a bar. In Open Music Theory the top number is the beats in a bar and a bottom 2 gives the half note the beat. A bar holds eight quarter notes, as many as two bars of 4/4.
How to count 4/2 time?
One and two and three and four and, as in 4/4: Open Music Theory counts the division of a simple beat "and" whatever note carries the beat.
How long is a dotted whole note in 4/2 time?
Three of the bar's four beats. A whole note lasts two half notes and a dot adds half of a note's value, by Wikipedia's Whole note and Dotted note articles, so a dotted whole note is three half notes. One beat is left.
Why would a composer choose 4/2 over 4/4?
Tradition, mostly: Wikipedia's Time signature article ties such choices to musical styles and says a rock song in 4/2 would seem strange. Yet its list of works in unusual time signatures leaves 4/2 out: simple signatures over 2, 4 or 8 are not counted unusual.
Why can't I hear the metronome?
Rule out the phone before the page: its ring switch, its volume, and a Bluetooth speaker that may have taken the sound. Either way the bar is on the pad: eight dots, a large one for each half note and a small one after it.