The concept and experience of a steady, repeating Pulse… akin to your heartbeat, might be considered the most basic dimension of musical time…
The next dimension, Meter, is the concept and experience of organizing pulses into a larger hierarchical structure where each pulse is different from the others.
First, listen to a steady drumbeat of undifferentiated pulses (Let’s call this ONE-ness)…
Now let’s differentiate the pulses from each other by emphasizing one over the others in various groupings…
TWO-ness…
THREE-ness…
FOUR-ness…
FIVE-ness…
SIX-ness…
and notice how the difference in emphasis organizes our sense place in the music and establishes certain expectations.
By the way, we can continue with SEVEN-ness and EIGHT-ness and NINE-ness and so on.
We could also combine these “nesses” by nesting them inside each other. For example, we could play a THREE-ness inside a TWO-ness to make a more complex SIX-ness, characteristic of a Tarantella…
We can also combine these “nesses” by linking them together. For example, we could link a THREE-ness with a TWO-ness to make a more complex FIVE-ness., as in this famous example…
The Big Lesson here is this: Meter is the concept and experience of sequences of pulses that are organized in a way that creates a more complex framework upon which sounds can be placed in time.
It is appropriate to think of each kind of meter as a kind of dance.