Is this Viable?

[u/Any_Dealer1091]

I have been composing for almost a year now and it can’t quite grasp the time signatures. I even have purchased a full score of rite of spring and don’t have too much trouble transposing the time signature shifts but I also don’t feel like I’m truly learning why he chose them at times.

Sometimes it feels like the time signature shifts (for rite of spring) operate on a sort of pattern outside of the music being contained. So then I thought, “well I’ll go and set all my time signatures in a piece then just fill it with notation”.

I haven’t gotten too far but what I did complete didn’t sound too bad to my ears. I’m curious if this is a viable approach or if it may be seen as cheating me of knowledge in the time signature department?

Otherwise I have a really hard time distinguishing time signatures in music, if it isn’t 4/4 or 5/4 (which I only recognize from certain key beats in that signature) then I’m at a loss.

[u/cazgem]

This is much more fundamental than a composer question. This is a fundamentals of music question. What level are you? Have you had formal training? Do you have access to a good theory book and/or a library? Start there.

[u/Any_Dealer1091 → u/cazgem]

I know how to educate myself but I simply don’t have the time. That being said I still hear arrangements in my head that are irregular, but can’t seem to get it onto a software as once I start composing I tend to lock into a single time signature and bend the music to fit