Songs in 6/8, 9/8, and 12/8
by Mike D. Zachary, D.M.A.

Many times, church pianists feel extremely comfortable playing songs in 4/4 time, but they aren’t completely sure about the best way of playing songs in 6/8, 9/8, or 12/8. In order to deal effectively with these kinds of songs, you first have to clearly understand the way these time signatures work.

The Truth About Time Signatures

Over the last 1,000 years, musicians in Europe and America have dealt with the complexities of rhythm in several different ways. To trace this history completely would be all but impossible, and the information from this history would not directly benefit today’s church pianist.[1]

The important thing to remember is that many church pianists have been given incomplete and/or incorrect information about time signatures. They believe that the top number of the time signature always tells them how many beats are in each measure, but this is not true.

Let’s experiment by considering the well-known gospel song “There Is Power in the Blood.” Just begin singing the song and clap along as you sing. In the following example, the letter X shows where the typical person would clap.

In this case, the upper number of the time signature tells us that there are four beats per measure; and when we clap, we clap four times per measure. Thus, the number of beats we feel matches the upper number of the time signature; and situations like these help us wrongly believe that the upper number of the time signature always tells us the number of beats we feel per measure.

To contrast this, let us consider Philip P. Bliss’s gospel song “Wonderful Words of Life.” Again, clap the beat you feel as you sing this charming, lilting tune.

Again, the beats that you actually feel as you sing the song are marked with an X. In this situation, the upper number of the time signature is six; but the number of beats we actually feel is two. This brings us face to face with an important fact about time signatures: the upper number does not always tell us how many beats we feel in a measure.

In 3/8, 6/8, 9/8, and 12/8, the number of beats we usually feel is the top number divided by three. The top number of 3/8 is three. Three divided by three is one. Thus, in 3/8 time, we generally feel one beat per measure.

The top number of 6/8 is six. Six divided by three is two. In 6/8 time, we generally feel two beats per measure. Following this same line of reasoning, we feel three beats per measure in 9/8; and we feel four beats per measure in 12/8.

The Exception to the Rule

Most of the time, the number of beats we feel in 6/8, 9/8, and 12/8 is the top number of the time signature divided by three. However, if a song is sung quite slowly, this rule doesn’t apply. In slow songs, the number of beats you feel per measure is the same as the top number of the time signature.

Let’s examine George Bennard’s famous song “The Old Rugged Cross.” If you clap while you sing the song, you will feel beats as shown in the example below:

Because of situations like this, pianists must know the number of beats they will actually feel in a song that is in 3/8, 6/8, 9/8, or 12/8. Put very simply, pianists have to make decisions that follow the line of reasoning shown below:

I am looking at the song “Wonderful Words of Life,” and the time signature is 6/8. Most of the time, you feel two beats in a measure of 6/8 time (because six divided by three is two); but in slow songs, you feel six beats in a measure of 6/8. To know the answer, I must determine if the song is fast or slow. “Wonderful Words of Life” is a fairly quick song; therefore, I will feel two beats per measure.

Songs With Complex Rhythm

In songs like “He Lives” by Alfred Ackley, the 6/8 measures at the beginning of the song are definitely performed quickly so we feel two beats per measure. However, the last line of the song slows down dramatically, and we feel six beats per measure. The pianist who is not aware of this shift will become quite confused about how to play the song.

Basic Gospel Style in Fast 6/8

In fast 6/8, we feel two beats per measure; and the pianist plays an octave on the first felt beat and a chord on the second felt beat. In the example below, the right hand is playing the melody in octaves while the left hand plays in the octave-chord style:

Basic Gospel Style in Slow 6/8

For all practical purposes, each measure of a song in slow 6/8 feels like two measures of 3/4 time. Because the beats are perceived differently in slow 6/8, the pianist plays an octave or a chord for every single eighth note. “The Old Rugged Cross” would be played as shown below:

Basic Gospel Style in Fast 9/8

In fast 9/8, we feel three beats per measure; and the pianist plays octave-chord-chord for each measure, just as in 3/4 time. Elisha Hoffman’s song “I Must Tell Jesus” is sometimes sung very slowly, and it is sometimes sung quickly. The example that follows shows an excerpt of the song that assumes a moderately fast performance:

Basic Gospel Style in Slow 9/8

For all practical purposes, each measure of a song in slow 9/8 feels like three measures of 3/4 time. Because the beats are perceived differently in slow 9/8, the pianist plays an octave or a chord for every single eighth note. The chorus of Arthur Ingler’s “Pearly White City” would be played as shown below:

Basic Gospel Style in Fast 12/8

In fast 12/8, we feel four beats per measure; and the pianist plays in the octave-chord style, just as in 4/4 time. 12/8 time is rarely encountered in the hymnal. When you play a song in fast 12/8, the left hand part will be played just as it is in 6/8. Each measure of fast 12/8 will simply be like two measures of fast 6/8.

More Elaborate Improvisation in 6/8, 9/8, and 12/8

In order to understand the next steps of improvisation in 6/8, 9/8, and 12/8, you must understand the natural rhythmic structure of these time signatures. In each of these time signatures, the dotted quarter note is the first natural division of the rhythm. The next subdivision breaks the dotted quarter note into three eighth notes. After that, the next division breaks the three eighth notes into six sixteenth notes. All this is shown graphically on the following pages:

As you can clearly see from the preceding examples, 6/8, 9/8, and 12/8 all have identical patterns of rhythm. The first rhythmic division is the dotted quarter note, the second rhythmic division is the eighth note, and the third rhythmic division is the sixteenth note.

After hymn players become comfortable with the most basic manner of playing songs in 6/8, 9/8, and 12/8, they often become bored. They feel that the left hand needs to have more motion, but it is often not immediately apparent to them what to do. If they only use the dotted quarter note rhythm of the first rhythmic division, the song seems too uninteresting. If they attempt to use the sixteenth notes of the third rhythmic division, the song may seem too cluttered; and they may not have the technical ability to play that fast.

Using Eighth Notes

The obvious answer is to try to use the eighth notes of the second rhythmic division. For some reason, this is often overlooked. Because of the nature of 6/8, 9/8, and 12/8, using the eighth notes will have a triplet feeling. In Hymn Playing, Vol. 1, the ideas of walking down the scale and walking down the chord were presented. These ideas are extremely useful at this point, and they can be used in the eighth note rhythms of the second rhythmic division.

Stepwise Connections

A closely related idea is simply connecting chords with mostly stepwise motion. In the following example, notice that the tone C will be connected to the tone G. It generally sounds better to begin a run with a leap and end it with stepwise motion than to begin with stepwise motion and end with a leap. A good way to connect C to G is shown on the following page:

Using Neighbor Notes

One additional item should be pointed out before an illustration of this style is shown. It is sometimes effective to use neighbor notes [2] as you spell a chord in ascending or descending motion. Neighbor notes generally sound best when the neighbor note is a half step below the chord note; thus, accidentals are often required for notating this technique. Note the example that follows:

In the example above, it is easy to see that the top staff shows the C major triad ascending as C, E, G, C. The bottom staff shows an embellishment of that. For the first C of the upper staff, the bottom staff shows C, B (which is a half-step below), and C. For the E of the upper staff, the bottom staff shows E, D# (which is used because it is a half-step below), and E.

This kind of embellishment often works well in 6/8, 9/8, and 12/8. Mentally, it is rather simple; yet it provides enough motion to keep a song from sounding too “boring.” Notice how these techniques are used in “Wonderful Words of Life”:

In the example above, the first measure and the third measure simply use a basic octave-chord technique. However, in the second and fourth measures there are dotted quarter notes in the melody, and these long-held notes just seem to be “begging” for activity in the left hand. In the second measure, you can see that the arrangements shows eighth notes that “spell down” the D major triad. In the fourth measure, neighbor notes are used to embellish tones of the G major triad.

On the following page, a sample version of “Wonderful Words of Life” is shown. This arrangement uses some full chords in the right hand, while the left hand uses several techniques that emphasize eighth-note motion. In 6/8 time, the use of eighth notes is technically not the use of triplets; however, for pianists who are accustomed to playing in 4/4, these groups of eighth notes will feel like triplets.