Loading…
Loading…
Two beats to the bar.
Printed above the staff (In two, in 2) where a bar written with more beats should be felt in two — a quick 4/4, or 6/8 felt as two dotted beats; it holds until another beat instruction or tempo change.
Abbreviations: in 2
Close in effect to alla breve: it lightens a bar of four into two broad beats and encourages longer phrases. Use it where the tempo is quick enough that four beats would sound fussy, or where 6/8 should lilt rather than tick. Mark the return to in 4 or in 6 if the music slows or becomes more detailed.
In two is one of 1755 terms in the Gradus musical dictionary: the words, abbreviations and instrument names that appear in printed scores, plus the vocabulary composers use to talk about them.
Browse the full dictionary →