s the beat note, some
modern editors going so far as to write [2 over dotted quarter symbol]
in place of 6-8 as the measure sign; [3 over dotted quarter symbol] in
place of 9-8; and [4 over dotted quarter symbol] in place of 12-8. In
conducting these various types of measure, the general principle given
on page 25 again applies, and if the tempo is very slow, the conductor
beats 6, 9, or 12, to the measure, but if it is rapid, the flow of the
rhythm is much better indicated by 2, 3, and 4 beats respectively.

[Sidenote: FIVE- AND SEVEN-BEAT MEASURES]

Although only occasionally encountered by the amateur, five- and
seven-beat measures are now made use of frequently enough by composers
to make some explanation of their treatment appropriate. A five-beat
measure (quintuple) is a compound measure comprising a two-beat and a
three-beat one. Sometimes the two-beat group is first, and sometimes
the three-beat one. If the former, then the conductor's beat will be
down-up, down-right-up. But if it is the other way about, then the
beat will naturally be down-right-up, down-up. "But how am I to know
which comes first?" asks the tyro. And our answer is, "Study the
music, and if you cannot find out in this way, you ought not to be
conducting the composition."

Just as quintuple measure is a compound measure comprising two
pulse-groups, one of three and the other of two beats, so seven-beat
measure (septuple) consists of a four-beat group plus a three-beat
one. If the four-beat measure is first, the conductor's beat will be
down-left-right-up, down-right-up; _i.e._, the regular movements for
quadruple measure followed by those for triple; but if the combination
is three plus four, it will be the other way about. Sometimes the
composer helps the conductor by placing a dotted bar between the two
parts of the septuple measure, thus: [music notation]

[Sidenote: AN IMPORTANT PRINCIPLE OF TIME BEATING]

The most fundamental principle of time beating, and the one concerning
which the young conductor is apt to be most ignorant, is the
following: _The baton must not usually come to a standstill at the
points marking the beats, neither must it move in a straight line from
one point to another, except in the case of the down beat; for it is
the free and varying movement of the baton between any two beats that
gives the singers or players their cue as to where the second of the
two is to come._ We may go further and say that the prelimina