Free time (music)

Free time is a type of musical meter free from musical time and time signature. It is used when a piece of music has no discernible beat. Instead, the rhythm is intuitive and free-flowing. In standard musical notation, there are five ways in which a piece is indicated to be in free time:

Examples of musical genres based around free time include free improvisation, free jazz and noise music. Examples of music written in free time include Erik Satie's Gnossienne No. 1, Charles Ives' Concord Sonata, and most of Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji's music. Examples of contemporary songs in free time include "Hunting Bears" by Radiohead and the latter half of "21st Century Schizoid Man" by King Crimson.

The usage of free time is almost absent in popular music. The Allman Brothers Band was known for occasionally dropping into free time segments on their lengthy live jams. The most famous example can be found on "Whipping Post" on the live album At Fillmore East. The band drops into a lengthy free time at the 10-minute mark, before coming back into 11
8 time about 5 and a half minutes later. They drop into free time again at the 17:15 mark and continue to the end of the song at about 23:00.

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