“On Top of a Fraction”

lyric © 2004, 2006 Lawrence Mark Lesser all rights reserved
may be sung to the tune of “On Top of Old Smokey”


On top of a fraction
is the numerator--
It is the number
of pieces you store.
But we call the bottom
denominator--
It is the kind of
each piece, señor.

Like denomination
of money or faith,
Like thirds or sevenths
or halves or eighths.
So denominators
can be explained
Because in Spanish,
nombre means name!

While on top of a fraction,
we enumerate!
That means to count up
those of the same trait.
& when we add fractions,
make bottoms the same.
Add apples to apples;
add eighths to eighths.

Now think about music –
the time signature
is really a fraction –
you can be sure
that fraction for this song
is three-quarter time –
So in each measure,
3 quarter-notes we find!

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