meter with notes

[Maurizio Codogno]

In some Italian scores I found meter indication in a peculiar way:
instead of 4/4 or C, for example, you have 
    4
   \ql
(let me write it 4 \over \ql for simplicity). 

Similarly, 2/2 is 2\over \hl and 6/8 is 2 \over \qlp .

I found that notation really useful, especially for beginners, and I wonder
(a) whether it is common outside Italy and (b) if MusixTeX supports it.

ciao, .mau.