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In musical notation, a beam is a horizontal or diagonal line used to connect multiple consecutive
Notes joined by a beam usually have all the stems pointing in the same direction (up or down). The average pitch of the notes is used to determine the direction – if the average pitch is below the middle staff-line, the stems and beams usually go above the notehead, otherwise they go below.
The direction of beams usually follows the general direction of the notes it groups, slanting down if the notes go down, slanting up if the notes go up, and level if the first and last notes are the same.
Feathered beaming shows a gradual change in the speed of notes. It is shown with a primary straight beam and other diagonal secondary beams (that together resemble a feather, hence the name). These secondary beams suggest a gradual acceleration or deceleration from the first note value within the feathered beam to the last. The longest value possible to show being the
Beams are also used as a notational abbreviation to indicate tremolos. If used for this purpose, a note, or pair of notes, of any value can be beamed and/or marked with beam-like strokes.
In musical notation, a beam is a horizontal or diagonal line used to connect multiple consecutive note
Note, notes, or NOTE may refer to:
Music and entertainment
* Musical note, a pitched sound (or a symbol for a sound) in music
* ''Notes'' (album), a 1987 album by Paul Bley and Paul Motian
* ''Notes'', a common (yet unofficial) shortened version ...
s (and occasionally rests) to indicate rhythmic grouping. Only eighth note
180px, Figure 1. An eighth note with stem extending up, an eighth note with stem extending down, and an eighth rest.
180px, Figure 2. Four eighth notes beamed together.
An eighth note (American) or a quaver ( British) is a musical note pla ...
s (quavers) or shorter can be beamed. The number of beams is equal to the number of flags
A flag is a piece of textile, fabric (most often rectangular or quadrilateral) with a distinctive design and colours. It is used as a symbol, a signalling device, or for decoration. The term ''flag'' is also used to refer to the graphic desi ...
that would be present on an unbeamed note. ''Beaming'' refers to the conventions and use of beams. A primary beam connects a note group unbroken, while a secondary beam is interrupted or partially broken.
Grouping
Beam spans indicate rhythmic groupings, usually determined by the time signature. Therefore, beams do not usually crossbar line
In musical notation, a bar (or measure) is a segment of time corresponding to a specific number of beat (music), beats in which each beat is represented by a particular note value and the boundaries of the bar are indicated by vertical bar lines ...
s or major subdivisions of bars. A single eighth note, or any faster note, is always stemmed with flags, while two or more are typically beamed in groups.
In modern practice, beams may span across rests in order to make rhythmic groups clearer.
In vocal music
Vocal music is a type of singing performed by one or more singers, either with instrumental accompaniment, or without instrumental accompaniment (a cappella), in which singing provides the main focus of the piece. Music which employs singing but d ...
, beams were traditionally used only to connect notes sung to the same syllable. In modern practice it is more common to use standard beaming rules, while indicating multi-note syllables with slurs.
Positioning
Notes joined by a beam usually have all the stems pointing in the same direction (up or down). The average pitch of the notes is used to determine the direction – if the average pitch is below the middle staff-line, the stems and beams usually go above the notehead, otherwise they go below.
The direction of beams usually follows the general direction of the notes it groups, slanting down if the notes go down, slanting up if the notes go up, and level if the first and last notes are the same.
Feathered beaming
Feathered beaming shows a gradual change in the speed of notes. It is shown with a primary straight beam and other diagonal secondary beams (that together resemble a feather, hence the name). These secondary beams suggest a gradual acceleration or deceleration from the first note value within the feathered beam to the last. The longest value possible to show being the eighth note
180px, Figure 1. An eighth note with stem extending up, an eighth note with stem extending down, and an eighth rest.
180px, Figure 2. Four eighth notes beamed together.
An eighth note (American) or a quaver ( British) is a musical note pla ...
(quaver). When the number of notes played is not of interest, but rather the effect of acceleration or deceleration, an approximate number of headless stems are used. To ensure clarity, sometimes the number of notes within the beam, or the duration of the total beamed notes, is shown above the music, as is done with tuplet
In music, a tuplet (also irrational rhythm or groupings, artificial division or groupings, abnormal divisions, irregular rhythm, gruppetto, extra-metric groupings, or, rarely, contrametric rhythm) is "any rhythm that involves dividing the beat ...
s.
Tremolo
Beams are also used as a notational abbreviation to indicate tremolos. If used for this purpose, a note, or pair of notes, of any value can be beamed and/or marked with beam-like strokes.
References