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Beam (Music) : Span and Grouping
Beam (Music) : Span and Grouping
Beam (music)
A beam in musical notation is a thick line frequently used to connect multiple consecutive eighth notes (quavers), or notes of shorter value (indicated by two or more beams), and occasionally rests. Beamed notes or rests are groups of notes and rests connected by a beam; the use of beams is called beaming.
above are one quaver, one dotted quaver and a semiquaver
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 beam(s) usually go above, otherwise they usually go below.[citation needed] In music engraving there are various more complex rules governing the positioning and angle of beams.
References
[1] Standard Music Notation Practice (http:/ / web. archive. org/ web/ 20080407014159/ http:/ / www. mpa. org/ music_notation/ standard_practice. pdf) Music Publishers' Association of the United States (Accessed: 4 April 2013)
License
Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 //creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/