Rhythm - Stems and Beaming

PARTS OF A NOTE

STEMS

The stem starts in the corner of the note head.

DIRECTION OF STEMS AND FLAGS

1. If the note-head of a music note is above the third line of the staff , the stem goes down on the left.

2. If the note-head is below the third line, the stem goes up on the right.

3. If the note-head is on the third line, the preference for the down on the left, but it can also go up on the right.

4. When adding flags to a note, they always go to the right side of the note and point towards to the note.

BEAMS

Notes which are smaller than a crotchet - quavers and semiquavers - have tails attached to their stems.

To make music easier to read, we normally group these small notes together in complete beats. To do this, we join the tails together, making them into a straight line. We call this line a "beam"- they are beamed notes. The number of beams joining quaver notes corresponds to the number of flags adorning the single quaver note of shorter value. For example, two or more quaver notes will have a single bar or beam joining them, while a sixty-fourth quaver note with three flags will have three beams attaching the tails together.

STEM DIRECTION OF BEAMED GROUPS: 

1. Beams should always slant in the direction of the note pitches.

2. For groups of 2 notes, stem direction is determined by the note farthest from the middle line.

3. If both notes are the same distance from the middle line, the preference is for stems to go down, but can go either way.

4. For groups of 3 or more notes the stem direction is determined by the position, from the centre of the stave, of the majority of the notes.

5. When the group goes in different directions the first and last note determine the slant.

Rhythm - Note and Rest Values

Rhythm - The Staff

Music is placed on five lines and four spaces called a staff (or stave). 

SPACES

LINES

Sound in music is indicated using oval symbols called notes.

NOTES IN THE SPACES

Notes in the space sit between two adjacent lines, in the space above the top line or in the space below the bottom line. Spaces notes touch the lines above and below them but DO NOT go over them.

NOTES ON THE LINES

Notes on a line is a note where the line passes through the center of the note-head. 

NOTES ON THE LINES AND IN THE SPACES

Rhythm - What is rhythm?

What is rhythm?
Rhythm is the organization of music in time using long and short sounds and silences.

Do you know how to feel your heartbeat? Place two (2) of your fingers on the front of your neck and feel your heartbeat. This steady heartbeat is also called your pulse. Each pulse of your heart is called a beat. Music has a steady pulse, too. Just like your heart, each pulse of music is called a beat. It is also the steady rhythm that you tap your foot or dance.

What is a pulse?
The pulse is the beat in a piece of music.

What is the beat?
Beat is the background “heartbeat” of a piece of music. It is the beat is the basic unit of time, the pulse (regularly repeating event).