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.