How beaming reads

Beat groups, stems, stubs, triplets

% A BEAM is not decoration. It draws the beat, and every rule about
% it comes from that one job, so the sheet music below is the lesson,
% not the sound. Watch the tray as each block runs.
%
% Here is the beat, four times over. One note to a beat carries no beam
% at all: a quarter has nothing to join.
 
bpm 60
instrument pluck
meter 4
unit 1/4
key c maj
 
Beat ::= | 1 _4 2 _4 3 _4 4 _4 |
Beat
 
 
% Halve it and the beam appears. Eighths beam in FOURS in common
% time: beats 1-2 under one, beats 3-4 under another. The break in
% the middle is the rule that matters: a beam may not cross the middle
% of the measure, because that is where the strong beat lives.
 
Eighths ::= | 1 _2 2 _2 3 _2 4 _2 5 _2 4 _2 3 _2 2 _2 |
Eighths
 
 
% Sixteenths do NOT beam in eights. They group by the beat, four to a
% beam, because that is the level the eye is counting at. Two beams,
% and a quarter-space of white between them so they can be told apart.
 
Sixteenths ::= | 1 2 3 4 5 4 3 2 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 '1 |
Sixteenths
 
 
% Which way the stems point is decided ONCE for the whole group, by
% the note FURTHEST from the middle line. Low sets it points up, high
% sets it points down, and a group that straddles the line follows
% whichever note reaches further, never note by note, or the beam
% would zig-zag across its own stems.
 
Low  ::= | ..1 _2 ..3 _2 ..5 _2 ..3 _2 ..1 _2 ..3 _2 ..5 _2 ..7 _2 |
High ::= | '5 _2 '3 _2 '1 _2 '3 _2 '5 _2 '3 _2 '1 _2 5 _2         |
 
Low
High
 
 
% Where a group mixes values, the second beam is drawn only over the
% notes that carry it, and a note left alone on that level gets a STUB.
% The stub points at the beat position it belongs to: a sixteenth that
% CLOSES its half-beat points back left, one that OPENS it points
% right. Beat 1 and beat 2 below are mirrors of each other.
 
Stubs ::= | 1 _3 2   3 _3 5   4 _2 6 _4 |
Stubs
 
 
% A rest inside the beat does not break the beam. The beam is what
% makes the beat visible, and stopping it for a sixteenth of silence
% says the beat broke, which it did not. A rest that reaches a WHOLE
% beat is a different matter: there the silence is the event.
 
Inside ::= | 1 - 3 4   5 - 7 '1 |
Across ::= | 1 2 3 4   - _4 5 6 7 '1 |
 
Inside
Across
 
 
% Three in the time of two. A triplet eighth lasts a third of a beat,
% which no notehead can say, so it is written as an EIGHTH and marked
% with a 3. Beamed, the beam brackets it and the numeral is enough;
% unbeamed, the numeral brings a bracket of its own.
 
Triplets ::= | {1 2 3}_4/3 {4 5 6}_4/3 {5 _2 4}_4/3 3 _4 |
Triplets
 
 
% And all of it together: the beat, its halves, its quarters, a
% dotted pair with its stub, a triplet, and home.
 
Beat
Eighths
Sixteenths
Stubs
Triplets
Beat

% A BEAM is not decoration. It draws the beat, and every rule about
% it comes from that one job, so the sheet music below is the lesson,
% not the sound. Watch the tray as each block runs.
%
% Here is the beat, four times over. One note to a beat carries no beam
% at all: a quarter has nothing to join.

bpm 60
instrument pluck
meter 4
unit 1/4
key c maj

Beat ::= | 1 _4 2 _4 3 _4 4 _4 |
Beat

% Halve it and the beam appears. Eighths beam in FOURS in common
% time: beats 1-2 under one, beats 3-4 under another. The break in
% the middle is the rule that matters: a beam may not cross the middle
% of the measure, because that is where the strong beat lives.

Eighths ::= | 1 _2 2 _2 3 _2 4 _2 5 _2 4 _2 3 _2 2 _2 |
Eighths

% Sixteenths do NOT beam in eights. They group by the beat, four to a
% beam, because that is the level the eye is counting at. Two beams,
% and a quarter-space of white between them so they can be told apart.

Sixteenths ::= | 1 2 3 4 5 4 3 2 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 '1 |
Sixteenths

% Which way the stems point is decided ONCE for the whole group, by
% the note FURTHEST from the middle line. Low sets it points up, high
% sets it points down, and a group that straddles the line follows
% whichever note reaches further, never note by note, or the beam
% would zig-zag across its own stems.

Low  ::= | ..1 _2 ..3 _2 ..5 _2 ..3 _2 ..1 _2 ..3 _2 ..5 _2 ..7 _2 |
High ::= | '5 _2 '3 _2 '1 _2 '3 _2 '5 _2 '3 _2 '1 _2 5 _2         |

Low
High

% Where a group mixes values, the second beam is drawn only over the
% notes that carry it, and a note left alone on that level gets a STUB.
% The stub points at the beat position it belongs to: a sixteenth that
% CLOSES its half-beat points back left, one that OPENS it points
% right. Beat 1 and beat 2 below are mirrors of each other.

Stubs ::= | 1 _3 2   3 _3 5   4 _2 6 _4 |
Stubs

% A rest inside the beat does not break the beam. The beam is what
% makes the beat visible, and stopping it for a sixteenth of silence
% says the beat broke, which it did not. A rest that reaches a WHOLE
% beat is a different matter: there the silence is the event.

Inside ::= | 1 - 3 4   5 - 7 '1 |
Across ::= | 1 2 3 4   - _4 5 6 7 '1 |

Inside
Across

% Three in the time of two. A triplet eighth lasts a third of a beat,
% which no notehead can say, so it is written as an EIGHTH and marked
% with a 3. Beamed, the beam brackets it and the numeral is enough;
% unbeamed, the numeral brings a bracket of its own.

Triplets ::= | {1 2 3}_4/3 {4 5 6}_4/3 {5 _2 4}_4/3 3 _4 |
Triplets

% And all of it together: the beat, its halves, its quarters, a
% dotted pair with its stub, a triplet, and home.

Beat
Eighths
Sixteenths
Stubs
Triplets
Beat

running…edit it and it re-runs as you type

How beaming reads · Rhythm