Beaming in Groups

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Beaming

Notes which are smaller than a crotchet – quavers and semiquavers – have tails attached to their stems.Notes which are smaller than a quarter note - 8ths and 16ths - 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, connecting them into a straight line. We call this line a “beam”- they are beamed notes.

Making Beamed Notes

Notes with one tail (quavers and dotted quavers) (8ths and 16ths)have one beam. Semiquavers16ths have two tails so they have two beams, which are drawn quite close together.

Here are some examples of beamed quaver notes.8th notes

Quavers can be beamed to semiquavers like this:8ths can be beamed to 16ths like this

We can also join dotted quavers to semiquavers join dotted 8ths to 16thswith beams, like this:

Notice that the lower semiquaver 16thbeam is quite short. This is a cut-off beam.

Cut-off beams should be about as wide as the note-head. They can point in either direction, depending on which side of the dotted note they are on (they point towards the longer note that they make a whole beat with).

Here’s another example of beamed notes which have cut-off beams:

Beaming and Beats

In the time signatures you need to know for Grade 1 Music Theory (2/4, 3/4 and 4/4), the beat is always represented by a crotchet /su_tooltip]time value.

(In other time signatures the beat could be a 8th or half notequaver of minimquarter note. However, in this lesson we will assume the beat is always a crotchet.)

In each bar, some notes are given more emphasis than others – this subtle accent is what gives music its feeling of pulse. Beats are categorised as follows:

• Strong beat: this is the strongest accent in the bar and falls right at the beginning of the bar.
• Weak beat: these are the other crotchet beats of the bar. (But, the 3rd beat in 4/4 is stronger than beats 2 and 4).
• Off beat: these are any notes which fall in between the strong and/or weak beats.

The rules for correct beaming depend on the time signature in use. You’ll need to learn the rules for each time signature separately, as well as these general rules:

• The quavers and semiquavers 8ths and 16thsshould be joined together to make the crotchet beat quarter note beatobvious. 
• Beams never cross over the bar lines.
• The first note of a beamed group must never fall on an off beat, unless it’s preceded by a rest or a dotted note.

Beaming in 2/4 Time

In 2/4 time there are two crotchet quarter notebeats per bar. There is one strong beat, which is the first beat of the bar. The second crotchet beat is the weak beat.

Notes are normally beamed together to make up one crotchet beat. Here are some examples.

If there are four quavers 8th notesin a bar, they can all be beamed together.

Beaming in 3/4 Time

In 3/4 time there are three crotchets quarter notesper bar. There is one strong beat, which is the first beat of the bar, followed by two weak beats.

The quavers can be beamed right across two or three whole crotchet beats, but the first note of the group must fall on the beat, not on an off beat.The 8ths can be beamed across two or three quarter beats

In the above bars, all are correct except the last one. In the last bar, the 4th quaver 8th notefalls on an off beat.

Groups with semiquavers are normally only beamed to make up one crotchet beat maximum.Groups with 16th notes are normally only beamed to make up one quarter note at the most

Here are some examples:

Beaming in 4/4 Time

In 4/4 time there are four crotchet quarter notebeats per bar.

The first beat of the bar is the strong beat. The second and fourth beats are the weak beats. But the third beat is a secondary strong beat. 

This means that the first beat of the bar has the strongest accent, the third beat has a slightly weaker accent, and the second and fourth beats receive no accent.

This is reflected in the beaming: you can beam together quavers which make up to two crotchets’ worth of beats, but only if they fall on beats 1-2 or 3-4. You cannot beam across beats 2-3. You can beam 8th notes across beats 1-2 or across beats 3-4, but not across beats 2-3

Bar 1 is correct, because the first quaver8th in each group falls on a strong beat.

Bar 2 is correct, because the first quaver8th in the first group falls on a weak beat and the first of the second group on a stronger beat. This makes the secondary strong beat obvious.

Bar 3 is incorrect, because the 3rd quaver8th in the group should have a stronger accent than the first quaver. The importance of the third beat of the bar is hidden.

Groups which contain semiquavers16ths should normally equal a maximum of one or two crotchetsquarter notes.

Here are some examples.

Notice that:

• The first four notes in bar 1 are all beamed together, making a group worth a minimhalf note.
• In bar 2, there is one unbeamed quaver8th. It can’t be beamed to the next group because that group needs to start on the third beat of the bar, to show the place of the secondary strong beat.
• Bar 3 looks complicated, but it’s not really! The first (strongest) beat is the first rest plus the beamed semiquaver and quaver16th and 8th. Together, they make up one crotchetquarter note beat. The second (weak) beat is made up of three beamed semiquavers and a semiquaver rest16ths and a 16th rest. The third (secondary strong beat) begins on the dotted quaverdotted 8th, and the final (weak) is the same as the second beat.
• In bar 3, it would be better not to beam the notes into groups worth a minimhalf note, because it will make it much more difficult to see which of the notes falls on the 2nd or 4th beat.

Beaming and Rests

We can include rests inside a group of beamed notes. Rests themselves are never beamed – we simply insert them between the notes. We can change their vertical position on the stave if we need to, to make the music clearer.

Stem Direction – Beaming Two Notes

If you need to join two or more notes together, but some of them have stems which point up and others which point down, which direction do you choose for the beamed group?

For example, let’s say you had to beam together two Ds of different pitches. Should they both have upwards pointing stems, or downwards pointing?

 
First, work out which note is furthest from the middle line.

In our example above, the bottom D is further away from the middle line than the top D is.

Use the direction of the note which is furthest from the middle line as your guide.

The bottom D has its stem pointing upwards, so that’s the direction we should use with our beaming:

However, if we change the notes to Fs, you will notice that we have to change to stems down, because the top F is further from the middle line than the bottom F:

Angling Beams

Beams can be flat, angled up or angled down. Beaming should follow the general direction of the music, from left to right.

If the music is getting higher, the beam should point upwards; if it’s getting lower it should be downwards. If the pitch of the beamed notes is the same overall, the beam should be flat.

Sometimes you may need to make the stems on some notes extra long, to allow enough space for everything to be seen.

Bars 1-4 are correct.

In bar 4, the stems are extra long on the lower Es, to allow space for the high E.

In bar 5, the beams is flat but the music is rising – this is incorrect.

In bar 6, the music is falling, but the beam is angled upwards, this is incorrect.

In bar 7, the pitch of the first and last notes is the same, so the beam should be flat.

Beaming Exercises

Point your mouse at the stave (tap on mobile devices) to reveal the answers.

Rewrite the following melodies, grouping (beaming) the notes correctly.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.