Flat beam question

[Fred G. Unn]

There was a recent thread on the Dorico forum about flat beams so I guess they were on my mind when I stumbled upon this example today while writing some patterns for a student.



Seems pretty straightforward, but the fact that the line ascends at the end winds up giving it a concave "feel," at least to me anyway. Would anyone be inclined use a flat beam here? Or am I overthinking it?

[tisimst]

I wouldn’t use a flat beam. I’ve always been in the camp that the beam should trend (i.e., slant) with the trend of the notes. The level of slant is debatable, but I would do *something* since it gives the eyes a cue of what the notes are *generally* doing so I can anticipate it. This is very important to me when I’m sight-reading. I’m no pro, but that’s my thought on the matter. So, if I had to pick one of the images, I would very much prefer the first to the second.

[Fred G. Unn]

Thanks! If the last two notes of the first bar were reversed, A natural to Ab, it wouldn't have even occurred to me to change it, and if I spelled the Ab as G# then of course it would be flat as the shape is concave.


This one just sort of slipped between the cracks as my engraver-brain thinks of it one way, and performer-brain thinks of another, LOL! The ascending notes at the end of a descending (overall) line were making me question it.

[tisimst]

Convex vs concave doesn't matter much to me. The group is *trending* downward, so I'd slant the beam downward, at least a little. Doesn't really matter what happens in the middle. Here's what my brain sees:

beam-group-showing-trend.png (42.28 KiB) Viewed 6610 times

This doesn't mean that I'd slope it that much, but *something*.

[Fred G. Unn]

Both Ross (pg 115-117) and Gould (pg 22-24) are prescribing a flat beam if the the Ab is a G#, and that still makes sense to me, but it's the enharmonic factor that throws me off. I think I'm fine with the top example I posted, but with a G# I'd definitely prefer a horizontal beam here.

[John Ruggero]

I'm with tisimst on this one. I want the beam to follow the general import of the music and ignore the decorative motion.

[tisimst]

If notation apps could do curved beams, I'd probably have a different opinion on the matter lol

[John Ruggero]

Yeh, JS Bach would have used curved beams in this case, but that's too much granularity for me.

[Anders Hedelin]

FWIW when experimenting with different beam appearances, flat, a little sloping, or more sloping, I've noticed that the eye quickly adapts to what is at hand. If you use flat beams (as in the example shown above), the eye, well my eye, takes it more or less for granted. If you use another approach, provided you use it consequently, I find that the eye, again my eye, has no problem getting used to that too.

I wouldn't have had any problems with the examples below, "gotten used to them". Possibly except number one and three, where the stem length is more of a problem than the beam slope.

Beam slopes.JPG (27.82 KiB) Viewed 6314 times

[John Ruggero]

As you show, we humans have an infinite capacity to adapt to even the most extreme conditions!