Beams facilitate note reading and counting by grouping notes into units reflecting the beat. In older editions of
vocal music it was common to use individual notes with flags, instead of beams, to match each syllable of the
lyrics with a specific pitch; this practice is not in use today.
When beaming groups of notes together, the direction of the stems will be determined by the placement on the
staff of the majority of the notes.
If a majority does not exist, one usually stems the notes away from the note that is farthest from the middle line
of the staff.
Exercise 5
In the following exercises, rewrite the single eighth notes by using beams. Group notes by two as needed.
- “Pentatonic Tune” from For Children Vol. 1(B. Bartók)
Notice the clef change from bass clef at the beginning to the treble clef in the middle of the line.MODULE 2
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is written asE
eDifficult to read Easier to readWorkbook Exercises 2.1 and 2.2