Beam (music)

Thick line used to connect notes in musical notation

In musical notation, a beam is a horizontal or diagonal line used to connect multiple consecutive notes (and occasionally rests) to indicate rhythmic grouping. Only eighth notes (quavers) or shorter can be beamed. The number of beams is equal to the number of flags that would be present on an unbeamed note. Beaming refers to the conventions and use of beams. A primary beam connects a note group unbroken, while a secondary beam is interrupted or partially broken.

Beam spans indicate rhythmic groupings, usually determined by the time signature. Therefore, beams do not usually cross bar lines or major subdivisions of bars. A single eighth note, or any faster note, is always stemmed with flags, while two or more are typically beamed in groups. In modern practice, beams may span across rests in order to make rhythmic groups clearer. In vocal music, beams were traditionally used only to connect notes sung to the same syllable. In modern practice it is more common to use standard beaming rules, while indicating multi note syllables with slurs.

Notes joined by a beam usually have all the stems pointing in the same direction (up or down). The average pitch of the notes is used to determine the direction – if the average pitch is below the middle staff line, the stems and beams usually go above the notehead, otherwise they go below.

Beams are also used as a notational abbreviation to indicate tremolos. If used for this purpose, a note, or pair of notes, of any value can be beamed and/or marked with beam like strokes.