Incorrect beaming in incomplete bar?

• Dec 14, 2012 - 15:43

1. Open attached score.

Result: The first and second quavers are joined.

Discussion: LilyPond also shows the same result. I'm not sure any of them are correct - can anyone confirm?

Using MuseScore 2.0 Nightly Build (0b00926) - Mac 10.7.5.


Comments

I wouldn't consider any of the them correct either, but am not sure to what the software is responsible for that. If the user enters a dotted eighth that staddles a beat - as happens on both voices - there's really no way to beam it correctly. It's incorrect to put that dotted eighth there no matter how you beam it.

However, it has long been one of my pet peeves that MuseScore by default wants to beam combinations of eighths and sixteenths in two-beat groupings. It correctly (1.2) breaks beams beat by beat when only sixteenths are involved, but as soon as one eighth note enters the mix, it reverts to two-beat grouping. Should be the other way around: mixed groups should obey the beaming behavior of the *shortest* subdivision found. This is probably the single biggest source of errors in student assignments, I find, so it would be nice if the defaults got it right.

I can't remember if this has been fixed for 2.0, and it's tough to test right now because of the Windows / font issue.

Thanks for explaining Marc.

It's the anacrusis of this song .

I think the first quaver should be on its own and the remaining 2 beats should be beamed (or whatever) as it normally would.

In reply to by chen lung

Knowing this is an anacrusis helps a lot - it means that the beat divisions are such that the first eighth belongs on its own, not the last. So yes, the first quaver on its own, and the next two beats should be beamed normally - which means, beat by beat - 1/2 + 1 + 1. Even though 1.2 at least would think both should be beamed together (1/2 + 2).

But that's true only for an anacrusis. Were the exact same measure to occur anywhere else in the piece, then the natural assumption would be that the beats break down 1 + 1 + 1/2. I am not sure if MuseScore should be in the business of changing its behavior on this basis - although that's certainly a possibility. But in general, I think it would be more natural to assume 1 + 1 + 1/2 and the user would simply to have to override should this appear as an anacrusis.

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