3/4 time signature beaming is incorrect for 6 quavers (eighth notes) in a measure

• Mar 25, 2011 - 16:21

Hello

I'm new to Musescore and this is my first post. First off thank you to all who have given, and continue to give, so generously of their time and resources to develop this impressive software and make it freely available to all. Truly, such altruism lifts the spirit.
But back to business. My problem is notating 6 quavers in a 3/4 measure where Musescore v1.0 r3996 automatic setting beams quavers in pairs i.e. 3 separate pairs of beamed quavers per measure, instead of all 6 quavers being beamed together as I was taught.
True, each measure can be corrected individually by selecting the first 5 quavers in the "blue box" and then double clicking the "Middle of beam" icon within "Beam Properties" in the Pallette - but NOT the whole 6 otherwise the beam crosses into the next measure, and this can't then be undone, so unless you've saved each previous change you'll be stuffed (is this a recorded bug?).
This has to be done individually for each measure and is time consuming.

Proposal: bug fix by amending Musescore's beaming "rule" in line with standard music notation convention i.e. in 3/4, 6/8 etc where the measure consists entirely of quavers or semiquavers then the notes should all be grouped together within the measure by a single beam.

PS
1/I'm running Windows XP sp3 on a Dell Mini10
2/I've read the handbook and searched "beaming" and read though all the posts and couldn't find this issue anywhere, but if I've missed anything then mea culpa and I apologise!


Comments

In reply to by [DELETED] 5

Thanks for the speedy reply.

Just to clarify, the Royal Schools of Music Rudiments of Theory book states:
"The rule is: group together as many notes as make one beat EXCEPT .... if a bar of 3/4 ... consists entirely of quavers, then all the notes should be grouped together".
Also I checked with Mr Bach and his 48 follow this rule, so I'll not argue with him!

As to the demand for this, you're probably right - the World is 4/4, and 3/4 is perhaps not cool anymore. But sometimes a composition can only be in triple time. Besides diversity is good right?
So, accepting that 3/4 and with lots of quavers is a minority interest I'll subscribe to the thread you suggested.

Thanks also for the reply re "undo" - I since spotted the same can be achieved by de-selecting auto beaming and then amending as required via Pallette.

Best wishes

In reply to by JR

The great thing about standards is, there are so many to choose from! I'm sure some style guides recommend beaming them all together, and some editors have beamed Bach that way. Other style guides presumably recommend otherwise, and other editors have beamed Bach these ways. My copy of WTC I edited by Carl Czerny, for instance, beams in groups of twos for both the D minor and E minor fugues, but also beams four eighths together on beats two and three when preceded by sixteenths in beat one, as in the Ab major prelude. And yet, in the Bb major fuge, he does beam entire measures of 3/4 together. It's quite inconsistent from piece to piece, almost as if it were edited by several different people. But the message here is clear: there is no One Right Way to do this.

Anyhow, the issue of beaming eighths *is* important, 3/4 time or otherwise - so that's why the right answer is to provide the option for the default to go either way, not to simply change it from something that pleases some but not others to something that pleases the second group but not the first.

In reply to by Marc Sabatella

Thanks for your responses Marc and Xavierjazz.
It's only when you start writing music you realise a lot of "art" and effort is needed to create a musically correct and clear composition - maybe as much as to compose the thing in the first place! Naively I think I was expecting Musescore to sort all that out for me.
But you raise an interesting point about differing standards so I've checked my own copy of WTC 1 which was edited by a Mr "Donald Francis Tovey" in 1924.

"D min Fugue - beams in groups of twos"
Mr T beams all quavers together

"E min Fugue - beams in groups of twos"
Mr T beams all quavers together

"Ab maj Prelude - beams four eighths together on beats two and three when preceded by sixteenths in beat one"
Mr T does too - this makes sense because it's easier to read this way. Quoting the RSM Rudiments of Theory book again, the rule is to group all notes to the beat - the 3/4 exception only applies if ALL notes in the bar are quavers - which is not the case here so Mr T and Mr C are both in line with the RSM here.

"Bb maj Fugue - he does beam entire measures of 3/4 together"
Mr T does too. As you say, Mr C is not being consistent!

So I had a look at Mr T's lengthy Preface (10 dense pages of it) for some clues, and sure enough he had a few words to say about Mr C's effort:
"It's text is as worthless as Shakespeare edited by Garrick"
"Obviously then, we can nowadays do incomparably better than Czerny"
"... when ... scholars uphold Czerny's disastrous simplification of the delightful cross-rythm of Book II Prelude V it is time to protest"

Ouch! If you want to see a good cat fight you can't beat the Halls of Academe.

Do you still have an unanswered question? Please log in first to post your question.