Re: Beaming

[Edward Sanford Sutton, III]

On Thursday March 18 2004 09:11, Joerg Anders wrote:
> Hi all!
>
> I wanted to learn more about the "wonder of beaming"! I hoped
> LilyPond could help me. But it is difficult to
> find a rule.  How many notes are grouped ? It has to do with
> the time signature. But how ? The more examples I test the less I
> understand.
>
> Is there any rule, at all ? Or does it depend on the author/editor ?
> Does anybody know an URL about this topic ? Or perhaps a pointer
> into the LilyPond C code ?

  
http://lilypond.org/doc/v2.1/Documentation/user/out-www/lilypond/Setting-automatic-beam-behavior.html#Setting%
20automatic%20beam%20behavior has a useful reference in the bugs section (or 
chagne to the v2.0 page or whatever version you are using.
  On the 'tips and tricks' page, search for 'beam-auto-override.ly' (without 
quotes) and look at what follows (most likely the next two below that link is 
what you care about).
  Beans will 'often' not cross the middle of the measure unless it is 'complex 
time'; in which case, they usually break the measure into thirds rather than 
halves.
  Not every author follows any set of standard beaming rules; some just place 
beams on the thought, "it's easy to read".
  Sängers Morgenlied on http://lilypond.org/doc/v2.1/examples.html is an 
example of not following most normal beaming conventions if I understand 
right. 'The input' mentions that the beaming in a measure is 'incorrect', but 
forced to duplicate the original.
  The amount of notes within a beam is influenced: by tempo, often by where 
the beat is (rhythmic flow), and by the note duration within the time 
signature.
  I hope this helps at least open your eyes a bit; I don't know where any good 
references to this were right now, so I'm sure I'm not quite right on 
everything.
  Anybody else care to fill in more and correct what I've messed up?
Ed Sutton