User manual

● You can also change the staff-relative placement of selected beams by pressing F .
RESULT
The beam appears on the side of the staff that corresponds to its forced stem direction.
Removing beam placement changes
You can undo changes to the staff-relative placement of beams in order to remove the stem
direction change. This reverts selected beams to their default placement.
PROCEDURE
1. Select at least one note in each of the beamed phrases whose staff-relative placement
change you want to remove.
2. Choose Edit > Stem > Remove Forced Stem. You can also choose this option from the
context menu.
RESULT
The selected beams revert to their default staff-relative placement.
Beam slants
The slant of a beam controls how steeply the beam deviates from horizontal, according to the
pitches of the notes within the beamed group.
● When the last note of the phrase is higher than the rst, the beam slants upwards.
● When the last note of the phrase is lower than the rst, the beam slants downwards.
● If the group makes a concave shape, where inner notes are closer to the beam than the
outer ones at either end of the beam, then the beaming is horizontal by default.
Beams are also horizontal if all the pitches are the same, or for certain patterns of repeated
pitches.
When a beam is drawn inside the staff, each end of the beam, meaning the end of the stem of
the note at either end of the beam, must be snapped to a staff line position. A beam line may sit
on a staff line, be centered on a staff line, or hang from a staff line. Ted Ross describes these
three positions as “sit”, “straddle”, and “hang” respectively in “Teach Yourself the Art and Practice
of Music Engraving”.
A phrase containing multiple different beam slants and directions
The amount by which a beam slants is typically determined by the interval between the rst and
last note in the beamed group, provided the pattern of notes in the beam does not dictate a
horizontal beam instead. Smaller intervals require a shallower slant and larger intervals require a
steeper one.
However, the desired amount of slant is not the only factor that must be considered. The
innermost beam line should not come too close to the innermost notehead, and the beam itself,
if possible, should be positioned relative to the staff lines such that it does not form a wedge. A
Beaming
Beam slants
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Dorico SE 3.1.10