Music notation: Why aren't stems on the on the same side of noteheads?
"If the stem points up from a notehead, the stem originates from the right-hand side of the note, but if it points down, it originates from the left." - wikipedia
So, why are the stems on different sides of the notehead?
Comments
The real answer is that's just the way it is. We're used to seeing what looks like a rotated note rather than a flipped note. It's probably so the early engravers could use one dye to press all 1/4 notes by rotating the dye rather than having one for up stem and one for down.
In reply to The real answer is that's… by mike320
In many antique manuscripts and much engraving, all the stems are on the right, FWIW.
In reply to In many antique manuscripts… by [DELETED] 1831606
From what I've seen, those are mostly hand drawn. Of course I haven't seen nearly as many as you.
In reply to The real answer is that's… by mike320
That's exactly why--it's also the reason notes third staff line and above have stems which descend, and notes below have stems which go up: one dye for (in treble clef) both F and E, say. Before the advent of music printing with moveable type, all stems went up, and came out of the middle of the (diamond-shaped) notehead. (Moveable type was used before, and was replaced by, plate engraving.)
Nowadays, of course, with things like chords with seconds etc., it gets more complex
In reply to That's exactly why--it's… by wfazekas1
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In reply to That's exactly why--it's… by wfazekas1
I've found a site which shows some old style diamond notes:
https://i1.wp.com/pianistmusings.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Screen-…
Wouldn't these central stems be good for engraving?
As for chords with seconds ... that's gone right over my head, except that seconds looks like a reference to an interval, (maybe).
In reply to I've found a site which… by yonah_ag
Music notation changed over the centuries. At one time the diamond shaped heads were common but for 400 years mostly the round heads have been common. Diamonds are actually still used for some notations like harmonics, mostly on the violin family. Today of the various noteheads found in the palettes are used for various reasons. Hymnals often have notehead shapes indicating the note name for example. Someone in the Spanish forum asked about https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neume in the last few days.
Interesting. :-)