Stem Direction
So, I've run across a notation that is throwing off my knowledge of music theory. This refers to stem direction.
Please look at the attached file for my example. To my knowledge, notes that are further away from the middle line choose the stem direction. In this case, the E's are further away than the A's are to the middle line. However, the first four barred notes are naturally pulled upwards, and I believe they should be pulled down. The second set showes my edit to that.
Please correct me if I am missing something. This just bugs me to know that the "theory" put into Musescore may be wrong, and I don't want to have to correct that every time.
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| Stem Direction.mscz | 1.54 KB |
Comments
Rules when beaming eighths together vary by publisher. Some say that the furtherest from the middle line wins, meaning in this case, the E would win and stems would go down. But other publishers say that majority wins, and in this case, it's a tie between the E and A. Furthermore. There are different rules as to what to do in case of ties - or in case of a single note on the middle line. Some say the stems always go down, others say the stem goes the same direction as the previous stem.
So there is no one signle right answer in every case. No matter which set of rules MuseScore followed, there would be times when it wouldn't be what you wanted. So there's no getting around needing to flips stems manually on occasion if you have a particular set of rules you want to follow in your own music.
That said, I do find the stemming in this example surprising. I don't know the rules it follows, and would have a hard time guessing from this. Looks like it is a form of "majority rules" but I don't understand how it resolves cases like this where it is a tie.
In reply to Rules when beaming eighths by Marc Sabatella
Well, that is very interesting. My theory instructor has never said anything pertaining to situations where "some say this and some say that." He has always given a rule, and we've stuck to that. Please, I would like to read up on that if you know where I could look further into it.
That said, I believe you are right about the "majority rules" rule in this situation. However, "understanding how it resolves cases like this where it is a tie" beat's me.
As I am testing it out, I've noticed each time I write four barred notes in succession, either eighth or sixteenth, with the first two notes above and the second two notes below--never putting notes on the middle line--they always come out up and never down. If going to the "furthest away" rule, there should be cases where they go down, but that never once occurs.
In reply to Well, that is very by Sean Oliveras
Stem direction rules aren't really "theory"; it's a matter of notational convention. Books or articles on the sibject of music notation, typesetting, or engraving would be places to find more information. For years, the standard reference has been Gardner Read's "Music Notation: A Manual of Modern Practice", but it leaves these particular questions open, so different publishers have done it differently. There are also guidelines published by the Music Publishers Association of the US, and others published by the British version of that organization. Plus a number of older works, including some you can download free via Google Books. Plenty of miscellaneous discrepancies of this sort exist between all of these sources.
Sounds like you've discovered the rule followed by MuseScore is that the majority wins, and it always uses up stems in cases of equal numbers of notes above and below the middle line. Seems there is room for improvement here, but I'd rather the defaults for things Iike this be controlled by options, as again, no choice is going to suit everyone.