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Automatic beams
By default, beams are inserted automatically:
\relative c'' { \time 2/4 c8 c c c \time 6/8 c8 c c c8. c16 c8 }
If these automatic decisions are not satisfactory, beaming can be entered explicitly; see Manual beams. Beams must be entered manually if beams are to be extended over rests.
If automatic beaming is not required, it may be turned off with
\autoBeamOff
and on with \autoBeamOn
:
\relative c' { c4 c8 c8. c16 c8. c16 c8 \autoBeamOff c4 c8 c8. c16 c8. \autoBeamOn c16 c8 }
Note: If beams are used to indicate melismata in songs, then
automatic beaming should be switched off with \autoBeamOff
and the beams indicated manually. Using \partCombine
with
\autoBeamOff
can produce unintended results. See the
snippets for more information.
Beaming patterns that differ from the automatic defaults can be created; see Setting automatic beam behavior.
Predefined commands
\autoBeamOff
,
\autoBeamOn
.
Selected Snippets
Beams across line breaks
Line breaks are normally forbidden when beams cross bar lines. This behavior can be changed as shown:
\relative c'' { \override Beam.breakable = ##t c8 c[ c] c[ c] c[ c] c[ \break c8] c[ c] c[ c] c[ c] c }
Changing beam knee gap
Kneed beams are inserted automatically when a large gap is detected
between the note heads. This behavior can be tuned through the
auto-knee-gap
property. A kneed beam is drawn if the gap is
larger than the value of auto-knee-gap
plus the width of the
beam object (which depends on the duration of the notes and the slope
of the beam). By default auto-knee-gap
is set to 5.5 staff
spaces.
{ f8 f''8 f8 f''8 \override Beam.auto-knee-gap = #6 f8 f''8 f8 f''8 }
Partcombine and autoBeamOff
The function of \autoBeamOff
when used with
\partCombine
can be difficult to understand.
It may be preferable to use
\set Staff.autoBeaming = ##f
instead, to ensure that autobeaming will be turned off for the entire staff.
\partCombine
apparently works with 3 voices – stem up single,
stem down single, stem up combined.
An \autoBeamOff
call in the first argument to
\partCombine
will apply to the voice that is active at the time
the call is processed, either stem up single or stem up combined. An
\autoBeamOff
call in the second argument will apply to the
voice that is stem down single.
In order to use \autoBeamOff
to stop all autobeaming when used
with \partCombine
, it will be necessary to use three
calls to \autoBeamOff
.
{ %\set Staff.autoBeaming = ##f % turns off all autobeaming \partCombine { \autoBeamOff % applies to split up stems \repeat unfold 4 a'16 %\autoBeamOff % applies to combined up stems \repeat unfold 4 a'8 \repeat unfold 4 a'16 } { \autoBeamOff % applies to down stems \repeat unfold 4 f'8 \repeat unfold 8 f'16 | } }
See also
Notation Reference: Manual beams, Setting automatic beam behavior.
Installed Files: scm/auto-beam.scm.
Snippets: Rhythms.
Internals Reference: Auto_beam_engraver, Beam_engraver, Beam, BeamEvent, BeamForbidEvent, beam-interface, unbreakable-spanner-interface.
Known issues and warnings
The properties of a beam are determined at the start of its construction and any additional beam property changes that occur before the beam has been completed will not take effect until the next, new beam starts.
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