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Element: beam

Description

Beam values include begin, continue, end, forward hook, and backward hook. Up to eight concurrent beams are available to cover up to 1024th notes. Beaming groups are distinguished by being in different voices and/or the presence or absence of grace and cue elements.

Derived By

Type beam

Attributes
Name  Type  Required?  Default  Description 
number  beam-level  No  Each beam in a note is represented with a separate beam element, starting with the eighth note beam using a number attribute of 1. Note that the beam number does not distinguish sets of beams that overlap, as it does for slur and other elements.
repeater  yes-no  No  The repeater attribute has been deprecated in MusicXML 3.0. Formerly used for tremolos, it needs to be specified with a "yes" value for each beam using it.
fan  fan  No  Beams that have a begin value can also have a fan attribute to indicate accelerandos and ritardandos using fanned beams. The fan attribute may also be used with a continue value if the fanning direction changes on that note. The value is "none" if not specified.
color  color  No 
Content Model

Contains text only.

Referenced By
Example

      <note default-x="10">
        <pitch>
          <step>F</step>
          <octave>4</octave>
        </pitch>
        <duration>8</duration>
        <voice>1</voice>
        <type>eighth</type>
        <time-modification>
          <actual-notes>3</actual-notes>
          <normal-notes>2</normal-notes>
        </time-modification>
        <stem default-y="0">up</stem>
        <beam number="1">begin</beam>
        <notations>
          <tuplet number="1" placement="above" type="start"/>
        </notations>
      </note>
      <note default-x="41">
        <pitch>
          <step>F</step>
          <octave>4</octave>
        </pitch>
        <duration>8</duration>
        <voice>1</voice>
        <type>eighth</type>
        <time-modification>
          <actual-notes>3</actual-notes>
          <normal-notes>2</normal-notes>
        </time-modification>
        <stem default-y="0">up</stem>
        <beam number="1">continue</beam>
      </note>
      <note default-x="71">
        <pitch>
          <step>F</step>
          <octave>4</octave>
        </pitch>
        <duration>8</duration>
        <voice>1</voice>
        <type>eighth</type>
        <time-modification>
          <actual-notes>3</actual-notes>
          <normal-notes>2</normal-notes>
        </time-modification>
        <stem default-y="0">up</stem>
        <beam number="1">end</beam>
        <notations>
          <tuplet number="1" type="stop"/>
        </notations>
      </note>
      <note default-x="101">
        <pitch>
          <step>F</step>
          <octave>4</octave>
        </pitch>
        <duration>3</duration>
        <voice>1</voice>
        <type>32nd</type>
        <stem default-y="8">up</stem>
        <beam number="1">begin</beam>
        <beam number="2">begin</beam>
        <beam number="3">begin</beam>
      </note>
      <note default-x="119">
        <pitch>
          <step>F</step>
          <octave>4</octave>
        </pitch>
        <duration>3</duration>
        <voice>1</voice>
        <type>32nd</type>
        <stem default-y="8">up</stem>
        <beam number="1">continue</beam>
        <beam number="2">continue</beam>
        <beam number="3">continue</beam>
      </note>
      <note default-x="137">
        <pitch>
          <step>F</step>
          <octave>4</octave>
        </pitch>
        <duration>3</duration>
        <voice>1</voice>
        <type>32nd</type>
        <stem default-y="8">up</stem>
        <beam number="1">continue</beam>
        <beam number="2">continue</beam>
        <beam number="3">continue</beam>
      </note>
      <note default-x="155">
        <pitch>
          <step>F</step>
          <octave>4</octave>
        </pitch>
        <duration>3</duration>
        <voice>1</voice>
        <type>32nd</type>
        <stem default-y="8">up</stem>
        <beam number="1">continue</beam>
        <beam number="2">end</beam>
        <beam number="3">end</beam>

      </note>
      <note default-x="173">
        <pitch>
          <step>F</step>
          <octave>4</octave>
        </pitch>
        <duration>12</duration>
        <voice>1</voice>
        <type>eighth</type>
        <stem default-y="8">up</stem>
        <beam number="1">end</beam>
      </note>
      <note default-x="213">
        <pitch>
          <step>F</step>
          <octave>4</octave>
        </pitch>
        <duration>12</duration>
        <voice>1</voice>
        <type>eighth</type>
        <stem default-y="0">up</stem>
        <beam number="1">begin</beam>
      </note>
      <note default-x="253">
        <pitch>
          <step>F</step>
          <octave>4</octave>
        </pitch>
        <duration>6</duration>
        <voice>1</voice>
        <type>16th</type>
        <stem default-y="0">up</stem>
        <beam number="1">continue</beam>
        <beam number="2">begin</beam>
      </note>
      <note default-x="278">
        <pitch>
          <step>F</step>
          <octave>4</octave>
        </pitch>
        <duration>6</duration>
        <voice>1</voice>
        <type>16th</type>
        <stem default-y="0">up</stem>
        <beam number="1">end</beam>
        <beam number="2">end</beam>
      </note>

Fanned (feathered) beaming

      <note default-x="84">
        <pitch>
          <step>A</step>
          <octave>4</octave>
        </pitch>
        <duration>1</duration>
        <voice>1</voice>
        <type>32nd</type>
        <stem default-y="17.5">up</stem>
<beam number="1" fan="accel">begin</beam>
        <beam number="2" fan="accel">begin</beam>
        <beam number="3" fan="accel">begin</beam>

      </note>
      <note default-x="95">
        <pitch>
          <step>A</step>
          <octave>4</octave>
        </pitch>
        <duration>1</duration>
        <voice>1</voice>
        <type>32nd</type>
        <stem default-y="17.5">up</stem>
<beam number="1" fan="accel">continue</beam>
        <beam number="2" fan="accel">continue</beam>
        <beam number="3" fan="accel">continue</beam>

      </note>
      <note default-x="107">
        <pitch>
          <step>A</step>
          <octave>4</octave>
        </pitch>
        <duration>1</duration>
        <voice>1</voice>
        <type>32nd</type>
        <stem default-y="17.5">up</stem>
<beam number="1" fan="accel">continue</beam>
        <beam number="2" fan="accel">continue</beam>
        <beam number="3" fan="accel">continue</beam>

      </note>
      <note default-x="118">
        <pitch>
          <step>A</step>
          <octave>4</octave>
        </pitch>
        <duration>1</duration>
        <voice>1</voice>
        <type>32nd</type>
        <stem default-y="17.5">up</stem>
<beam number="1" fan="accel">end</beam>
        <beam number="2" fan="accel">end</beam>
        <beam number="3" fan="accel">end</beam>

      </note>

Definition

See note

 

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