If a tuplet figure is beamed, the number is placed on the side of the beam opposite the note head. If there is any question as to which notes or rests are included in a tuplet, or if a tuplet figure is not beamed or only partially beamed (as may be the case when a rest or notes of mixed values are included in the tuplet), a bracket should be must be used with a number or ratio.

Brackets must enclose the entire space of all notes and rests included within the grouping (from the left side of the first note to the right side of the last note – although if the last note of the tuplet is flagged, the stem is used for the boundary, not the flag). Brackets and numbers are normally placed on the stem side of notes, but when ledger lines are used, the number and bracket appear on the note head side. Usually, the two halves of a tuplet bracket should be straight enough to appear as if they are part of the same line, with the tuplet number centered within the bracket. In cases where the figure includes both up- and down-stem notes, the tuplet is placed above the figure.

Numbers should be centered over or under the center of each grouping. The number of the tuplet is written in boldface italic type and is a little over one space tall.

Unless absolutely impossible, the tuplet number should always be outside the staff. If fingerings are marked, the tuplet number should be placed opposite the fingering numerals. If the tuplet number lies in the path of a slur, the tuplet number should be moved to the side of the note opposite the slur (that is, if the tuplet would normally be placed above the staff, place it below the staff, and vice versa). Articulation markings (except large slurs over the entire configuration) are always included inside a tuplet bracket. Care should be taken to ensure proper vertical alignment between parts when dealing with tuplets.

Nested tuplets are always placed on the same side of the figure, regardless of stem directions. When dealing with nested tuplets, the smallest values are placed closest to the notes with progressively larger groupings placed further out.

In “simple time,” the top number indicates the number of beats in each measure while the bottom number indicates what note value receives one beat. In “compound time,” the top number indicates the division of the beat while the bottom number indicates the note value of the division. In compound time, therefore, the top number is the number of beats multiplied by three; in simple time, the top number may be any numeral. As the bottom number always refers to a note value, the only numerals that can be used are 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, etc. (referring to the whole note, half note, quarter note, eighth note, sixteenth note, thirty-second note, etc.). It is important that the time signature used represent the musical pulse, not merely the content of the bar.² A common mistake is to confuse(simple triple) with(compound duple), particularly when there is a temporary change of time with a value of the quarter note unchanged. For example, in the following the second bar is clearly intime:
(=over the meter change). Ifwere intended the correct notation would be:.

Time signatures are traditionally placed on each staff following the clef and key signature. If there is no key signature, the time signature should immediately follow the clef. When placed in the traditional position, the top number should occupy the top two spaces of the staff and the bottom number the bottom two spaces of the staff.

Contemporary practice has increased the number of time signature options available. Some of these include: larger time signatures may now be placed over several staves, the bottom number may be replaced by a note shape (e.g.,), meters may be combined to indicate either a fixed pattern of changing meters or a flexible alternation of simple and compound meters containing the same number of rhythmic units (e.g.,would mean that the measures alternate, freely or strictly, between the compound meterand the simple meter, compound time signatures consisting of more than one top number to indicate an unorthodox grouping of beats (e.g.,), different meters occurring simultaneously (polymeter), mixed meters made of unequal units grouped within the measure (e.g.,), and meters which include a fraction in the top number (e.g.,).

Time signatures should appear only when necessary — unlike clefs and key signatures they are not repeated at the beginning of every line of the score. When the meter changes over a system break, it is common practice to add a “cautionary” time signature at the end of the line preceding the change.

¹ Theas a time signature means “common time,” i.e.time. It has a long history, and until recently meant any kind of quadruple-time, simple or compound, such as,, or, butis its only meaning in recent years. Similarlymeans. The use offorand offoris now fairly common.

² For example,should not be used when the rhythm is clearly.

Beats tend to be grouped into patterns that are consistent throughout a passage; the pattern of beats is called the meter. Groups of two, three, or four beats are the most common, although other meters (and even ameter) may occur. Each unit of meter is called a measure and is delineated with a vertical bar line.

Since groups of two, three, and four beats are the most common meters, they have specific names. A two-beat meter is Duple Meter, a three-beat meter is Triple Meter, and a four-beat meter is Quadruple Meter. Of course, the pattern can be continued for other beat patterns: a five-beat meter is Quintuple Meter, a six-beat meter is Sextuple Meter, and so on.

Beats generally divide into either to or three equal parts. When beats are divided into two equal parts (for instance, a quarter note beat divides into two eighth notes), the music is said to be in Simple Time. When the beats are divided into three equal parts (for instance, a dotted quarter note beat divides into three eighth notes), the music is said to be in Compound Time.

Care should be taken not to confuse beat type, which refers to how the beat divides (simple or compound), with meter type, which refers to how the measure divides (duple, triple, or quadruple). The metric characteristics of most music can be easily and precisely described by combining the various beat and meter types, e.g., simple duple describes a two-beat meter where each beat is divided into two equal parts; compound triple describes a three-beat meter where each beat is divided into three equal parts, etc.

Where there is a single voice, ties connecting notes with downward stems are placed above the note heads, and ties connecting notes with upward stems are placed below the note heads. Where notes with stems in opposite directions are tied (as may be the case with two enharmonically spelled notes), the tie is placed under the notes on and below the second space, and above the notes from the middle line upward. Where there are two or more voices, the ties will always be placed on the outside (that is, on the same side as the stems).

When a chord is tied, the tie for the top note arcs upward and is placed above the note heads, while the tie for the bottom note arcs down and is placed below the note heads. In four-note chords, the top two ties arc up while the bottom two ties arc down. In three- and five-note chords, the tie for the middle note is placed according to its position on the staff. For notes without stems (whole notes and double-whole notes), ties are placed as if the notes were stemmed.

When dotted notes are tied, the position of the tie is altered slightly so as not to interfere with the dot.¹ Ties should never cross one another, and crossing a stem with a tie should be avoided if at all possible.

¹ If necessary, the tie can be raised, lowered, or have its endpoints altered.

If there are two independent lines on a staff, their slurs must curve away from each other and be placed on the stem side of the note heads (a stem-side slur is placed at the tip of the stem). Often in these cases, the slur must be shifted slightly to avoid crossing a stem (crossing a stem with a slur should be avoided if at all possible). A single slur is sufficient for chords.

When ties are used, slurs are always placed outside the tie mark. When a passage begins or ends with tied notes, slurs are extended over the entire passage. When chords are slurred, the slur marking is placed according to the stemmed notes of the chord. A large slur does not affect the direction of a smaller internal tie.

When slurs are used in conjunction with staccatos and tenutos, the slur marks should be placed outside the articulation marks. Accent marks or wedges should also be covered by slurs except at the beginning and end of the slur, in which case the slur should be between the note head and the articulation mark.

Slurs may pass through a bar line and may be extended over a system break. When extended over a system break, the slur ending the first system should not extend beyond, but appear to be continuing its arc beyond, the line’s final bar line; the slur at the beginning of the following line should be short and nearly horizontal if it ends on the line’s first note.

¹ That is, slurs go below notes when all of the notes in the passage are upstemmed and above the notes when any of the notes in the phrase are downstemmed.

Stem Lengths

When writing the interval of a second, the stem should be placed between the note heads. The higher pitch is always placed to the right, regardless of stem direction (this results in one of the note heads being “displaced”).⁴ When the interval of a second is presented on ledger lines, the ledger line must be widened to accommodate both notes and retain a bit of line on each side of each note. If there are other notes in the chord, they are placed as normal according to stem direction. When an odd number of notes forms a cluster, the majority of notes are arranged on the ‘correct’ side of the stem (e.g., in a three note cluster the displaced is the middle note, while the other two notes are in their normal positions). When the interval of a second is written with opposite stems, as with multiple voices sharing the same staff, the stems are aligned vertically — in the case of a second, this means that the higher note is placed on the left.

The direction of stems on unbeamed chords is determined by the note head farthest from the center of the staff. The stem should be about two and a half spaces in length as measured from the note head nearest to the end of the stem. In chords whose outer note heads are equidistant from the center line, the stem either goes down (for two-note chords) or is determined by the inner notes of the chord (for chords containing more than two notes) — if there are more notes or wider intervals below the middle line, the stem is up; if there are more notes or wider intervals above the middle line, the stem is down.

Only notes of the same durational value can share a common stem. The stems of grace notes are turned upwards without exception.

In music using two or more staves, note heads (rather than stems) should be vertically aligned. In aligning chords containing displaced notes with stems going in opposite directions, or on separate staves, the properly placed note heads are aligned.

¹ The old engraver’s rule was that the stem of a note on the middle line of a staff varied according to the surrounding notes. Up-stems may still be used with notes on the middle line of a staff if the surrounding notes are up-stemmed.

² Both up- and down-stems are drawn with a downstroke.

³ Large intervals involving ledger lines may call for stem lengths that go beyond the center line.

⁴ The placement of augmentation dots is also affected when this occurs. If the bottom note is on a line, the dot for the lower note is placed on the space below rather than the space above.

The augmentation dot is always placed in the center of a space, regardless of whether the note it is attached to is on a line or in a space, and should be bold enough to be immediately obvious. When a note is placed in a space, the dot is centered in the same space. When a note is on a line, the dot is placed in the space above the line — the exception to this rule is the interval of a second where one note is on a line and the other in a space. In this case, if the lower of the two notes is on the line, the dot is placed in the space beneath it; never put two independent augmentation dots on the same staff space. When a note appears on a ledger line, the dot is placed in the middle of the space above the ledger line on which the note appears. For notes requiring flags, the stem length, flag length, and/or placement of the augmentation dot may need to be altered in order to avoid any collision between the flag and augmentation dot.³

Augmentation dots in tone clusters should be vertically aligned. Dots should never be separated from the note head to which they are attached: divisi notes should be placed as necessary to allow augmentation dots to remain centered.

¹ A good working position for the placement of augmentation dots is about one-half space to the right of the note it is attached to.

² Double and triple augmentation dots are placed one half space beyond the single dot on the same horizontal plane.

³ In Music Notation: A Manual of Modern Practice, Gardner Reed recommends that the dot be placed above and beyond the tail of the flag.

From L to R: Dbl. Whole Rest, Whole Rest, 1/2 Rest, 1/4 Rest, 1/8 Rest, 1/16 Rest, 1/32 Rest

When possible, most rests should appear in or be positioned in relation to the third space from the bottom, although their position should be altered if normal placement would conflict with a beam or interfere with two voices sharing a staff. The double whole rest fills the third space of a staff (counting from the bottom). The whole rest is placed below the fourth line of the staff and is on-half space thick. The half rest is placed on top of the third line of the staff and is the same thickness as a whole rest. Both the quarter rest and the eighth rest are centered on the staff (the quarter rest begins in the top space and ends in the bottom space; the top hook of the eighth rest appears entirely within the third space, and the bottom of the figure touches the second line). The top of the sixteenth rest is placed as the eighth rest; the top hook is in the third space, another hook is added in the second space, and the bottom is extended down to touch the bottom staff line. The thirty-second rest is again centered on the staff (the top arm is in the fourth space, the second arm in the third space, and the third arm in the second space, with the bottom touching the staff line) and subsequently smaller rests follow the same pattern. All hooks fall within spaces.

How to draw quarter, eighth, and sixteenth rests:

Quarter Rest

Eighth Rest

Sixteenth Rest

For all smaller rests, simply add more flags (stroke 2) and extend the downward length of stroke 1.

Primary and Secondary Beams

Traditional practice was to break beams for rests, but it is now common to include rests in beam groups. When a rest is included in the beam group, short stems, or stemlets, are usually added and extend from the beam partly toward the rest(s). The heights of beams often need adjustment when rests are included in a beamed group. This is especially useful when dealing with rhythmically complex music.

Stemlets

Notes that are beamed together usually have the same direction.¹ If all the notes of a beamed figure are on the same side of the middle line, then the stem direction is the same as it would be for a single note. If notes of a beamed group are on both sides of the middle line, then deciding the stem direction is more complicated. When only two notes are present, the one farthest from the middle line dictates the stem direction. If there are only two notes and they are equidistant from the middle line, the context determines the stem direction (preferably down). Stem lengths in a beamed group are determined by the note(s) closest to the primary beam: the stem of this note will be an octave (excepting extreme circumstances), and the stems of the other notes in the group will be lengthened accordingly.

When there are more than two notes beamed together, the majority of the notes on one side or the other of the middle line determines the stem direction. However, if there are one or two isolated notes that are significantly farther on one side of the middle line, those notes can determine the stem direction for the rest of the group. Beamed notes on a single staff should all be written on the same side of the beam.

Stem Direction of Beamed Notes

Beams should reach at least the middle line of the staff, regardless of the distance of the notes from the middle line. When the stems are pointing up, a secondary beam can never be placed lower than the second line of the staff; if the stems are pointing down, a secondary beam can never be placed higher than the fourth line of the staff (the beam straddles the staff line in both cases). They should slant in the direction of the outer two notes of the beamed figure (except when using a horizontal beam).

Stem lengths for notes under a beam may have to be altered — however, if possible, no stem should be shorter than normal length. “Wedges,” narrow triangles where small areas of white space appear between the beam and the staff lines, should be avoided.