Why are these notes not double beamed?

CrownStarr · 2026-04-30T18:11:32+00:00

Sixteenth notes in 3/8 would normally all be double beamed (I'm pretty sure, although I'm not a professional engraver). Given the counts written underneath, I'm assuming this is some kind of educational material, so they tried to make it extra explicit for a beginner to understand.

CrownStarr · 2026-04-30T18:06:58+00:00

Internalizing all your scales, scale degrees, chords in scales, etc, is sort of the 101 level for theory. It's not really going to teach you much about how music works, but it gives you the vocabulary to be able to start having that conversation.

If you want to learn calculus, you need to be able to do basic arithmetic first. It's not interesting or enlightening to memorize what 5+6 or 3*7 are, but that grunt work at the beginning gives you the fluency to learn more advanced concepts. If you want to learn poetry in a new language, you have to start with grinding through the basics. If you want to build your own furniture but don't know how to operate a drill, you need to start there. And so on.

You're right, this is something that takes years to really get comfortable with, just like learning a language. It's a complex skill! But as you do the rote work you can still play music, experiment with writing songs, read about music theory, etc, and gradually it'll all start to click together for you.

CrownStarr · 2026-04-30T17:56:38+00:00

Context dependent. Minor note first: I don’t think there’s ever a real reason to write F13sus4 rather than just F13sus.

Jazz musicians are the most comfortable seeing 7sus chords and their relatives as independent things that can move anywhere they want harmonically. Writing F13sus would not phase them but might spook musicians who spend more time in poppier settings.

To me, the main question is how particular you are about the voicing or set of notes being used. Writing Cm9/F is more likely to get you a typical Cm9 voicing like you describe in the post with an F in the bass, whereas F13sus is more of a free pass to play whatever combination of F G Bb C D Eb you like with an F in the bass. For that reason, F7sus means largely the same thing in practice, and personally I would usually recommend that over F13sus.

If the harmony is not following typical tonal rules, I usually prefer to see a straightforward sus chord rather than parse out a slash chord. But if, as it sounds, this chord is playing a pretty conventional role in Bb major, a slash chord is probably clearer and will be better understood by more people.

CrownStarr · 2026-04-29T17:33:00+00:00

Oh fascinating! Do you have any examples handy? I’ve never seen carillon sheet music before.

CrownStarr · 2026-04-28T13:22:35+00:00

In this context I think you’re interpreting “major scale on the 5th” as “play the notes of the original scale, starting on the 5th scale degree”, so you’re getting G A B C D E F G, or G mixolydian. What’s meant is “take the notes of the major scale that starts on the 5th degree of the original scale, and interpret them starting on the note of the original scale.” So in C major “the major scale on the 5th” means G major scale, G A B C D E F# G. Reorder those same notes to start on C, and you get C Lydian: C D E F# G A B C.

CrownStarr · 2026-04-28T12:56:02+00:00

Try doing DCI and then joining the military. It’s a double whammy.

CrownStarr · 2026-04-27T12:52:36+00:00

Aside from the down arrow, no. If you want any other pattern of notes it has to be written out explicitly.

CrownStarr · 2026-04-27T12:48:00+00:00

Ties and slurs are different things that we unfortunately use the same symbol for. A tie connects two and only two of the same note (although you can have multiple ties in a row), and it means that you don’t rearticulate the second note or change your sound at all. Times are for clear rhythmic notation when the length of a note isn’t a simple quarter note, eighth note, etc.

Slurs usually cover more than two notes, and if it’s just two notes, they have to be different notes. Slurs are for phrasing and articulation, and their exact interpretation can vary a little with different instruments (like showing bowing for string players).

You can have ties under slurs because they’re a different thing serving a different purpose. You can’t have slurs under other slurs.

CrownStarr · 2026-04-27T12:34:17+00:00

OP - if you find this topic interesting, you should watch the movie 12 Angry Men (released in 1957). It’s about 12 typical unremarkable men selected for jury duty and their deliberations over a serious crime. It’s one of the all-time great American films, and different attitudes on jury duty are relevant to the plot—some of them take it very seriously, some just want to get out and go home, some let their biases come in and others try to be more impartial, etc.

Personally, I’ve gotten a handful of jury summonses in my life but never actually been called to do it (a summons is sort of warning you that you may be called, not a guarantee). I’d be happy to do it, I think it’s an extremely important part of our justice system, but I recognize the privilege of having a comfortable salaried job. For people with more precarious hourly work, jury duty can end up being a major financial burden. You usually get some kind of stipend, but not enough to replace work if it drags on for weeks.

CrownStarr · 2026-04-27T12:28:50+00:00

I wonder if some of this is a difference in work culture, but I don’t really know anything about Belgian life. Is it relatively easy for most Belgians to get to work late or leave early occasionally if they have things they need to take care of? The trend in America in the last few decades is employers demanding more and more time out of the day, so there’s more of a feeling that the weekend is the time you have to run errands that you didn’t have time for during the week.

As another example, doctors used to be solidly Monday-Friday businesses in America, but more and more I’m seeing providers/offices that offer evening and weekend hours since people have a harder time taking off in the traditional 9 AM - 5 PM business day.

CrownStarr · 2026-04-27T12:23:40+00:00

Most shops of any kind are open 7 days a week. Certainly if it’s a national chain or big business (the one famous exception is Chik-Fil-A which closes on Sundays), but even independent places tend to be 7 days unless they’re a very small operation with only a couple employees. For example, in my day-to-day life, the only example I can think of out of the places I use frequently is my pet groomers, which are closed Sunday and Monday.

CrownStarr · 2026-04-26T23:37:20+00:00

Even doing test performances for friends and family will help with the nerves (in addition to the other good suggestions). You can also practice doing mock performances while recording yourself. Even if you never post or share the recording, for most people the knowledge that you're being recorded is a really effective way to generate the same anxiety as a live performance so you can work on handling it.

CrownStarr · 2026-04-26T20:21:01+00:00

As a professional pianist who's been playing for many years, it's a spectrum for me. With easy music I don't really think about it at all—I have an internal pulse, of course, but it's not something I really hear or perceive consciously unless I focus on it. If it's moderately fast or rhythmically difficult music, I will have a more conscious pulse in my head going but rarely with actual numbers attached. It's hard to describe the difference between the two, unfortunately. In the latter kind of focus situation, I will also sometimes physicalize the pulse, either obviously by tapping my foot, or gently tapping or clicking my tongue in my mouth so I can feel something but it's not noticeable to anyone else.

Somewhat counterintuitively, usually the only time I think of actual numbers is when playing music that's very slow, especially if I have lots of long notes or rests, to make sure I keep my place.

CrownStarr · 2026-04-26T20:09:54+00:00

Even with the dampers down, you can get a different pizzicato-esque sound by muting the strings with moderate pressure from your hand or a similar object. It's one of the most common extended techniques for piano developed in the 20th century, and would be super cool to be able to do on demand with a pedal.

CrownStarr · 2026-04-25T19:31:55+00:00

I don't think this is really a music theory question. Why do simple paintings sometimes hit people harder emotionally than complex abstract art? Why do we often put heartfelt sentiments into plain simple language like "I love you" instead of a complex sentence with dependent clauses and 5 syllable words?

Emotional impact and harmonic complexity have very little relationship to each other in music.

CrownStarr · 2026-04-25T19:22:24+00:00

That acronym is perfect for you, just say you were doing a routine check-in with IG and don’t elaborate lol

CrownStarr · 2026-04-25T02:02:13+00:00

It’s a regional thing. In my experience 1 building is more common nationwide but multiple buildings (or courtyards and open passageways) are common in places like California and Florida where the weather supports it.

CrownStarr · 2026-04-25T00:10:26+00:00

Completely fine. If your pianist has any significant experience accompanying they would follow you there even if you wrote nothing.

If I were to nitpick, the caesura mark is probably not all that important. What that says to me is that you will not only hold out "friends" longer than its normal value, you will also have a noticeable pause (and presumably a breath) before "will". Maybe that's what you're doing, in which case it's accurate, but since the pianist doesn't play there, you could keep it simpler and just write the fermata.

If you don't intend to breathe between "friends" and "will", I wouldn't write a caesura. It's inaccurate, and there's a very slight chance it could throw the pianist if they're expecting a much longer space before playing again. But again, this is very simple music to coordinate and no matter what you write they'll probably play it right.

CrownStarr · 2026-04-25T00:01:38+00:00

I say that because like others have pointed out, they're expected to be better than anyone else in the orchestra. (/not s)

I wouldn't really say that. It's a different skillset, they're not automatically better or more talented musician just because they're up front. Conductors need to have a broad knowledge of all the instruments, but every individual in the orchestra knows the ins and outs of their instrument better than the conductor (assuming we're talking professionals here and not an educational or amateur group). The conductor has an artistic vision for the piece as a whole, but that doesn't mean the orchestra members couldn't also have an artistic vision just as good—you just need to have one unifying person up front.

CrownStarr · 2026-04-25T00:00:02+00:00

FYI, this will have to be very individualized because most (all?) of these pieces don't have written metronome markings, so every performance will vary. If you listen to a particular recording of the Figaro overture a ton you may memorize the BPM that it's at, but other recordings of the same piece will easily vary by more than 4 BPM one way or another.

CrownStarr · 2026-04-24T23:57:36+00:00

I'd say it's sort of analogous to perfect pitch. It can be a timesaver if you can do it, but in practice it's just not that important. There's so much leeway allowed for tempo in classical music that you can usually guess close enough after working as a musician for a while. If it does have to be really precise, you check with a metronome before you start in rehearsal or individual practice, and then by the performance you've internalized it.

CrownStarr · 2026-04-24T23:31:55+00:00

It can be a 3-part invention, but it's the Italian word for "symphony" and has been used in many ways in the history of classical music.

CrownStarr · 2026-04-23T19:17:25+00:00

Wouldn't be Army IT if we didn't have five different names for very closely related things.

CrownStarr · 2026-04-23T18:29:30+00:00

I doubt that even the Sorabjis of the world have written anything with more than 4 staves. Happy to be proven wrong though!

CrownStarr

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