reference.book Page 101 Monday, August 31, 2009 2:47 PM
2.7 Beam positions Notes can only cross over to another staff in the same instrument. You can beam across three staves by inputting the notes onto the middle staff, then crossing
Beams between notes on the same staff
In older scores, particularly for violin music, if a group of notes is very low, then very high (or vice versa), you will sometimes see the beam running through the middle of the notes, with some stems pointing up and some pointing down, as shown above left.
To achieve this in Sibelius, input the notes as usual, then select the beam, which will either be above or below the beamed group, and drag it (or use the arrow keys) to move the whole beam up or down so that it is between the notes. To adjust the angle of the beam, select the right-hand end of the beam and drag it with the mouse or nudge it with /.
Chords split between staves It is common in keyboard music to split the notes of some chords between the two staves: To achieve this, write each note of the split chord onto the staff it appears on, using a suitable voice; for example, in the case illustrated, put the treble notes of the split chords into voice 2 on the upper staff, and the bass notes in voice 1 on the lower staff. Then use Edit Flip (shortcut X) to point the stems of the notes on the lower staff downward. Finally, drag the end of each stem in the right hand downwards so that it meets the stem of the left-hand note. In the case of chords using notes shorter than a quarter note (crotchet), hide the flags or beams by selecting them and typing Ctrl+Shift+H or H, then extend their stems, flipping them if necessary using Edit Flip, to meet the rest of the chord.
Engraving Rules options The Beams and Stems page of House Style Engraving Rules allows you to control the positions of beams and also their appearance (see page 98). Most of the Beam Positions options only apply if Optical beam positions is switched on. (Switching off Optical beam positions will position beams according to the rules used in Sibelius 3 and earlier, which are generally not as good.) Where the interval between the first and last notes of a beam is no more than an octave, you can specify an “ideal” angle for each interval under Default slant per interval. For some beams this 101
Notations
notes to the staves above and below. (It is not necessary for any notes to remain on the middle staff!) Notes crossing onto another staff do not affect that staff ’s voices at all. A staff can even have four voices plus further notes crossing onto it from adjacent staves! Notes are in many respects treated as being on the original staff – for example, if you transpose a passage on the original staff, then any notes that were crossed from that staff will also transpose. In some circumstances you may encounter redundant accidentals when you cross notes to another staff. Simply select the accidentals and hide them to solve this problem – 2.1 Accidentals.