User manual

Table Of Contents
RELATED LINKS
Beam slants on page 404
Centered beams
Centered beams are positioned between high and low notes within the same beamed group,
typically drawn in the middle of the staff.
Centered beams are also known as “kneed” or “elbowed” beams due to their often angular
shape.
When a beamed phrase spans a large pitch range, normal beams are often positioned very close
to some notes in the phrase but very far from other notes in the phrase, making some stems
very long. Having a centered beam in a phrase that spans a large pitch range can reduce the
maximum distance between noteheads and the beam, but can also place the beam within the
staff, which can obscure staff lines.
A phrase with high and low notes with default
beaming
The same phrase with high and low notes, but with a
centered beam
RELATED LINKS
Changing the placement of beams relative to the staff on page 403
Creating centered beams
You can make beams appear in the middle of staves, with high notes above the beam and lower
notes below the beam.
NOTE
As this action requires changing the direction of some stems in order to appear correctly, it is
located in the Stem submenu rather than Beaming in the Edit menu.
PROCEDURE
1. Select at least one note in each of the beams you want to center.
2. Choose Edit > Stem > Force Centered Beam. You can also choose this option from the
context menu.
RESULT
Beams are centered between the notes in the selected beam groups.
Beaming
Centered beams
405