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3.1.6 Automatic and manual beams

Music Glossary: beam.

All beams are drawn automatically:

\relative { a'8 ais d ees r d c16 b a8 }

If you do not like the automatic beams, they may be overridden manually. To correct just an occasional beam mark the first note to be beamed with ‘[’ and the last one with ‘]’. Note that ‘[’ comes after the first beamed note.

\relative { a'8[ ais] d[ ees r d] c16 b a8 }

If you want to turn off automatic beaming entirely or for an extended section of music, use the command \autoBeamOff to turn off automatic beaming and \autoBeamOn to turn it on again.

\relative {
  \autoBeamOff
  a'8 c b4 d8. c16 b4 |
  \autoBeamOn
  a8 c b4 d8. c16 b4 |
}

See also

Notation Reference: Automatic beams, Manual beams.