"Demystifying Stem Direction in Music Notation: Heads and Tails Explained"

When you start to write music for yourself - that is, writing with pen and manuscript paper - you may initially be a little confused as to which direction your stems go according to the note that you're on.

So, to clear up the mystery, here is a quick reference guide to help you learn more about stem direction in music notation.

1. The Rule of Halfway

The easiest way to think about this is to remember that your middle line on the stave (let's assume we're in treble clef and refer to it as the B line) is the point at which the direction changes.

Using this as an example, we could actually put the tail both up or down for a note on the B line, using the golden rules:

• a stem down is on the left side of the note

• a stem up is on the right side of the note

The above example shows two correct ways of notating B on a treble clef. Because it is in the middle, the tail can go up or down.

When you work up from the B line, the tails begin to face down by default. When you work down from it, they start to face up.

Tails face down as you work up from the B line...

...and up as you work down from the B line

Whilst there is no right or wrong as to which direction you face the tail for the notes on the B line, it is worth keeping in mind where you are coming from and going to. If the majority of your notes fall below this line in a bar, it would be more consistent to keep the notes facing down and vice versa:

In the example above, note how the B at the end of the first bar and the B at the end of the second bar have stems facing different directions.

This is to keep consistent with the overall stem direction prominent within the bar. To face them the other way wouldn't be a crime, but it would just be a tad messier!

2. Keep It Together Per Voice

Sometimes we play music in more than one voice. For this, we can actually throw the rulebook out of the window a little and keep all of our stems per voice facing the same direction, regardless of where it falls on the stave.

To keep the notation as clean as possible, the above example faces stems up for all notes on the higher voice and stems down for all notes on the lower voice. Whilst it is possible to notate the lower voices with stems up and higher voices with stems down, it is less desirable as it creates a slightly less legible piece:

This is a lot messier than the piece above, so try to face lower voice stems up and higher voices stems down!

In Conclusion - Stem Direction in Music Notation

To conclude, we must just remember the golden rules:

• If notating a single voice melody / part, stems face up when below the middle line of the stave and down when above the middle line of the stave.

• The note that is middle line of the stave (B in the above examples) can face either direction, but it is best to be consistent with where the majority of other tails face in a bar.

• If playing in multiple voices, the voices should be individualised by different stem directions, regardless where they fall on the stave. By default, the higher parts should stem up and lower parts should stem down.

• Notes with the stem up should have the stem on the right of the note head. Notes with the stem down should have the stem on the left of the note head.

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Jack Mitchell Smith is a piano teacher based in Macclesfield, Cheshire. Click here to find out more.

Weekly blogs are posted that may help you with your musical or piano journey. Click here to sign up to the mailing list so you never miss a post!

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#pianoteacher #musictheory #sheetmusic #musicnotation #pianomusic #pianist #learnmusic #learnpiano

'Bird of Paradise' - Film Debut

A few weeks ago, my close friend and musical extraordinaire Michael A Grant - famous for such blogs on my site as 'Miniatures' and for such mammoth tasks as arranging a Sibelius Symphony for piano - contacted me at the beginning of his film scoring debut as he was in need of a pianist to help bring some of it to life.

Naturally this was something I was more than happy to do for him and the film got completed and debuted at HOME, Manchester on Monday 17th June 2024.

L - R Michael A Grant, Levi Felix Holton (the film's director), myself

The Film

I wasn't told an awful lot about the film prior to being involved except that it was;

• titled 'Bird of Paradise'

• directed by a student from the Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU) as part of their filmmaking course,

• a short film (9 minutes, approx.) and of a darker, surrealist nature (I was told to think David Lynch).

• the music Michael was composing was quite avant-garde.

Following on from the latter point, I didn't necessarily appreciate this as I wasn't required to record piano for the whole soundtrack. Just two short pieces, the first of which Michael sent across straight away:

The Two Recordings

1- Disjointed Jazz

The first piece Michael sent across was of a jazzier nature, however I didn't appreciate this fully yet as - being the first musician to receive the part - I merely had a click track.

Recording Piano for the First Piece from 'Bird of Paradise'

In order to live up to the experimental nature of his creation, Michael wanted echoing piano chords that were created artificially. This involved me playing the piece through four times and sending him four tracks over. At his end, he created an echo effect by adjusting the volumes of each individual track and slightly offsetting them with one another.

Michael did send a MIDI interpretation of how the piece should sound in entirety, however I opted to just go straight into recording the chords.

2 - Flashing Lights

The second piece of music was sent a few weeks later and comprised mainly of open piano notes / chords.

Using very literal phraseology on his score to encourage a randomisation of rhythm as the open piano notes progress from long, ringing notes into more staggered asymmetry, my move to Congleton in the interim resulted in a potential problem: I had misplaced my (working) headphones. How could I hear the click and make sure this kept to time as, surely this would all need to sync up perfectly with the film?

As if by coincidence, Michael had developed a headphoneless approach for me to know when to change note / chord / rhythm! He send me a clip of the scene for which this was to accompany and superimposed a flashing light onto the screen each time there was a change. You've heard of graphic score - now get ready for graphic conducting!

And this was a very simple yet effective approach as it took no more than one take to get it right!

Again, Michael just wanted the dry track so that he could work his production magic on it!

HOME Film Debut

At 4:00 pm on Monday 17th June, the first of eight short films were performed, 'Bird of Paradise' being the penultimate.

And aside from what Michael had previously told me, I was in no way knowing of what to expect (although technically I had seen one scene ahead of time, but I was concentrating on the flashing lights then!)

I think David Lynch was about right as a likeness. Michael said, in fact, that he had been sent a scene from 'Eraserhead' (one of my favourite films - judge me how you will!) and was inspired by the screeching noises of that.

Whilst it is certainly difficult to sum up what the plot of 'Bird of Paradise' was about, it was an intriguing, artistic display of vision and sound. Surreal yet vibrant, disturbing yet beautiful. And although there is still an abstract mystery surrounding it, a very brief Q&A with the director - Levi Felix Holton - at the end, did seem to bring it together more;

he said that he focuses more on trying to pinpoint a certain snapshot of his own life and bringing his emotion(s) from that particular moment to life in his short films, rather than trying to focus on narrative and - whilst he didn't divulge any further as to what specifically this film was based around - it was clearly a deeply personal endeavour.

It has to be said, however, that all eight of the films were masterpieces in their own way. Regrettably, I couldn't stay for the second half, but the films I did see were:

• The First Day

• My Dad The Spaceman

• Grappling With Indie Wrestling

• Downpour

• Something More Meaningful

• It's Gonna Be Okay

• Bird Of Paradise

• First To Wake

The Music

To round off, of course, a word on the music. It was such a joy to hear how it all came together, and Michael's unusual approaches paid off.

With screechy sax-like leitmotifs and an almost unbearably long wait for the music to resolve into something that satisfied the ear rather than giving several interrupted musical 'snapshots' as it did for the first five minutes (which worked perfectly in punctuating the film), the score was a work of art in its own right. Mix with the fact that we were all hearing it for the first time on cinema speakers...! It couldn't have sounded better!

Find Out More

If you wish to read Michael's initial blog on creating this masterpiece, visit his website to do so!

You may just be able to catch a couple more showings at MMU's Degree Show.

Visit Levi Felix Holton's website to keep up to date with his work.

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#manchestermetropolitan #manchester #filmmaker #filmscore #birdofparadise

"Balancing Act: The Fine Line Between Listening and Performing Whilst Playing Piano"

One of the greatest obstacles in our own piano development when we begin learning is getting to grips with the idea that we need to bring together an awful lot of different functions.

For example, both hands need to do something different. That's two things already. Now, add the fact that you can have one - sometimes two - pedals on the go. Up to four things.

But all the while, there is something that is so easy to 'let slide' as we focus on the fingering and hitting the right notes:

The art of listening whilst performing piano!

It sounds like a no brainer, granted. Music is fundamentally an audible art-form, so what do I mean specifically.

Do I mean that you may not 'hear' the music.

No.

I mean that you don't proactively listen to it.

And this is one major step towards being a better pianist as it allows us to be more self aware, self critical and also gives us a positive push towards bettering our performances.

Let's first of all, however, prove my point with a non-musical warm up:

Listening - A Warm Up Exercise

Sit down and relax.

Now close your eyes (preferably once you've read to the end of the instructions!)

Now...listen.

Take everything in. Focus on each individual sound.

Compare this to what you heard before?

What you heard before was just your brain's way of taking in a 'general overview'. Maybe you heard cars going past. Maybe the oven is on in the kitchen. Perhaps there are birds outside. But it all comes in together as one general sound.

Nonetheless, you can still vouch for all of these things when prompted...

However, by closing your eyes and focussing your attention, you can pick it apart even further. Perhaps your one bird is, in fact, three birds - now you can pick them apart. Maybe you hadn't appreciated how relentless the traffic sound was, the deep rumbling much more an irritation now you're intently listening than it was previously. Maybe you can hear a pitch within the oven fan that you didn't hear before - otherwise just considering it similar to 'white noise'.

Not to mention, of course, that you might pick up on a whole range of other things! Footsteps far away that were too insignificant to care about. Distant chatter in the beer garden at the end of the street. You may even hear the distant drums of an outdoor radio if the weather is good!

This is the difference between hearing and listening, and what we often do when we play through a piece of music / practice a piece of music - especially in the early stages of our piano learning journey - is simply just hear it, rather than actively listen to it, thus allowing for self criticism (both positive and constructive) and, therefore, development.

Listening to Piano Without Performing - A Practice Exercise

For my choice of music, I have chosen one of Beethoven's most beloved sonatas - Piano Sonata No. 14 in C# minor, better known as 'Moonlight Sonata' - because it is one that we all know how it should go.

So - have a listen to my performances of the opening bars of the first movement ('Adagio Sostenuto') and make up your own mind as to which one of these is the better performance:

Answers at the end of the blog.

This might seem an elementary exercise because, at the end of the day, we can quite easily hear mistakes. If we are learning piano, it's safe enough to assume that we have a decent enough ear to be able to pick less musical performances out - even if the errors are only slight. However, the astonishing revelation is as follows:

We don't hear the music as clearly as we did the above examples when it is us, ourselves, playing!

It's something that requires a bit of training to get into the habit of - listening - but the sooner you get into that mindset, the easier everything will be.

How to Improve Your Listening Whilst Playing the Piano

This begs the question, therefore, as to how we are supposed to improve our skill.

Luckily, there are many ways we can do it!

Listen to Your Music Independently

The first thing we need to do is establish what we are aiming for. Luckily, the majority of repertoire you could ever yearn to play on the piano is out there recorded by countless other performers and - thanks to the increasing number of accessible web based services (YouTube, Spotify, TikTok, Amazon etc.) you'd usually be hard pushed to not be able to find a few different recordings.

So - why is it so important to listen to other people? Surely we're interested in your interpretations and yours alone??

Listening to music that you wish to perform yourself can create much more familiarity with your piece anyway, but listening to different interpretations will allow you to listen to how different people perform the same music, thus widening your understanding of how you wish to perform it. Listening to a desirably performed rendition will further secure this in your mind and allow you to be more aware of when you are not achieving it during your own performance. This can help tackle any obstacle, from dynamic to tempo to pedalling!

An even more guaranteed way of getting results whilst listening is to follow the score as you listen. This way, you can really start to understand the nitty-gritty of the notation and how best you can interpret certain parts.

Record Yourself Playing

We don't need to be record producers in this day and age! Most of us have smartphones now, and even these little devices are good enough to again make this point:

You don't hear yourself the same when you're performing as you do when you're listening!

So, the simple solution here: record yourself playing through a practice run.

Then, listen back.

Consider the following:

• is your tempo what you want? (performer bias or panicking often leads to too fast a rendition)

• are you keeping a steady pulse (if you count along: "1 - 2 - 3 - 4" - can you keep the tempo the same or does your recording race away from your counting at times?)

• are the notes even? Are some notes in melodic runs a bit quiet compared to the rest, or are some too harsh?

• is the balance between left and right hand / melody and accompaniment correct?

• if you are pedalling, is it clear pedalling or is everything starting to sound a bit muddled?

There may be other things you can pick out that are less than desirable for your intended musical performance, but the above is a good starting point?

Commit More of Your Repertoire to Memory

I could write a whole blog post on how to do this most effectively, but bear in mind it is more than just muscle memory.

The stronger your music and piano theory, the more naturally you will play. With a good understanding of theory you will be able to develop more natural instinct for playing, such as:

• which groups of notes go together and when (e.g. if you are in the key of D major and are struggling to remember whether or not a certain group of notes is D - G - B or D - F♮ - B♭, our music theory brain may kick in and tell us it's more likely to be D - G - B because neither F♮ 'nor B♭ are in the key of D major).

• developing understanding of how different intervals sound (such as a second, third, fourth etc.) will allow for the memory to better remember how certain harmonies go together. For example, a D - F# is a major third, which sounds closer and tighter knit than a fourth or fifth yet still retains clarity, unlike the second.

These are just a couple of examples and, of course, it can take time to grasp.

But having this instinctive nature of playing will allow you to actively listen more whilst you are playing. If you are thinking too hard about what notes to play, when, how loud etc. then most of your brainpower will be focussing on this rather academic output and your listening will be downgraded to hearing.

Conclusion

It is extremely important to get used to listening to yourself proactively sooner rather than later.

Of course, this is easier said than done, but start small!

Listening to music you are learning being performed by other people is a great start, providing you give it your full attention.

Then - if you haven't already - pick apart small passages of the score to focus on and consider how you can make it a natural performance. Is the left hand merely playing a broken chord? Is the right hand playing a simple stepwise melody? Once there is a little more academic understanding behind the passage, try playing it a few times but giving it the best attention you can as you do so.

Finally, record yourself playing it and listen back. How does it sound? Are you happy? What needs changing? Go back and keep trying and sooner than you realise you'll be listening to yourself much more competently whilst you play!

Answers

The fourth performance of 'Moonlight Sonata' on the video is the best performance and the one we should strive for.

Number 1 has all the correct notes but a rather uneven rhythm - something we can struggle to tighten up if we're not actively listening.

Number 2 has all the correct notes and a good rhythm, but an inconsistent balance. Some notes are harsh, some are almost inaudible, and the left hand sometimes drowns out the melody in the right.

Number 3 is note perfect, rhythmically even and has a lovely touch but is played too fast - this is a very common problem for performers who aren't aware of how their performance sounds, especially for slow pieces.

Number 4 amends all the mistakes above.

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Jack Mitchell Smith is a piano teacher based in Macclesfield, Cheshire. Click here to find out more.

Weekly blogs are posted that may help you with your musical or piano journey. Click here to sign up to the mailing list so you never miss a post!

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