3

Flags and beams

When two or more flagged notes appear consecutively and are to be heard as a group, the flags can be replaced by a beam(s).  Notice there is one beam for each flag. In the left example, the original notes have two flags; therefore the notes beamed together will have two beams.  In the example on the right, the notes have one flag; therefore the notes beamed together will have one beam.

Sometimes single notes are used to indicate a specific articulation (e.g., one note per syllable of lyrics) while beams are used to indicate several notes for a one syllable.

Notice that stems going down are located to the left of the notehead, while stems going up are located on the right of the notehead.  Flags, on the other hand, are always to the right of the stem whether the stem is going up or down.