Why is this notated like this?

[Maki_Randy]

I would have notated all the quarter notes in that measure as tied eighth notes. Makes it easier to realize that they come on the up beat.

That would make it to cluttered. This notation accentuates the syncopation and keeps the time signature clear...

 

[dbsfgyd1]

In SITSOM’s (Standing in the Shadows of Motown) notation for Marvin Gaye’s & Tammi Terrell’s “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough”, there is a tie connecting two eight notes of the same pitch (G#), in the middle of a few quarter notes of the same pitch.

I always thought with a tie, you would hold the first note for the duration of all of the tied notes, which would make this essentially a quarter note... But there are already quarter notes surrounding this, so why is this one notated differently? Is it played differently?

Is it because the second tied note falls on beat 3, and that’s their way of indicating the third beat in 4/4 time?

View attachment 4278777

edited to revise uploaded image

Yes, it’s a full one beat but it’s notated as such to remind you it’s on the upbeat not on the down beat.

 

[Snarf]

Imaginary beerlyne

 

[ladybug]

It’s the Imaginary Bar Line Rule. Which is not really a rule, but a convention that some people follow to make it more obvious which notes are syncopated.
Imaginary Barlines in Musical Notation – Berklee Online Take Note

This

 

[ladybug]

View attachment 4279339

This is not right

 

[Febs]

This is not right

Which part of it do you think is inaccurate?

 

[SteveCS]

This is not right

Specifically?

 

[Groove Master]

In notation writing it is a good practice to show the third beat even if it is tie. The third beat represents the second half of the bar and it helps understanding the rhythms quickly.

 

[Richard Lindsey]

In a nutshell, the rule he explains in the video is that notes should be grouped together by divisions of the bar no longer than a note length two rhythmic levels larger than the smallest note in the group.

For my money, this is both the simplest and the best explanation of the convention. It explains both why the two eighth notes are tied in the original example (observing the midpoint "rule") AND why in 4/4 you would write a quarter note followed by a dotted half note (thereby seeming at first glance to break the midpoint "rule") instead of a quarter note and then a quarter note tied to a half note.

 

[Lownote38]

I would have notated all the quarter notes in that measure as tied eighth notes. Makes it easier to realize that they come on the up beat.

Exactly! Subdivide by each beat.

 

[Richard Lindsey]

Exactly! Subdivide by each beat.

You could do that, it wouldn't be wrong, and few readers would have any difficulty with it ... but many of us, I think, would view it as needlessly fussy, and perhaps a little inelegant.

 

[Lownote38]

You could do that, it wouldn't be wrong, and few readers would have any difficulty with it ... but many of us, I think, would view it as needlessly fussy, and perhaps a little inelegant.

A classical player would call any other approach inaccurate and foolish. To them, it would be the only right way. It is the way I was taught as well.

 

[Richard Lindsey]

A classical player would call any other approach inaccurate and foolish. To them, it would be the only right way.

I doubt that very much, having done quite a bit of classical in my younger years. It was fairly easy to find a counterexample just with what I had around the house. Pulled out a copy of a piano reduction of Copland's Rodeo and there it was, exactly the kind of rhythmic notation you're saying a classical musician would regard as inaccurate or foolish.

Not to mention that we're not all classical musicians, and what classical musicians think (if they do think this) is not necessarily determinative of good practice for everyone else.

It is the way I was taught as well.

I don't question that. I wasn't taught that way, either in classical or popular, and I've seen countless scores to suggest that the by-the-beat system, though common and not something that would faze a decent reader, is by no means universally followed or accepted.

 

[longfinger]

In SITSOM’s (Standing in the Shadows of Motown) notation for Marvin Gaye’s & Tammi Terrell’s “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough”, there is a tie connecting two eight notes of the same pitch (G#), in the middle of a few quarter notes of the same pitch.

I always thought with a tie, you would hold the first note for the duration of all of the tied notes, which would make this essentially a quarter note... But there are already quarter notes surrounding this, so why is this one notated differently? Is it played differently?

Is it because the second tied note falls on beat 3, and that’s their way of indicating the third beat in 4/4 time?

View attachment 4278777

edited to revise uploaded image

Standard music notation practice of not confusing the beats of the first half and second half of the measure.

Yes, it is because the 2nd tied note is on beat 3. It makes the halves clearer to see at a glance.

 

[Lownote38]

I doubt that very much, having done quite a bit of classical in my younger years. It was fairly easy to find a counterexample just with what I had around the house. Pulled out a copy of a piano reduction of Copland's Rodeo and there it was, exactly the kind of rhythmic notation you're saying a classical musician would regard as inaccurate or foolish.

Not to mention that we're not all classical musicians, and what classical musicians think (if they do think this) is not necessarily determinative of good practice for everyone else.



I don't question that. I wasn't taught that way, either in classical or popular, and I've seen countless scores to suggest that the by-the-beat system, though common and not something that would faze a decent reader, is by no means universally followed or accepted.

Awesome!

 

[Papageno]

The notation is consistent with the convention of beaming the 8ths notes in 2 groups of 4 8th notes in 4/4 measure. You do not beam together 8th notes that are of opposite sides of the imaginary line halving the measure (in instrumental music at least; in vocal music, there are specific rules for beaming).