zero beaming

[Iatros]

In choral music it is common for all 8th & 16th notes to be un-beamed, so as to allow for precise positioning of syllables in lyrics. An example is attached.

I would love to be able to turn all beams off permanently for some pieces. Is there a way of doing this?

[miker]

Set up your time signature as straight sixteenths. For example, if your piece is in 4/4, set the time signature as 16, sixteenths, to display as 4/4.

However, that is an older convention. It's more usual to beam to the time signature.

[motet]

There's also Utilities/Rebeam/Rebeam to Lyrics once your lyrics are in.

Rather than to allow for precise positioning of lyrics, the unbeamed notes were intended to show the singer where a new syllable is. As Mike says, it's rather old-fashioned now, as beamed music is easier to read rhythmically, and slurs can be used to show multiple notes on the same syllable. Finale will space the music to fit the lyrics whether beamed or not.

[David Ward]

It is a generally outdated notation, that is mostly frowned upon nowadays. However, if you do want to do it, the easiest way is to select the bars in which you want this to happen (or select all, if that is what you wish), then under the Utilities menu choose Rebeam, Rebeam to Lyrics.

In modern notation this can still be useful for rather free recitative as in the screenshot from a piece of mine from 2012.

[mmike]

You can also use JW Change. Select the region > JW Change > Note Entries > Beaming > Beaming Mode > Break Beam.

[BuonTempi]

In choral music it is common for all 8th & 16th notes to be un-beamed, so as to allow for precise positioning of syllables in lyrics.

Firstly, as your example shows : not ALL notes are unbeamed, but the beams are only joined for notes on the same syllable.

It WAS common, in the days when lyric syllables were not accurately positioned under the correct note. Over the course of the last century, beaming to the rhythm, (as for instrumental music) has become much more common, as it provides singers with more information about the rhythmic structure, which is particularly useful when sight-reading difficult music.

In my experience, most singers prefer rhythmic beaming, given the choice. If your example were beamed 'normally', there would be no ambiguity of where to place the syllables; and it would be easier to see where the beats fall.

[michelp]

As previous posts show, there are several ways.
One more, in the Staff Attributes of a specific staff :
 

[motet]

That gets you zero beaming. But if the O.P. wants to replicate their picture, "beam to lyrics" will be the best way.

[Iatros]

Thanks to all who responded. It was very helpful, and I couldn't find anything in the user manual about this. A note to David Ward and Buon Tempi, as I write I'm looking at a brand new (Barenreiter) score of the St. Matthew Passion (JSB), 8ths and 16ths are NOT beamed when they fall on a single syllable. Perhaps I should write to this illustrious publishing house and tell them they're out of date?

A happy and peaceful year to one and all!

[michelp]

If you have a combination of beamed groups and unbeamed notes, you can break or group beams manually : apply the / key (Speedy) on the note on the right.

[miker]

Thanks to all who responded. It was very helpful, and I couldn't find anything in the user manual about this. A note to David Ward and Buon Tempi, as I write I'm looking at a brand new (Barenreiter) score of the St. Matthew Passion (JSB), 8ths and 16ths are NOT beamed when they fall on a single syllable. Perhaps I should write to this illustrious publishing house and tell them they're out of date?

A happy and peaceful year to one and all!

It may be a brand new score, but it’s a copy of an old one, so they followed the same convention.

[Peter S.]

You can also uncheck "control beams" in the speedy entry menu. Entering music will give you single notes without beams. And you can ad beams with "/"
Peter

[Peter Thomsen]

You can also uncheck "control beams" in the speedy entry menu …

In my own (english) copy of Finale this Speedy menu item is called ‘Check Beaming’.

Quoting the user manual:

Check Beaming. Choose this command to beam eighth notes (and smaller notes) together, according to the time signature, as they are created - if Check Beaming isn’t selected, then Finale doesn’t beam any notes together.

[motet]

The Bärenreiter Neue Bach Ausgabe is an urtext edition, so they may have used beam-to-lyrics as a nod to authenticity. It's not wrong, but standard beaming is easier to read.

[David Ward]

… … … A note to David Ward and Buon Tempi, as I write I'm looking at a brand new (Barenreiter) score of the St. Matthew Passion (JSB), 8ths and 16ths are NOT beamed when they fall on a single syllable. Perhaps I should write to this illustrious publishing house and tell them they're out of date?

For the Matthäus-Passion that is not in the least surprising. I was assuming new music rather than an edition of music from another era. In that case it may be appropriate to reproduce the older notation, depending on the nature of the edition and who was expected to use it.

Where the old style beaming can get a bit difficult is in a piece such as R Strauss's Elektra, premiered in 1909, which is notated in the old style. That opera is just now in rehearsal at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, and it wouldn't surprise me if singers pencil into their rehearsal scores modern beaming for some passages. A singer in the ROH cast sang in the first performance of a nine minute vocal duet with piano of mine in November, and probably appreciated my modern beaming (see my News page https://composers-uk.com/davidward/news-links/).

For comparison, I've just checked the beaming in Berg's Wozzeck, premiered in 1925, and that uses the modern style. Both Elektra and Wozzeck are noisy, intense and at times very violent, but the notation of Wozzeck is sometimes rather easier to read than is that of Elektra, helped by the modern-style vocal beaming and despite the complexity of the piece.

FWIW in a small scale opera I completed in 1968, I used the old style beams and these have still not been re-notated. (It was recorded in 1981.) I mention this to illustrate that there was no specific date for the change to what is now the preferred notation.

[Iatros]

I appreciate your detailed comments. Thank you - quite helpful. Perhaps I should explain why I prefer zero beams in some situations. Over more than 60 years I've sung with community choirs. The vast majority of members of these are not musical professionals and many have only rudimentary music skills (perhaps myself included!?) Also it seems the age of members is getting a lot older, with accompanying issues of declining vision. Many commercial scores are quite difficult for members to read because of type-face issues. (Not to mention that performance venues can be quite dimly lit.)

For a few years I've been creating scores of popular works using Finale, initially for my own use; but now it turns out that quite a few of my colleagues are requesting them too. (This includes a major Canadian choir which has a large number of professionals in its membership). I try to keep these scores as stripped down as possible for clarity and ease of reading; and use a larger font than is usually found in commercial scores. (For example, currently I'm experimenting with Calibri 11 point; it's clean and stands out clearly without taking up too much room. Sometimes I need to take liberties with note spacing, e.g when some word like 'rythm' has 5 letter syllables! I also find that 'unbeaming' leaves the score clearer.

My colleagues seem to like my scores and I find I'm getting more and more requests for them.

[motet]

I also find that 'unbeaming' leaves the score clearer.

I find just the opposite. Beams group the notes together into beats. Without them you can get lost in a sea of flags. This is why the practice has fallen out of favor.

But now you know how to beam to lyrics, so you have a choice.

[BuonTempi]

A note to David Ward and Buon Tempi, as I write I'm looking at a brand new (Barenreiter) score of the St. Matthew Passion (JSB), 8ths and 16ths are NOT beamed when they fall on a single syllable. Perhaps I should write to this illustrious publishing house and tell them they're out of date?

An Urtext edition may want to preserve the original beaming of the source material. But, yes, some German and Italian publishers continue to favour the older style.

As a singer myself, I definitely prefer to see rhythmic groupings shown more clearly and easily, through the use of beaming.

[miker]

As a singer myself, I definitely prefer to see rhythmic groupings shown more clearly and easily, through the use of beaming.

As do I.