Beaming: feathered beaming

In some music, ritards and accelerandi are notated with converging secondary-beam angles in a technique called feathered beaming. In the case of the ritard, the player increases the rhythmic values gradually from the faster values, at the left end, to the slower values, on the right end, as shown below.

To create feathered beaming

To create this form of notation, notate all values as the smallest values (in this case, 64th notes). Then proceed as follows.

1. From the Window menu, choose Advanced Tools. Click the Special Tools Tool  , and click the measure in question.
2. Click the Secondary Beam Angle Tool  . Handles appear at both ends of secondary beams.
3. Drag the handles so that the secondary beams converge with the primary beam. The left handle moves its entire beam up and down, without changing its angle; the right handle changes the angle. To remove any changes you make this way, click the appropriate handle and press delete.

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