Beaming 8ths in 4/4

[Wescott]

What do you guys prefer when beaming 8ths in 4/4?

4 + 4 or 2 + 2 + 2 + 2

[Magister Tekton]

My naive opinion? 4+4.

[John Ruggero]

For me, 2 + 2 + 2 + 2 means that all four beats are clearly defined (but usually not by means of equal emphasis). 4 + 4 is somewhat like 2/2 and beats 2 and 4 are less clearly defined. In 2/2, there would be no definition of the second and fourth quarter note divisions of the two beats.

[hautbois baryton]

Depends on the nature of the piece for me. There is a visual flow to 4+4, but some pieces need 2+2+2+2 to keep things moving.

[frames]

I'm much more used to seeing 4+4 as a performer from both parts of yore and contemporary parts and tend towards that option in my own scores and parts, although if there's an eighth rest on the first or fourth eighth note in a group of 4 I will switch to groups of 2. In pretty much any /4 time signature I try to refrain from beaming together 3 eighth notes in a row since that can imply a compound meter or triplet. There are usually plenty of context clues that make that kind of a non-issue, but it's still something I try to avoid.

[Fred G. Unn]

^^^ this. In 4/4, four together in a half bar is fine, three together is not.

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[JJP]

I generally lean towards 4+4 (avoiding 3 note groupings).

However, I do have a vocal template that I use for a lot of studio parts that beams 2+2+2+2. In that case it reads a bit easier when the lyrics affect the spacing; and frequently the charts are in 2/2, so it’s good to differentiate visually between charts.

[Schonbergian]

Without any "scholarly" reasoning backing it up, I also find that beaming in quarters is more satisfying to the eyes in vocal music with lyrics.

[Wescott]

Thanks for all the answers.

I tend to 4+4 but sometimes 2+2+2+2 seems to work better.

Agree about avoiding three to a beam, but as a thought experiment, if you were to do an arrangement or re-orchestration of Beethoven's 5th movement 1, I would feel compelled to beam those three 8ths like the original.

[John Ruggero]

I tend to 4+4 but sometimes 2+2+2+2 seems to work better.

Exactly, it can be subjective.

I don't agree with the proposition that it should be strictly a matter of convention. Composers have used beaming in all kinds of imaginative ways to convey different meanings, like many other aspects of music notation.