Beam question: hanging, straddling, etc...

[MichelRE]

I am having difficulty learning the proper use of hanging, straddling, sitting beam ends.

I have an example here that I have NO idea what to do with.
I'm trying to avoid blocking the ledger lines as much as possible, I'm tempted to try and keep the same angle as the subsequent series of 16th notes, but I end up with those unattractive wedge spaces with everything I do.

Any recommendations?

[RMK]

Why not unbeam the first note?

[dircknagy]

..

Since the first 8th note is not grouped by the slur, can you just detatch the 8th note?

Screen Shot 2026-07-23 at 11.11.55 AM.png (12.82 KiB) Viewed 556 times

[Magnus Johansson]

Hello! I think RMK and Dirck have asked the right question.

[MichelRE]

I hadn't thought of unbeaming them! even though I've actually done that elsewhere to clarify things.
thanks.

but just to stick to the topic, if I WERE to leave the beam, how would I handle those beam ends? straddling? hanging? sitting?

(and yes, I will change it to unbeamed in the score in question.)

[Magnus Johansson]

Ted Ross would probably have suggested something like Dirck did in his screenshot: f¹ should have beam ends hang (primary) and straddle (secondary), g¹ - straddle and sit. But then he would presumably have the same again: a♭¹ - hang and straddle, and b♭¹ - straddle and sit.

But with the beamed f³ like this:

Screenshot_20260723_184639.png (1.61 KiB) Viewed 547 times

[sugarfree]

a traditional approach:

Screenshot 2026-07-23 at 11.14.34 AM.png (17.47 KiB) Viewed 533 times

[LSL2026]

Any recommendations?

My first thought was like what @sugarfree posted.