Creating Cross-Staff Beams

You can create a beam that extends from one staff to another.

Prerequisite

You have set up a split or polyphonic voicing system or opened the Score Editor with more than one track.

Procedure

  1. Select at least the two notes where you want the beam to begin and end.
  2. In the Functions section of the extended toolbar, click Group Notes.
  3. Adjust the note pitches so that they are correct even though some of the notes are on the wrong staff.

    Use the info line to edit the pitches if they are very low or high.

  4. Select the notes that you want to show on the other staff, and right-click them.
  5. From the context menu, select Display in Staff, and select a staff from the submenu.

    The notes are graphically moved to the selected system but keep their actual pitch.

    Figure 1. Before and after moving a note to the lower staff
  6. If needed, adjust the beam appearance.
    Figure 2. Cross-staff beaming with the beam in the middle

    This does not move the affected notes to another track, but merely displays them as if they belonged to the other staff.