Stems are supposed to be 3.5 stave spaces tall. When the notehead is on the 2nd line outside the staff or beyond, the stem should extend to touch the center line. When the 3rd flag (or beam) is added to a note, the stem is lengthened.
That part I get.
- What I don't get is how to size all the stems attached to a beam. I've looked in a LOT of books and it's still unclear to me ... anybody know?
- Is there any standard for how much to tilt the beam (if it should tilt)?