I just started learning about composing with multiple voices on the same staff (using piano) and I am quite certain that I understand the basics of how that works, however, I came across this bar in a piece that has a 3/2 time signature that I cannot seem to make sense of. The problem is that the count of notes in the bar doesn't seem right. I tried to separate the two voices but I can't distinguish them properly. I have heard about the different stem rules, but when I looked it up I couldn't find the rules that apply to two voices. What exactly are the rules for this? The only thing that I found helpful is the distinction between the up-stem and down-stem voice, but the chord made up of half notes in the treble clef is down-stem, which indicates it is the down stem voice that continues from the previous whole notes, but the sixteenth notes also have down stems, which is not right in 3/2 if they are the same voice. Perhaps this bar is wrong? Any help would be appreciated, thanks.
1 Answer
God, is this a badly written bar. Since it's in 3/2, here is my take on it:
- Here are the 3/2:
So that is one voice on the left hand (pretty clear) and the first voice of the right hand.
- This would be the second voice of the right hand, which lasts only 2/2, followed by a rest:
- These just seem to be grace notes not written as grace notes:
I am saying grace notes, because there is a legato on the first four that is connected to the chord on the next beat, but it doesn't fit in time. The last three notes would be no problem if they were grace notes, because it's not uncommon to have three grace notes and also they are also connected to something on the next bar, just like grace notes.