Stem (music) facts for kids
In music, the word stems can mean two different things. It can be about how music is written down (called music notation) or how music is made and mixed (called production).
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Stems in Music Notation
When you look at written music, stems are the lines that come out of a notehead. A notehead is the round part of a musical note. Stems can point either up or down.
Why Stems Point Up or Down
The direction of a stem helps musicians understand the music.
- In music with many different parts playing at once (called polyphonic music), stems show which notes belong to which voice or instrument. This helps keep the parts clear, even if they are written on the same musical staff.
- For a single melody, stems usually point down if the note is on the middle line of the staff or higher. They point up if the note is below the middle line.
How Stems Attach to Notes
The stem's starting point on the notehead also changes.
- If a stem points up, it starts on the right side of the notehead.
- If a stem points down, it starts on the left side of the notehead.
There is one special case. If a chord has two notes that are very close together (a second), the stem runs between them. The higher note is placed on the left of the stem, and the lower note is on the right.
Length of Stems
The length of a stem is usually about the distance of an octave on the musical staff. This means it reaches about eight notes higher or lower than the notehead, depending on which way the stem is pointing.
Stems in Music Production
In music production, "stems" mean something different. They are the separate parts of a song's mix. Imagine a song has drums, bass, guitar, and vocals. Each of these could be saved as a separate audio file.
These individual parts are often saved to a computer. People use them to create a remix of a song. For example, a DJ might take the vocal stem from one song and mix it with the instrumental stems from another.
See also
In Spanish: Plica para niños
