Complete Encyclopaedia of Music/B/Beat

by John Weeks Moore

Beat, or BATTEMENT. (F.) A transient grace or ornament in the performance of a note, denoting that a kind of shake is to be made, by beginning with the half tone below the given note, and quickly repeating the given note and that ; on the contrary, the shake, marked tr., is effected by beginning on the note above the given one, (whether a half or whole tone distant,) and repeating the given note and it alternately. The tarn differs from both of these in using the notes above and below the given one. When, therefore, a whole tone lies below any note marked for a beat, an accidental sharp is to be supposed on that lower note, except that A is seldom thus sharpened in a beat. The beat is, therefore, the reverse of the shake, (but without the turn,) and is made generally at the distance of a semitone below ; and all the notes, excepting C and F, re-quire the note below to be sharped for the beat. The beat upon B natural, however, is seldom made with A sharp, on account of the great harshness arising from the vicinity of the semi-tone B C. In some cases of regular accent, it is recommended not to make the beat with the semitone, unless particularly so marked.