Stem (music)

In musical notation, stems are the, "thin, vertical lines that are directly connected to the [note] head." Stems may point up or down. Different-facing stems indicate the voice for polyphonic music written on the same staff. Within one voice, the stems usually point down for notes on the middle line or higher, and up for those below. If the stem points up from a notehead, the stem originates from the right-hand side of the note, but if it points down, it originates from the left. There is an exception to this rule: if a chord contains a second, the stem runs between the two notes with the higher being placed on the right of the stem and the lower on the left. If the chord contains an odd numbered cluster of notes a second apart (such as C, D, E), the outer two will be on the correct side of the stem, while the middle note will be on the wrong side.

The length of a stem should be that of an octave on the staff, going to either an octave higher or lower than the notehead, depending on which way the stem is pointing. If a note head is on a ledger line more than an octave away from the middle line of a staff, the stem will be elongated to touch the middle line. In any polyphonic music in which two parts are written on the same staff, stems are typically shortened to keep the music visually centered upon the staff.

Music

Music is an art form and cultural activity whose medium is sound and silence. The common elements of music are pitch (which governs melody and harmony), rhythm (and its associated concepts tempo, meter, and articulation), dynamics (loudness and softness), and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture (which are sometimes termed the "color" of a musical sound). Different styles or types of music may emphasize, de-emphasize or omit some of these elements. Music is performed with a vast range of instruments and with vocal techniques ranging from singing to rapping, and there are solely instrumental pieces, solely vocal pieces and pieces that combine singing and instruments. The word derives from Greek μουσική (mousike; "art of the Muses"). In its most general form, the activities describing music as an art form include the production of works of music (songs, tunes, symphonies, and so on), the criticism of music, the study of the history of music, and the aesthetic examination of music. Ancient Greek and Indian philosophers defined music as tones ordered horizontally as melodies and vertically as harmonies. Common sayings such as "the harmony of the spheres" and "it is music to my ears" point to the notion that music is often ordered and pleasant to listen to. However, 20th-century composer John Cage thought that any sound can be music, saying, for example, "There is no noise, only sound."

Music (Erick Sermon and Marvin Gaye song)

"Music" is a 2001 hit single by Erick Sermon featuring archived vocals from Marvin Gaye.

The song was thought of by Sermon after buying a copy of Gaye's Midnight Love and the Sexual Healing Sessions album, which overlook some of the original album's earlier mixes. After listening to an outtake of Gaye's 1982 album track, "Turn On Some Music" (titled "I've Got My Music" in its initial version), Sermon decided to mix the vocals (done in a cappella) and add it into his own song. The result was similar to Natalie Cole's interpolation of her father, jazz great Nat "King" Cole's hit, "Unforgettable" revisioned as a duet. The hip hop and soul duet featuring the two veteran performers was released as the leading song of the soundtrack to the Martin Lawrence & Danny DeVito comedy, "What's the Worst That Could Happen?" The song became a runaway success rising to #2 on Billboard's R&B chart and was #1 on the rap charts. It also registered at #21 pop giving Sermon his highest-charted single on the pop charts as a solo artist and giving Gaye his first posthumous hit in 10 years following 1991's R&B-charted single, "My Last Chance" also bringing Gaye his 41st top 40 pop hit. There is also a version that's played on Adult R&B stations that removes Erick Sermon's rap verses. The song was featured in the 2011 Matthew McConaughey film The Lincoln Lawyer.

Musical Symbols (Unicode block)

Musical Symbols is a Unicode block containing characters for representing modern musical notation.

See also

References

Stem (Ringo Sheena song)

"Stem," also known by its Japanese translated title "Kuki" (茎) is a song written by Japanese singer Ringo Sheena and released in several versions.

Background

It was first released as a single in 2003, as "Stem (Daimyō Asobi-hen)" (茎(STEM)～大名遊ビ編～, "The Daimyō's fun version") as her 8th single and it was released on January 22, 2003 by Toshiba EMI / Virgin Music. The single version is sung in English, and was orchestrated by Toshiyuki Mori. The B-sides "Meisai" and "Ishiki" were arranged by Bakeneko Killer, a production team Sheena and Inoue formed. Nobuyoshi Araki, the prominent photographer, took the album cover.

The version featured on the album Kalk Samen Kuri no Hana, "Kuki," (茎) is sung in Japanese and arranged by Bakeneko Killer. A further version found on the vinyl edition of Kalk Samen Kuri no Hana called "Stem," (茎(STEM)) featured the album arrangement with English lyrics. It was also featured on the film Casshern's official album Our Last Day: Casshern Official Album. An English language version of "Stem" also appears on Sheena's 2007 soundtrack Heisei Fūzoku, orchestrated by Neko Saito.

Stem (ship)

The stem is the most forward part of a boat or ship's bow and is an extension of the keel itself. The stem is the curved edge stretching from the keel below, up to the gunwale of the boat. The stem is often found on wooden boats or ships, but not exclusively. The stem is part of the physical structure of a wooden boat or ship that gives it strength at the critical section of the structure, bringing together the port and starboard side planks of the hull.

Styles

There are two styles of stems: plumb and raked. When the stem comes up from the water, if it is perpendicular to the waterline it is "plumb." If it is inclined at an angle to the waterline it is "raked." (E.g., "The hull is single decked and characterized by a plumb stem, full bows, straight keel, moderate deadrise, and an easy turn of bilge.")

Stemhead

Because the stem is very sturdy, the top end of it may have something attached, either ornamental or functional in nature. On smaller vessels, this might be a simple wood carving (ornamental) or cleat (functional). On large wooden ships, figureheads can be attached to the upper end of the stem.

Stem (bicycle part)

The stem is the component on a bicycle that connects the handlebars to the steerer tube of the bicycle fork. Sometimes called a goose neck, a stem's design belongs to either a quill or threadless system, and each system is compatible with respective headset and fork designs:

Quill versus threadless

Somewhat counterintuitively, the term threadless derives not from whether the stem itself is threaded, but from whether a headset lock nut threads onto the fork steer tube. Quill stems require a threaded headset of specific length for each bicycle model. Threadless stems require an unthreaded steerer tube, which may vary in length for each bicycle model.

Quill systems predate threadless systems. With the advent of threadless stems, manufacturers no longer need to provide a range of threaded forks for a given model; all threadless system forks are made with the same length steerer tube (long). The steerer tubes are then cut to length to fit upon installation. Unthreaded forks often require less labor to swap than threaded forks.