I want to assign a Purcell composition to one of my students tonight. The piece has several notes with stems pointing up and down. They are odd notes too, a low A in the bass clef, a high A in the bass clef and the line F in the bass clef. Why are there 2 stems?

At first I thought it was for the right hand to also play, but that would mean that a student's hand would be extending 14 notes, which is impossible!

Please advise because I am sure he will ask why and I have no idea. Thanks!

Gisele

In a polyphonic composition, sometimes the same note will belong to two different voices (tenor and bass, for example). Thus you'd see two stems on these shared notes.

I was ready to reply, too, but AZN beat me to it.

I concur with AZN

How is it that a "theory teacher" does not know this? That is very puzzling to me.

I don't think any of us have a stretch of 14 notes in one hand? Maybe between the ears in a straight line. Forgive me my brashness, it's been a very brash 2 days in my life and my tolerance level is getting lower than normal.

We should not be teaching that which we do not completely understand.

Thanks for the answer! I guess I did know it, but I did not expect there to be different voices in beginner level music.

A good exercise for your student to do woudl be to try and follow one voice at a time throughout the whole piece. Soprano and Bass are the easiest to pick out, and tenor and alto are harder, so maybe do these last. It would demonstrate for him the need for the double-stems.

This is an excellent opportunity to connect the vocal or choral end with the different voices to the fact that the piano has them all and the fact that you emphasize the melody more than the harmony (obviously on a simple level if he is a begginner). Good Luck