Stem (music)

In musical notation, stems are the "thin, vertical lines that are directly connected to the [note] head.

Different-pointing 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 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.

For example, a note with diagonal slashes through its stem is played tremolo.

Parts of the note
Musical stems whose heads are on the middle line may point either up or down. Generally, those whose heads are lower than this line point up while those whose heads are higher point down.