Protip: Barlines

By A-R's house editors

In Western art music of the common-practice period, barlines are used to divide written or printed music into metrical sections, or measures. In general, the placement of barlines should follow the source, with differences noted in the critical notes or in a general editorial statement.

Types and Uses of Barlines

The most basic barline is the single barline, consisting of a single thin line, which is used to delineate the beginning and end of a measure:

Example 1. František Kocžwara, “The Battle of Prague” (mm. 1–4), from Descriptive Piano Fantasias, ed. Halina Goldberg and Jonathan D. Bellman (N081), 3.

A final barline, consisting of a thick and thin line together, is used to signal the end of a piece or movement.[1]

Example 2. Gabriel Gauthier, “Le calme” (mm. 96–99), from Recueil de morceaux d’orgue (1863): À l’usage special des élèves de l’Institution Impériale des Jeunes Aveugles de Paris, ed. Harvey H. Miller (N071), 42.

(But please note that sometimes the final measure is not the end—for example, when using “Da capo” and “Fine” markings—and the final barline is not used in such cases. See below for further details.)

The double barline, consisting of two thin lines together,[2] has many uses. Most basically, double barlines are used to indicate the beginning of a new musical section. In this example, one is used to separate the end of a section of vocal music from the ensuing instrumental ritornello:

Example 3. Anonymous, aria “Der mit frembder ehr will prangen,” from Beglückte Verbundtnüß des Adels mit der Tugend: Sittenspiel (Moral Play) for the Augustinian Convent of St. Laurenz, Vienna, 1688, ed. Janet K. Page (B219), 6.

Note that this new section—and thus the double barline itself—may begin in the middle of a measure. (The same is true of repeat barlines; for details, see our protip on repeats.)

Example 4. Anonymous, quartet “C’est à Bade qu’on m’attire” (mm. 1–4), from Ohé! les p’tits agneaux: A Parisian revue de fin d’année for 1857, part 1, ed. Richard Sherr (N082), 84.

Double barlines are also typically used to signal a change of key signature (see also our protip on changing key signatures):

Example 5. Juliette Godillon, “Le violon de Crémone” (mm. 53–57), from Descriptive Piano Fantasias, ed. Halina Goldberg and Jonathan D. Bellman (N081), 103.

Some sources also use them to signal changes of time signatures (see also our protip on changing time signatures):

Example 6. “Du wirst ufstehen von Wieg” (mm. 3–6), from Jewish Folk Songs from the Baltics, ed. Keven C. Karnes (OT011), 23.

Here practices vary, however. Some sources use double barlines at time signature changes only if the change coincides with a new section of music; if so, they do not need to be added by the editor every time the time signature changes. Editors should take note of the ways their sources use double barlines and apply or supplement them consistently.

Example 7. Allen Sapp, “Andantino” from Piano Sonata II (mm. 1–9), from Piano Sonatas I–IV, ed. Alan Green (A090), 29.

Double barlines, rather than final barlines, are used in conjunction with “da capo” and “dal segno” indications and their corresponding “Fine” markings, either of which can occur at mid-measure. For further information on “da capo” and “dal segno,” see our protip on repeats.

Example 8. Niccolò Piccinni, aria “No, non è per noi sì poco” (mm. 146–52), from Il regno della Luna, ed. Lawrence Mays (C112), 149.

Example 9. Niccolò Piccinni, aria “No, non è per noi sì poco” (mm. 124–27), from Il regno della Luna, ed. Lawrence Mays (C112), 147.

If an open repeat barline in your manuscript appears at the beginning of a system in the final layout, please note that the preceding system will end with a double barline as a visual courtesy:

Example 10. John Eccles, “Haste, give me wings” (mm. 45–51), from Incidental Music, Part 1: Plays A–F, ed. Amanda Eubanks Winkler (B190), 308.

When a piece or movement is to proceed attacca (without interruption) into the next, use a double barline instead of a final barline at the final measure, in conjunction with the attacca (or similar) marking:

Example 11. Georg Anton Benda, melodrama “Hieher flohen sie” (mm. 106–9), from Philon und Theone, ed. Austin Glatthorn (C115), 79.

Barlines and Scoring

Whether or not barlines connect vertically within a system depends on the grouping and type of parts within the system. On grand staves for piano, keyboard instruments, or harp, barlines connect vertically from top to bottom (see example 1 above).

On a three-staff grand staff for organ, barlines connect the two manual staves vertically but not the pedal staff:

Example 12. Victor Paul, “Méditation” (mm. 1–4), from Recueil de morceaux d’orgue (1863): À l’usage special des élèves de l’Institution Impériale des Jeunes Aveugles de Paris, ed. Harvey H. Miller (N071), 194.

In instrumental ensembles, barlines connect vertically within each group of instrumental staves (indicated by a system bracket—note that basso continuo receives its own bracket) and within any grand-staff instruments that may be included:

Example 13. Ethel Smyth, “Allegro non troppo” (mm. 65–69), from Serenade in D. Major for Orchestra, ed. John L. Snyder (N084), 12.

Note that a basso continuo line in baroque music, whether figured or unfigured, receives its own group bracket, so its barlines do not connect vertically to any other staff:

Example 14. Francis Forcer, incidental music to Mary Pix, The Innocent Mistress, movement I (mm. 1–6), from John Eccles, Incidental Music, Part 2: Playes H–P, ed. Estelle Murphy (B220), 58.

Barlines should never connect vocal staves to any other staves vertically, as doing so would interfere with the underlaid text:

Example 15. Hamish MacCunn, “Serenade” (mm. 1–6), from Complete Songs for Solo Voice and Piano, part 1, ed. Jennifer Oates (N068), 15.

Example 16. Georg Anton Benda, chorus “Zum Lohn für eure Triebe” (mm. 32–35), from Philon und Theone, ed. Austin Glatthorn (C115), 86.

Unusual Cases

Many sources of renaissance and early baroque music lack barring altogether except at the ends of major sections. In such cases, editors should adopt an editorial policy of adding barlines editorially to divide the music into regular measures based the mensuration signs used in the source:

Example 17. Anonymous, “Conditor alme siderum” (mm. 1–5), from The Hymn Cycle of Vienna 16197: Late Sixteenth Century Polyphonic Vesper Hymn Settings from the Habsburg Homelands, ed. Lilian P. Pruett (R169), 3, compared with the opening of the Cantus part in the source manuscript.

For music from early sources with irregular barring, it can be helpful for the editor to add dashed barlines to divide the music into regular metrical units while still making apparent the barring of the source. In example 18 below, the stated meter of the sonata is common time (“C,” understood nowadays as equivalent to 4/4), but the source bars the music not only in what we would call 4/4 but also in larger “measures” twice that long. Dashed barlines have thus been added to divide those larger “measures” into regular common-time measures:

Example 18. Anonymous, “Sonata” (mm. 1–8), from Beglückte Verbundtnüß des Adels mit der Tugend: Sittenspiel (Moral Play) for the Augustinian Convent of St. Laurenz, Vienna, 1688, ed. Janet K. Page (B219), 3.

In medieval unmeasured chant and in music transcribed from oral traditions, there are specialized conventions and considerations for the use and appearance of barlines. These should be amply explained in the editorial methods for the benefit of readers and performers. Consult your house editor or another member of the A-R editorial staff for advice on specific cases.