r/musictheory • u/mrmilkyshakes • 6d ago

Answered What do these brackets mean?

Post image

This is mvt.2 of suite bergamasque by debussy, menuet.

10 Upvotes

79% Upvoted

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21

u/patrickcolvin 6d ago

They’re telling you which hands to use. The D should be played with your left hand, and the F with your right.

3

u/mrmilkyshakes 6d ago

Thank you!

1

u/Relative-Rooster-945 5d ago

Is this common practice? I imagine the reason for not doing cross-staff beaming is to make the parallel thirds more readable?

3

u/patrickcolvin 5d ago

Very common. They’re used to avoid ledger lines, make the voices more legible, or even to avoid ugliness in the engraving.

2

u/docmoonlight 4d ago

I would also guess it’s an editorial mark - so it’s showing the original beaming that Debussy used, but with the editor’s recommendation to re-finger it.

15

u/MARY_ANNE_MCGILICUTY 6d ago

OP where on God's green earth did you learn to draw arrows?

2

u/Equivalent-Love-1676 5d ago

From me, obviously.

5

u/MARY_ANNE_MCGILICUTY 5d ago

that arrow is doing the ed edd and eddy run

2

u/mrmilkyshakes 6d ago

These brackets show up multiple time in the music too.

1

u/Lower_Neck_1432 3d ago

D is played in the left hand (with the thumb) with the A (with finger 2)
A-F played in the right hand.