bar line
1
3.4
- noun
- Specialized
:
línea de compás
- In her composition, he noticed that the bar lines were evenly spaced across the staff.
- placed the bar line
Examples
-
Each song includes a time signature, bar lines, rests, and bow markings.
Academic text (2006) -
In time, as she is introduced to more pieces, I feel that she will make other discoveries about the use of bar lines.
Academic text (1992) -
Write the meter and bar lines on the board.
Academic text (2015) -
When she was finished notating her march, I asked her about the placement of her bar lines.
Academic text (1992) -
Carefully, Rena drew in the bar lines.
Academic text (1992) -
Rena placed her bar lines very carefully in the march she had composed.
Academic text (1992) -
My first reaction was to tell her that the bar lines were incorrectly placed and that they divided the piece into unequal numbers of beats.
Academic text (1992) -
The musician carefully drew the bar line to indicate the end of a measure.
-
Each bar line in the score helps musicians keep track of the rhythm and timing.
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'a vertical line marking the boundary between bars' is directly and compositionally derived from 'bar' (a musical measure) + 'line' (a mark or stroke). This straightforward noun–noun compound follows common nominal composition patterns and is cross-linguistically transparent, so a B1 learner who knows both words would readily infer the MWE meaning.
Etymology
Bar line: The noun bar line names the thin vertical line in written music that separates one bar from the next. Because it shows the edge of each bar or 'measure', it became the mark that tells musicians where each group of beats begins and ends.