Thank you for your kind regards, and I'm happy you're now well! Yeah, so the rule of the octave is a pedagogical tool to teach how to harmonize any major or minor scale. It is a mandatory prerequisite before learning the art of partimento. I highly recommend anyone interested in composing learn this! Also, regarding your beaming question, I have inconsistent beaming for two main reasons: it looks aesthetically pleasing and mimics the placement of words even though there are none 🙂