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Topic: grace notes (Read 3344 times) previous topic - next topic

grace notes

Usually grace notes have no value of their own but in a book
of Chopin waltzes that I bought it is as if the grace notes
are being streched across the measure with no large notes in
it.

Re: grace notes

Reply #1 –
Usually grace notes are 1/8 notes which steal their time from the note immediately following. If they preceed a whole note you actually get a 1/8 note and a 7/8 note.
If there are no large notes in the measure, prehaps they are indicating a 'broken chord' or a 'run' or something similar?

Re: grace notes

Reply #3 –
It could also be a cadenza, which was originally an opportunity for improvisation by the soloist, but has in recent times become "written out". (You'll usually see something like "Cadenza by so-and-so".) This is usually just in concertos, though, and I'm not sure if it would apply to solo piano pieces.

Smaller-sized notes are also often used as "cue notes," but again it would only apply to pieces written for ensembles (so that the orchestra or other accompaniment can follow along while waiting for their cue, instead of having to count empty bars).

A "run" is just a series of consecutive notes played in rapid succession, another name (as applied to piano) is "glissando", this is often played just by running the finger or several fingers along the keyboard. (Listen to some boogie-woogie music for a demonstration.) ;-)

Fred

Re: grace notes

Reply #4 –
I thought it meant that you must try to squeeze them into
the beat according to their position