Skip to main content ↑ ↓
Topic: 'Lead-in Bar' or 'Intro Bar' (Read 16841 times) previous topic - next topic

'Lead-in Bar' or 'Intro Bar'

Hi Members

We've all obviously noticed certain sheet music or your own compositions (say in 4/4 time for example) that utilize as its opening first bar a single note (with no rests) or 3 notes or anything that doesn't resemble 4/4 time. This first bar is usually called (I think) a "lead-in" bar that actually starts the song. The actual 4/4 time of the entire composition will not start until the 2nd bar.

My question is, "What is a "lead in" bar all about"?

In the past, my band has played songs with "lead-in" bars and have noticed that if we skip the intro bar and attempt to simply count off the song prior to the first note sung or played it never feels right. Therefore we always play the 'intro-in bar' where it is written.

The only answer I've received from an outside source was the following...

"I have asked around the office and we call it a 'count-in' if there are no notes in the "intro bar".  If there are notes in the "intro bar", those notes would be referred to as "pick-up notes" and the bar itsself could be called a 'lead in'.  -end-

I'm still confused. I searched google using all the search words such as "count-in" , "intro bar", "pick-up notes" and "lead in" abd I've had no luck.

All I need to know is, why and how would a 'lead in' bar be used in composition?

Does anyone have any links that explai or go into this in detail? I'm assuming the answer lies somewhere on a music theory website.

Thanks
Wally Lepore

Re: 'Lead-in Bar' or 'Intro Bar'

Reply #1 –
I think you are referring to an "Anacrusis". Definition: An Upbeat or a pickup note(s); a term used for unstressed notes at the beginning of a phrase of music. For example music in 4/4 time may start on a bar with a single quaver - the first 3 being left out. Often this music may end on a bar with only the missing 3 quavers. Hope this helps,
Barry

Re: 'Lead-in Bar' or 'Intro Bar'

Reply #2 –
Saying almost the same thing as Barry, but in different terms:

Music is organized noise, so it usually has a form or structure.  There are so many beats to a bar, and so many bars to each repetition of the melody.  If you have a waltz, for instance, there will be 3 beats to a bar, and the pulse will be strong, weak, weak.

The melody (the tune) also has a structure that doesn't always agree to the structure of a bar.  Its first strong beat may be the second, third or nth note.

The music is normally written so the first strong note of the song matches the first beat of the first complete bar. This means you have extra notes at the beginning of the piece that still need to be written out.  You can put them into a whole bar, but usually you wouldn't.

You write the weaker opening notes as a lead-in bar, but that bar doesn't have to have the full number of beats as a regular bar.

Usually you'll find that the final bar of the piece is shortened so that the total number of beats in the lead-in bar and the final bar together equals the number of beats you would find in one complete bar.

Re: 'Lead-in Bar' or 'Intro Bar'

Reply #3 –
In the case of a song (that is, music which is to be sung, as opposed to an instrumental piece), the lyrics will affect whether there is an anacrusis.  Consider:
the WALL was SMOOTH and SLICK and STON-y
WALL represents the first beat of the measure, while the represents the anacrusis (or pick-up, or "lead-in").
Even non-songs will do this, if the composer (or his/her muse) felt like starting on an unstressed beat.

Re: 'Lead-in Bar' or 'Intro Bar'

Reply #4 –
Thank you all for helping me with this question on 'Lead-In Bar" or as its better known, "Anacrusis".

David Palmquist said.....

>Usually you'll find that the final bar of the piece is shortened so that the total number of beats in the lead-in bar and the final bar together equals the number of beats you would find in one complete bar. -end-

What I've also discovered (I think) is the reason for the last bar being shortened (to compensate for the beats in the lead-in bar) is when the song continues back to the beginning (after the last bar is played), its "in perfect rhythmic time" (like the other bars in the song)and the music flows as it normally should. Any thoughts on this?

Barry Starfield, David Palmquist and Damon provided excellent responses which helped to understand the concept of 'Anacrusis'.

If anyone has any links that address various uses for 'Anacrusis', I'd very much appreciate it.

I completed a search on google to learn more about "Anacrusis" and was surprised to find very little informatin exists on the internet.

Here are my findings......

1) Anacrusis examples:

Anacrusis is simply a fancy name for a pickup note or notes. It can be virtually anything (full beat, part of a beat, several beats, tuplet, etc.) that comes before the first regular measure.

Anacrusis or upbeat is when the melody/theme starts on the weak beat of the previous bar. Like in this example (which I borrowed from another website, giving examples for musical terms). It is also a term used in poetry.

Anacrusis, in music or poetry, is a word for the lead-in syllables or notes that precede the first full measure.
In the Star Spangled Banner, the word Oh in the first line is in anacrusis in both the music and the anapestic meter of the poem:
x    /    x  x  /    x  x  /    x  x  /
Oh, say, can you see, by the dawn's early light. . .

If a measure starts out with a series of notes that does not add up to a complete measure, it is called an anacrusis, sometimes called the "pick up". Generally, the very last measure in a piece of music that contains an anacrusis, contains just enough beats when combined with the anacrusis, to create a full measure.
http://www.guitarra.com/TheoryManual/ElementsRhythm.html

2) anacrusis - the beat(s) before the first full measure of a composition; pick-up note(s)
http://courses.csusm.edu/musc120mi/glossary.htm

3)Anacrusis - The “&” count before the down beat in a musical phrase.
http://www.vahperd.org/Divisions/Dance%20Resources/danceglossary.htm

4)Sometimes, rather than beginning the first measure with rests, composers will use an anacrusis or "pick up. When this occurs, the last measure of the piece must be reduced by the total rhythmic value of the anacrusis, so that the entire piece has a full number of beats that matches the meter(s) employed.

http://www.smu.edu/totw/meter.htm

5)Anacrusis. When a phrase does not begin on the first beat of a measure, the phrase begins with an anacrusis. The anacrusis is the note (or notes) that precedes the first downbeat of a musical phrase. The anacrusis is also called the upbeat or pickup(s). When there is an anacrusis, the last measure is usually an incomplete measure. Figure 1-4 is an example of a phrase with an anacrusis.

Figure 1-4. Anacrusis.
https://hosta.atsc.eustis.army.mil/cgi-bin/atdl.dll/accp/mu4214/lsn1.htm

6)Taken from poetry, the term anacrusis refers to one or two unstressed syllables at the beginning of a line that are unnecessary to the meter. In music, this is represented by a short or 'incomplete' bar at the beginning of a piece generally, but not always, matched by a short 'incomplete' bar at the end so that the total number of beats in the first and last incomplete bars equals a full bar. We give an example below - the first sounding beat is the weakest in a three beat bar, i.e. the third, while the second beat of the piece is the first beat in the first full bar and is strong. Anacrusis is also called 'pick-up' or 'up-beat'.

http://www.dolmetsch.com/musictheory20.htm

7)Anacrusis---upbeat, pickup, one or more notes before the first strong beat of a phrase

http://216.239.41.104/search?q=cache:ipc0iCSIHTYJ:www.crayola.com/educators/dreammakers/add.cfm%3Fpage%3D10+anacrusis+examples&hl=en

Re: 'Lead-in Bar' or 'Intro Bar'

Reply #5 –
Anacrusis is simply a fancy name for a pickup note or notes.
Actually, "anacrusis" is not simply the fancy name. It is the original name.  "Pickup" is the "cool" or "laid back" version of the term.
It can be virtually anything (full beat, part of a beat, several beats, tuplet, etc. that comes before the first regular measure.)
It can also be a full measure.  I have seen this at least twice.  There is a full measure of "stuff" leading into the first measure of the phrase.  Beethoven comes to mind as the "culprit."
3)Anacrusis - The “&” count before the down beat in a musical phrase.
This is not a good definition.  The anacrusis simply could be "three four" into the next measure - no need for the “&.”

It sure is tough quoting things with parentheses in them!!!!!!!!