Anacrusis

Anacrusis is the technical term for what's commonly called 'pick up notes'. In many pieces of music, the first note isn't on a downbeat - for example, in 4/4 time, the first measure might contain just an eighth and a quarter note. Since that doesn't add up to 4 beats, it's an incomplete measure... an anacrusis.

It's common to add the 'missing' beats to the last measure, so if you had that 1-1/2 beat lead-in, you might see a 2-1/2 beat final measure - the two taken together add up to four beats.

ok.. so i will say i got some music that is in..

3/4 time (where the strong beat is on every 3rd beat, so it would be)..

1 2 3 | 1 2 3 | 1 2 3 | 1 2 3 |

(thats right isnt it, ive never really understand downbeats and upbeats, ive just re-read your PM explaining it, so i think i got it now.)

and say i have a simple motif of A B C D C B A

and i start on the third beat of the first bar, it would end on the last beat of the third bar.. which is the same place it started a few beats back.

***

so i could say "There is an Anacrusis in the first bar of my piece".

do i have that down? and isnt there normally a symbol for it?

You can't go and use a term like "quavers" without getting a question... so...

What's a quaver?

You've got it, Alex. The term 'downbeat' refers to the first beat of a measure (it's when the conductor's baton goes down - in 4/4 he goes down-up-left-right; in 3/4 he goes down-left-up to the right, etc)

Undercat, it's one of those Brit things, like lorry = truck. A quaver is an eighth note, a semiquaver is a sixteenth note. A quarter note is a crotchet - go figure.

Oh, and Alex... I have no idea what you mean by 'that sign thing' - in my copy of Piston, I looked up all the anacrusis references, and I don't see a sign by any of them. He does, by the way, use the term anacrusis in relation to a melodic element within a piece (so if your phrase starts on the '2' beat, he considers beats 2-4 an anacrusis of the next measure), so you can use the term within a piece as well as for the pick-up measure.

Noteboat, is there anything you don't know about music :)

It's amazing what you learn in these places, I'm a brit and I never knew that this was a just brit thing, I thought undercat was just joking.

FWIW I think it goes something like this

semibreve = wholenote
minim = half note
crotchet = 1/4 note
quaver = 1/8 note
semiquaver = 16th
demi-semiquaver = 32nd
hemidemi-semiquaver 64th

In fact, now I come to think about it, a term like hemidemi-semiquaver couldn't be anything but brit :)

I remember a conversation on another forum last year we was talking about "middle eight" and it really surprised me how many people have not heard of that as well, including a very pro jazz player, maybe thats a brit thing also.

Lee

it's not just a brit thing, but it IS an obscure term. I find the number thing much easier, and i'm guessing many others do, too, so that's probably why it's so obscure. It's like modes...you could use all those "pseudo-greek names" (as helgi puts it) or the simple numerical LOGICAL way.

but i don't really understand that stuff much. hope i didn't muddle anything up with my rambling.

and to lee's question, if there was anything tom didn't know about music, it would have to be made up behind his back.

Got me again, Lee, what's "middle eight"?

It's sort of synonymous with bridge.

In A-A-B-A form, the contrast falls in the middle... and its often eight bars long... so it's the middle eight.

*thinks all note values should be named after crisps*

btw, you non-brits have heard Quavers? the crisps? and Crotchets the kinda chocolate crisp things?

*thinks all note values should be named after crisps*

btw, you non-brits have heard Quavers? the crisps? and Crotchets the kinda chocolate crisp things?

No. Not this non-Brit, anyway. What's a crisp? Someone who was out too late celebrating? A crispy critter, that is? :wink:

No. Not this non-Brit, anyway. What's a crisp? Someone who was out too late celebrating? A crispy critter, that is? :wink:
To us, a 'crisp' is a chip as in potato. Of course to them, a 'chip' is a french fry.

oh my god you didnt know what a crisp was, its like ahhh i physically cant comprehend people not knowing what crisps are, yeah on american movies its "get a bag of chips" and its like a bin bag full, lol.

English - Chip = fries to americans
American - Chip = crisps to english

Americans are descendents of the Brits, why cant you keep the same track of thinking, lol, you dont have to be different. :lol:
*

And Tom, the symbol for the anacrusis was on one of my music papers, not in Harmony, it was like a circle with a cross inside it, maybe it was just there for like "what melodic device is being used at the place marked", not sure.

The circle with a cross in it is the sign for coda. You'll usually see it in two places: one in the main body of the music, one at the beginning of the coda section.

There's usually a repeat sign at the end of the piece (before the coda section), with 'DC al coda' or 'DS al coda' written over it. You'll play to the repeat, then go to the beginning (DC) or the segno sign (DS)... play to the first coda mark, and then jump from there to the second coda mark.

what does the little triangle symbol mean in music?