Grace Notes

• Apr 27, 2013 - 18:51

Hey, I was trans-composing a song from PDF into Musescore (I use MS as a reference for correct notes- haven't learned all the keys yet), and the song shows a grace note AFTER the regular note. I'll post a link here. It's measure 16. According to the Musescore Grace Notes page, a Grace Note can only be placed BEFORE a regular note.

I'm confused. Please remember, I am still a beginner at Piano, and I didn't know what a grace note was until I installed Musescore. Please help and respond ASAP, I don't have much free time. Thank you guys, and if this has been asked before, I apologize. :3


Comments

Actually, I'd say the example you are trying to copy is notated incorrectly. Those grace notes should notreally be attached to the note that precedes them; they should be attached to the note that *follows* them. Which is to say, they should appear after the (double) bar line, not before. So I'd simply enter them that way. Then if for some reason you raelly do want to copy that score with mistakes intact, you can use the above method (double click & arrow) to move the grace notes to the wrong side of the barline. This is also a good workaround to use in situations where it really is proper to have the grace notes attached to the note before it - like when notating the end of a trill. But in this case, there was no reason I can see for it to have been notated this way.

In reply to by Marc Sabatella

Hi Marc -

I'm not a professional musician, but I got curious about grace notes a while ago and looked up the difference between the two kinds of grace notes in the palette.

The Wikipedia article on Ornament (music) says, "Exceptionally, the acciaccatura may be notated in the bar preceding the note to which it is attached, showing that it is to be played before the beat."

I don't know if that was intended here or not. What do you think, Marc?

Fifist

It may indeed be the intent to show the grace-note time robbed from the previous note but it is easier to play if it is taken from the following note since the grace-note would happen on-the-beat not on the very tail end of a beat. There is not significant movement on the notes before and after the short duration grace notes so I would doubt if it impacts how the piece sounds to any extent. Most amateurs would likely end up playing them on the beat in spite of their intentions!

Do you still have an unanswered question? Please log in first to post your question.