multiple acciaccatura - fix please please please!!!

• Sep 15, 2011 - 09:48

Hi there,

Windows 7
mscoreNightly-r4789.7

It's been reported already, - but to reiterate, as soon as you have more than one acciaccatura:
1. the slash disappears when you save and reopen
2. the slash stays floating out of place when you flip the stem (x)

I am finishing my composition training at the New Zealand School of Music. I have written a choral piece that is FULL OF ACCIACCATURA!!! At present every time I need to print a new revision I have to go through and draw the slashes in by hand. If anyone had time to do a version of MuseScore that had the acciaccatura bugs fixed I would be immensely grateful.

Thanks again to the developers for providing this wonderful software. Long may it last. Really enjoyed looking at the latest nightly build. Looks great.

Peace,

Stu

Comments

• Sep 15, 2011 - 15:10

Did you try this with 1.1 as well? Kind of late now to change now for this score, but in general, using nightly builds for actual production work is pretty brave! If there ism't a reason not to use 1.1, maybe try a MusicXML export then import into 1.1. I'm sure some cleanup would be required, though.

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• Sep 16, 2011 - 15:48

I'm interested to know how you can sing an acciaccatura which according to most texts is performed by pressing the two keys simultaneously then releasing the grace note.

It is an ornament peculiar to keyboards and is impossible to perform properly on any other instrument except perhaps percussion.

Any other way is in actuality a very short appogiatura :) (hmm are there 2 g's in that??)

Regards
Michael

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• Sep 16, 2011 - 17:31

On keyboard instruments, it's performed by pressing both simultaneously then releasing one quickly. On other instruments, it's played as a short appoggiatura Either way, it's notated the same, which is different from the notation for a long appoggiatura. Not that there is a whole lot of standardization in the notation of ornaments.

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• Sep 16, 2011 - 23:38

Hi there,

I have always been taught that appogiatura fall after the beat and acciaccatura fall before the beat. I.e. that acciaccatura function by reducing the length of the note (or rest) before the note they are attached to. Whereas appoggiatura reduce the length of the note the are attached to.

I have attached a picture to illustrate this difference.

I use them in this way in all my scores. Give the comments - perhaps I should define this clearly in my notes at the start.

Best,

Stu

Attachment Size
ACCIACATURA-1.png 139.38 KB

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• Sep 17, 2011 - 02:13

Yes - an appoggiatura always takes time from the note that comes after it. Usually the definition is that it's a half and half relationship so an appoggiatura before a half note would be performed as a quarter note for the appoggiatura and then a nother for the main note.

The acciaccatura is literally a "crushed" note and takes no time from the main note - only keyboard and some percussion instruments can perform it as it was originally intended. It is also possible on lute or guitar but requires deft damping and crazy fingering to achieve :)

One of the problems is that ornaments such as these have tended to change usage throughout musical history, being performed quite differently in Baroque France than in 19th century Germany for example.

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• Sep 17, 2011 - 16:14

I suspect it comes the fact the appoggiatura is still considered an ornament, and thus in some sense optional to the basic flow of the melody. But actually, the term appoggiatura is also used in cases where it *is* written out as two quarters or whatever. What makes it an appoggiatura has to do with how it relates to the harmony. The defintion of an appoggiatura from this perspective is a non-harmonic tone (usually dissonant again the rest of the harmony) that is not approached by step but that resolves by step. They usually occur on a strong beat, with the resolution occuring on a weaker beat. So some composers might choose to write that out, others might choose to represent it as an ornament.

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• Sep 17, 2011 - 16:48

Yes you are quite right Marc.

My harmony teacher would have referred to it as an Accented Passing Note.

Usually an appoggiatura implies some kind of suspension in the harmony.

I think it's use goes back to continuo work in Baroque opera, where the keyboardist would be given the melody line (if (s)he was lucky) together with the written out bass line and a series of figures underneath it which represented the chord he was to play - in this context the appearance of an appoggiatura in the melody would make sense as it would tell the keyboardist it didn't need a chord attaching to it.

Incidentally the appoggiatura evolved into the Baroque cadential trill which always starts on the upper auxiliary.

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