Grace note appearing before, or after arpeggio

• Dec 10, 2012 - 12:22

In the attached score, should the grace note appear before, or after the arpeggio?

I think it should appear after, but in Finale, Harmony Assistant, LilyPond, MuseScore and Sibelius, it seems to appear before.

I did see this , however (it appears after).


Comments

In your attached score the choice is yours. In the Chopin piece you link to I think the idea was to have the arpeggio first and then the grace note to indicate an arpeggiated chord (say Db, F, Bb) that started with the first two notes of the arpeggio and then had a grace note (C) before the last note of the arpeggio. I have a score of this and it contains indications to the effect that the arpeggio/grace should be played this way but unfortunately also breaks its own rule by having the same sort of instruction placed over an arpeggio that has the grace note coming first.

I stand (or sit) to be corrected by any Chopin scholars but I'd say for this Nocturne he wanted the grace note after the arpeggio. For general usage, though, I'd day MuseScore should allow both ways. Since it doesn't seem cast in stone the composer should use one way, explain it the first time it appears in the score and then stick to a consistent way of displaying it,

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