Acciaccatura

The short grace note

The name comes from “acciaccare”, “to crush”: the small note is, as it were, pressed against the main note. It is usually written as a small eighth note whose stem is crossed by a slanting line. It is played as fast as possible; the stress lies on the main note, not on the grace note. The grace note takes hardly anything from the duration of the main note, unlike the long grace note, the appoggiatura.

Before or on the beat?

Exactly when the grace note sounds is a question of style. According to a widespread teaching it falls just before the beat in the Classical period, so that the main note begins on the beat; in the Baroque it is rather placed on the beat. Other sources stress that it is largely a matter of taste.

A slash does not always mean short

The slash is the usual sign for the short grace note, but not a sure proof. Long grace notes too are occasionally written with a slash. The written value of the small note also says nothing about how it is played. The context decides. In older usage “acciaccatura” also means an ornament on keyboard instruments in which a neighbouring note is struck together with the main note and released at once.

Common mistakes

• Playing the grace note too long: It is only a fleeting accent before the main note.
• Stressing the grace note: The weight lies on the main note.
• Reading every slashed note as short: When in doubt, the context decides.