Nachschlag

After the main note

Whereas the grace note stands before the main note, the Nachschlag comes after it. It consists of one or two small notes joined by a slur to the preceding note. This note is shortened by the duration of the Nachschlag, and the following note begins unchanged on the beat. One speaks of a simple Nachschlag with one small note and of a double one with two.

The Nachschlag on the trill

In its second meaning the Nachschlag ends a trill. The trill alternates between main and neighbour note, and at the end two notes are often added: the lower neighbour and the main note itself. The older treatises disagree on whether it is obligatory. According to Hummel every proper trill must receive a Nachschlag, according to C. P. E. Bach only a trill over a somewhat longer note, and in some sources it appears only “at times”.

Nachschlag and grace note

Both ornaments are written small, but the Nachschlag attaches to the note before it, the grace note to the note after it. This also decides whose duration is shortened: with the grace note that of the main note behind it, with the Nachschlag that of the note before it. Where small notes appear before a barline, one has to check in each case whether they are meant as a Nachschlag of the last note or as a grace note of the next.

Common mistakes

• Playing the Nachschlag too late: It is taken from the previous note, and the next begins on time.
• Stressing the Nachschlag too much: It rounds off and does not stand in the foreground.
• Confusing it with a grace note: The grace note belongs to the following note.