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The last chord of a piece of music I wrote has an arpeggio in the right hand and not in the left. I want the top note in the right chord to fall on the beat so that it matches with the chord in the left hand. For that to happen, the other notes would have to come before the beat.

What is the correct way to notate this?

I thought about using grace notes, but that's probably wrong, because I want all of the notes held.

Aaron
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Timothy Smith
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1 Answers1

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Grace notes are the proper way to do this. Including ties from each grace note to its corresponding main note indicates that each grace note should be held.

The core of the answer can be found in What's the proper piano notation for adding one note at a time to a chord and holding all the notes?, but since this specific scenario isn't addressed there, the solution being sought would look something like this:

Grace-note arpeggio

Aaron
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  • Musescore 3.X will interpret these grace notes by default as occurring **on** the beat, not **before** the beat. (I distinctly remember Musescore 1.X as doing the opposite, and the switch occurred in Musescore 2.0.) Do you know a way to **ensure** that the grace notes get played before the beat besides the trill-ending tactic of placing them at the end of the previous beat or by using words to explain this? – Dekkadeci Oct 22 '21 at 11:57
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    @Dekkadeci As best I can tell, there is currently no way to get MuseScore to play grace notes before the beat — it seems not to be implemented. In actual musical practice, I think it would have to be explicitly stated, since there's no broad agreement about when grace notes should be played, and practice varies between eras and composers. It is permissible, if frowned upon, to place grace notes before the bar line, which would make things clear in this setting. But to do that in MuseScore requires placing them at the end of the previous beat/measure. – Aaron Oct 22 '21 at 14:56
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    @Dekkadeci, the question is how to notation, not get Musescore to play it. – Michael Curtis Oct 22 '21 at 19:28
  • I wish there was a better way to link duplicate question. The one has such better, more findable title that the "adding one note at a time" post. – Michael Curtis Oct 22 '21 at 19:30
  • @MichaelCurtis - If Musescore won't play the notation as we want it to, I am greatly concerned that human players will interpret the notation the same way as Musescore. – Dekkadeci Oct 22 '21 at 23:58
  • @Dekkadeci i think the extra effort taken to notate it with grace notes (instead of the wavy line used for arpeggiation starting on the beat) should make it clear to a human that theyre anticipatory. – Esther Oct 23 '21 at 12:04
  • @Dekkadeci, OK, but Musescore has a forum of their own, about their software. – Michael Curtis Oct 25 '21 at 13:12
  • @MichaelCurtis That's a bit unfair, since we routinely address MuseScore questions and issues. – Aaron Oct 25 '21 at 15:17
  • @Aaron Yes, but the comment seems to be about a _malfunction_ of the software, not a Musescore "how to" question. Unless it's a matter of changing some option in Musescore, no amount of discussion here will change how Musescore plays back. The question in your comment about interpretation of the graces (before or after the barline) would seem the topic to discuss on this forum. – Michael Curtis Oct 25 '21 at 15:32