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I'm currently notating a song and don't know what's the correct way to write the ending of it.

The song has a pickup measure with a quarter note duration. Because of that, the correct way of finishing it would be to end the song on a measure with only 3 beats.

Sadly the last measure ends like shown in the picture (top example), where I have not enough beats left to compensate the pickup measure.

So my question is, what is the proper way to get around this? Would you just add a complete new measure with only 3 beats like the bottom example in the picture?

enter image description here

user45266
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Andy
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2 Answers2

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It doesn't matter how you end the piece. Centuries ago there was a convention that you compensated for the pickup measure at the end. But nowadays nobody is going to complain. I see pieces all the time notated with a pickup and a complete bar at the end.

Update: This is not a general rule. If a piece is written in such a way that repeating from the end to the beginning would make musical sense, the last measure should be of proper duration to allow for that. This is the case for a lot of folk or dance music that you can repeat endlessly. But this doesn't apply to the example given here, where a repeat to the beginning would be very awkward.

PiedPiper
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  • But does that make it correct? I do too, and it wrankles. But at the end of the day, does it really matter? – Tim Jun 02 '19 at 17:50
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    @Tim In music there's no such thing as "correct" – PiedPiper Jun 02 '19 at 17:52
  • Would 'more acceptable' be a better term? Although I disagree with the basic tenet. – Tim Jun 02 '19 at 18:42
  • @Tim The question is who decides what is acceptable? None of the musicians I work with would care in the slightest whether the pieces they play adhere to 19th century standards of notation – PiedPiper Jun 02 '19 at 18:57
  • Seems like we work with musos who have different expectations. Makes life easier when all of us are working from the same hymn sheet. Whichever that may be... – Tim Jun 02 '19 at 19:41
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    @Tim "wrankles" rankles. – phoog Jun 03 '19 at 03:34
  • @phoog - Freudian slip! Which I only wear occasionally... – Tim Jun 03 '19 at 05:54
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    I'm not going to add another answer as yours already covers the main point (that there's no need to add the extra bar), but I'll offer an alternative perspective: if it annoys people that there's not a whole number of bars in the piece, the extra beats are technically at the front of the pickup bar, and IMO should be notated there with empty rests, rather than some horrible outdated hack with an incomplete floating measure at the end that makes no sense. – Matt Taylor Jun 03 '19 at 08:33
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    @MattTaylor Padding the first bar is often done, but in my experience putting silent beats at the beginning of the first bar very often causes confusion. Sight-reading a piece you can nearly always count on somebody coming in wrong. I think it's better practice to start the notation with the pickup and, very important, make sure that the parts that are not playing the pickup have the correct rests. – PiedPiper Jun 03 '19 at 10:20
  • @PiedPiper I totally agree, in practice I'd leave the pickup bar as-is, I was offering an alternative for those wanting every bar to be complete. – Matt Taylor Jun 03 '19 at 11:39
  • @PiedPiper - I'd have thought rests in the pick up bar would be a better way to actually come in on time. At least there's something to read and count. And no need then for the phantom bar at the end. – Tim Jun 03 '19 at 11:51
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    I would complain. Very often I want to repeat a song or continue to a new verse, and having the correct number of beats in the last or first measure is invaluable. – JiK Jun 03 '19 at 12:42
  • @JiK The example given doesn't seem to have a logical way to make a repeat: you'd either have to leave out the last note, or have three awkward beats of silence – PiedPiper Jun 03 '19 at 13:08
  • @PiedPiper I have never before heard anyone suggest that silence within music is awkward. – JiK Jun 03 '19 at 13:11
  • @JiK In this context I think it would be – PiedPiper Jun 03 '19 at 13:14
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    @JiK: If a piece of music is written in such a way that repeating from the end to the beginning would make sense, the last measure should be of proper duration to allow for that. If the ending of the piece wouldn't make any sense looped back to the beginning, then there's no need to accommodate such a possibility. – supercat Jun 03 '19 at 13:31
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Probably the acid test is to play it with a repeat - which I appreciate may well not be there. But by doing this, you'll feel that the rhythm of it all will fit better one way or the other. I suspect the second version is what you'll end up with. Looking at the complete work would give more clues, though.

Tim
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