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1.2.6.1 Grace notes

Grace notes are ornaments that are written out. They are made with the \grace command. By prefixing this keyword to a music expression, a new one is formed, which will be printed in a smaller font and takes up no logical time in a measure.

     
     c4 \grace c16 c4
     \grace { c16[ d16] } c2 c4

[image of music]

Two special forms of the \grace command exist. An acciaccatura, which should be played as very short, is denoted by a slurred small note with a slashed stem. The appoggiatura, a grace note that takes a fixed fraction of the main note, is denoted as a slurred note in small print without a slash. They are entered with the commands \acciaccatura and \appoggiatura, as demonstrated in the following example:

     
     b4 \acciaccatura d8 c4 
     \appoggiatura e8 d4
     \acciaccatura { g16[ f] } e4

[image of music]

\acciaccatura and \appoggiatura start a slur, \grace does not.

The placement of grace notes is synchronized between different staves. In the following example, there are two sixteenth grace notes for every eighth grace note

     
     << \new Staff { e4 \grace { c16[ d e f] } e4 }
        \new Staff { c4 \grace { g8[ b] } c4 } >>

[image of music]

If you want to end a note with a grace, use the \afterGrace command. It takes two arguments: the main note, and the grace notes following the main note.

c1 \afterGrace d1 { c16[ d] } c4

[image of music]

This will put the grace notes after a ‘space’ lasting 3/4 of the length of the main note. The fraction 3/4 can be changed by setting afterGraceFraction, ie.

#(define afterGraceFraction (cons 7 8))

will put the grace note at 7/8 of the main note.

The same effect can be achieved manually by doing

     
     \new Voice {
       << { d1^\trill_( }
          { s2 \grace { c16[ d] } } >>
       c4)
     }

[image of music]

By adjusting the duration of the skip note (here it is a half-note), the space between the main-note and the grace may be adjusted.

A \grace music expression will introduce special typesetting settings, for example, to produce smaller type, and set directions. Hence, when introducing layout tweaks, they should be inside the grace expression, for example,

     
     \new Voice {
       \acciaccatura {
         \stemDown
         f16->
         \stemNeutral
       }
       g4
     }

[image of music]

The overrides should also be reverted inside the grace expression.

The layout of grace expressions can be changed throughout the music using the function add-grace-property. The following example undefines the Stem direction for this grace, so that stems do not always point up.

\new Staff {
  #(add-grace-property 'Voice 'Stem 'direction '())
  ...
}

Another option is to change the variables startGraceMusic, stopGraceMusic, startAcciaccaturaMusic, stopAcciaccaturaMusic, startAppoggiaturaMusic, stopAppoggiaturaMusic. The default values of these can be seen in the file ly/grace-init.ly. By redefining them other effects may be obtained.

The slash through the stem in acciaccaturas can be obtained in other situations by \override Stem #'stroke-style = #"grace".

Selected Snippets

Grace notes may be forced to use align with regular notes in other staves by setting strict-grace-spacing to ##t:

[image of music]

See also

Music Glossary: grace notes, acciaccatura, appoggiatura

Snippets: Rhythms

Internals Reference: GraceMusic.

Known issues and warnings

A multi-note beamed acciaccatura is printed without a slash, and looks exactly the same as a multi-note beamed appoggiatura.

Grace note synchronization can also lead to surprises. Staff notation, such as key signatures, bar lines, etc., are also synchronized. Take care when you mix staves with grace notes and staves without, for example,

     
     << \new Staff { e4 \bar "|:" \grace c16 d4 }
        \new Staff { c4 \bar "|:" d4 } >>

[image of music]

This can be remedied by inserting grace skips of the corresponding durations in the other staves. For the above example

     
     << \new Staff { e4 \bar "|:" \grace c16 d4 }
        \new Staff { c4 \bar "|:" \grace s16 d4 } >>

[image of music]

Grace sections should only be used within sequential music expressions. Nesting or juxtaposing grace sections is not supported, and might produce crashes or other errors.


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