John Chambers wrote:
>
> Laurie writes:
...
> | I think the distinction between graces that steal time from the
> | previous note and those which steal from the following is
> | musically important.
>
> This is something that staff notation has traditionally not made
> clear. The culprit is usually the publisher, who typically has rules
> saying how such things are drawn, so that all cases are mapped to the
> same marks on the paper. Some people have indicated the distinction
> by drawing the grace note next to the big note that it steals time
> from, with or without a slur to that note. But if your printer
> refuses to do that, or quietly rewrites it, there's not much you can
> do. So musicians have learned that grace-note notation is meaningless
> and they have to work it out from what they know of the style.
In the world of classical music it's mainly a question of age. Up until
c. 1800 the grace note usually took the time from the next note, but
then it changed to what is common today. Here's an example:
X:1
T:Rondo alla Turca (first four bars)
N:As Mozart wrote it
M:3/4
L:1/8
K:Am
{B}A^G/A/|c z {d}cB/c/|e z {f}ed/f/|{b}a^g/a/ {b}a^g/a/|e2|
X:3
T:Rondo alla Turca (first four bars)
N:According to classical (17th/18th C.) performance practice
M:3/4
L:1/8
K:Am
B/A/^G/A/|c z/ d/c/B/c/|e z f/e/d/f/|b/a/^g/a/ b/a/^g/a/|e2|
X:3
T:Rondo alla Turca (first four bars)
N:According to romantic performance practice
M:3/4
L:1/8
K:Am
B/ A^G/A/|c z/ d/ cB/c/|e z/ f/ ed/f//b//|a^g/a//b// a^g/a/|e2|
%Interestingly, not even the strongest supporters of the romantic
%performance practice would even dream of actually playing this piece
this way ;)
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