UK Piano Page Piano Forum

Hi,

Step gently into this minefield.

If the tiny quavers have a line through them, as if they are being cancelled, they are acciaccatura, from the Italian "to crush". They are ornaments, and have no inherent time value, in other words they do not add any time to the written music. How they are played is a matter of interpretation: generally they are played immediately and very quickly, and at a lower volume, before the note to which they are attached. I was taught to play the main note on the beat, with the acciaccatura fractionally before, pinching its time from the tail of the preceeding note.

If they do not have a cancelling line through them, they are appoggiatura, from the Italian "to lean upon". This note is played on the beat and generally takes away half the value of the main note. If the appoggiatura is attached to a crochet then they are played as two quavers. Appoggiatura can get very complicated, and are mercifully less frequently found than acciaccatura.

You can have hours of educational fun with Google, acciaccatura, and appoggiatura.

Rgds.

Good Grief....Although I have played them I never knew what they were called....I don't think I could pronounce them anyway

When someone says 'acciaccatura' to me, I always have to fight an impulse to say 'bless you'. But then I'm very immature...