grace notes
Brief melodic embellishments
Grace notes are small musical ornaments—brief notes played quickly before a main note, not counted in the measure's time.
The term extends to any subtle embellishment or finishing touch: The film's grace notes—a lingering glance, a half-smile—elevated it beyond genre.
Grace notes enhance without being essential; remove them and the structure holds, but something delicate is lost.
Rapid neighbor-note embellishment
- trillRapid pitch oscillation
- turnRotational movement
- ornamentThing that beautifies
- flourishTo grow vigorously
embellishment · melisma · cadenza · portamento · figuration · coloratura · arpeggio · glissando
Manner of expressing something
- nuanceSlight shade of difference
- dynamicsStudy of forces
- articulationClear vocal expression
- lyricismExpressive, melodic quality
inflection · subtlety · sensitivity · touch · finesse · delicacy · refinement · musicality
To grow vigorously
- touchPerceiving through physical contact
- detailSingle small element
- embellishmentDecorative addition or exaggeration
- finishing touchFinal perfecting detail
polish · enhancement · accent · garnish · frill · extra · addition · afterthought
mordent
Rapid neighbor-note embellishment
flourish · embellishment · melisma · cadenza · portamento · figuration · coloratura · arpeggio · glissando · vibrato
phrasing
Manner of expressing something
- nuanceSlight shade of difference
- dynamicsStudy of forces
- articulationClear vocal expression
lyricism · inflection · subtlety · sensitivity · touch · finesse · delicacy · refinement · musicality · interpretation
flourish
To grow vigorously
- touchPerceiving through physical contact
- detailSingle small element
- embellishmentDecorative addition or exaggeration
finishing touch · polish · enhancement · accent · garnish · frill · extra · addition · afterthought · aside
- extrasextra, add-ons, add-on, extras, addition
- music notationtreble clef, bass clef, clef, clefs, staff
- musical notationforte, score, piano, sheet music, notation
- bagpipesbagpipe, bagpipes, chanter, drones, bag
- musical expressiondynamics, articulation, phrasing, rubato, expression
- playing techniquespicking, arpeggiated, fingerpicking, spiccato, block chords
grace notesdownbeats
First beats of measures
subject · melodic line · theme · motif · whole notes
grace notesessentials
Indispensable items or elements
fundamentals · substance · main points · crux · heart of the matter
grace noteswhole notes
Four-beat musical symbols
drone · austerity · fermata · starkness · minimalism
note, grace, graceful, disgrace, gracefully, disgraced, graciously, ungraceful, disgraces