Mandolin Self Instructor, online tutorial - Page 66

A simplified self learning system for the Mandolin with tuning instruction, song folio, chord diagrams, sheet music and PDF for printing. By ZARH MYRON BICKFORD

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	66                                                 Unusual Picking (continued) blur are entirely caused by the left hand and the first two notes in the following1 Exercise, for ex- ample, can be played as detached or staccato as is desired by merely removing- the pressure of the finger on the D string at the proper moment. Exercises for the training of the right hand in making awkward strokes will be introduced at a later period.
	Grace Notes The Grace Note is more frequently used than any of the other "Musical Ornaments" its use add- ing greatly to the beauty of a melody. The common form of the grace note is technically known as the acciacatura, meaning "to crush'; and thus indicating the manner in which a grace note is to be played-literally crushed against or blended with the following or principal note. The grace note is a small note with an eighth or sixteenth note stem crossed by a line or stroke, and having no defined time or length. It is to be played as quickly as possible and usually steals the necessary time from the follow- ing note. An older form of the grace note (called the appoggiatura) was written in the form of a small note representing half the length of the following note and taking this much time from the principal note. This form frequently occurs in the works of Haydn, Mozart, and other famous mas- ters of the past. The modern grace note is frequently called the short appoggiatura. In the first of the following Examples, the tremolo is started on the grace note, as though that were the only note to be played, it being given the first count or beat-but the finger is immediately dropped on the string for the following note, without any break in the tremolo or the connection of the notes. The tremolo, as usual, is to be started with a slight accent and the finger should be on the prin - cipal note by the time the second (up) stroke of the tremolo is played, thus making the value of the grace note that of one stroke of the tremolo-extremely short. In the second Example, the grace note, being on another string, is executed by starting the tremolo with the down stroke in the same manner, but allowing the first stroke to slide quickly over two strings, thus really making the grace note like the lower note of a chord. The third Example shows the double grace note, in which the tremolo starts on the first grace note, the second being taken with the second stroke (the up stroke) of the tremolo, while the prin- cipal note comes on the third stroke of the continuous tremolo movement. The important thing is to start these little notes as though they were the only notes to be played, the impulse or beat starting with the grace note. The main accent must come on the principal note, but this note is to be reached so quickly after the initial impulse is started that there is no perceptible time given to the grace note or notes. According to the greatest authorities, from Philip Emanuel Bach, (son of the immortal Bach) down to Grove's Dictionary of Music, Louis C. Elson, and many others, the time