Pickup Notes

Hi, I know that when you have a pick up note, you have to subract that amount away at the end. What if you are using something like a thirty second note pickup. I am using it as a first chord. The same way that Beethoven did to open his symphony 2.

He didn't subtract the time away, so if I do it, can I just follow Beethoven's example?

You don't *have* to subtract the pick-up from the end. Only do that if it actually makes sense to do so.

Otherwise, just do what works. Taking away a 32nd from a full bar is going to be extremely awkward, and probably pointless.

*nod* It's not necessary.

In my Symphonies, I have never used the subtraction method. I have implemented pickup notes in several pieces of my own before, but have never found it to make any sense musically to subtract it from the end.

I think it only makes sense when there are repeat signs, no?

this is a VERY old "standard" of doing things.

there is no real reason to continue using it now.

this comes from an era of very square phrases, in fixed numbers of measures.

it actually has nothing to do with repeats (if there were a repeat, the forward repeat would come after the anacrusis, and the "pick-up beat" would then be the final beat within the last measure before the repeat sign) .

at its core was the principle that the music "had" to make up a certain number of beats or else it was "incomplete".

therefore, an 8 measure phrase had to have the complete number of beats. if one beat (or half a beat) were added to the beginning as a pick-up measure, then the corresponding number of beats had to be removed from the end.