appoggiatura

 

I LOOKED UP THE WORD "GRACE" AND ONE OF THE DEFINITIONS WAS "A MUSICAL TRILL, TURN, OR APPOGGIATURA".  Other than "appoggiatura" being a good word to know if you are into crossword puzzles or trying to win the state spelling bee, I thought it was worth looking into further.  Since I can't read a note of music, I had to look up what this was! 

 

appoggiatura: an embellishing note or tone preceding an 

essential melodic note or tone and usually written as a note of smaller size

comments from the Webster website: 

 

"At any rate, the word is appoggiatura, and in Italian it literally means a "lean" into something....so, when you sing the note above the final note one step above, you are leaning toward the note...also, in 18th century style, and it carried over into later styles, one never sang a downward third, without filling in that space...it happens all the time in Mozart recitative.

 

"appoggiatura is this tiny tiny note, but critical to the structure- it's a 'tensioning' note in the work- and he picked out this one tiny note played by the masterclass student and requested they pay attention to the 'appogiatura' and give it the right accent to lead to the release. Great stuff." 

 

I think this helps me understand what grace is in a roundabout way. A teeny tiny note that comes out in the music when there is tension and a need to lean into something bigger...and it always precedes the essential melody in our lives...