Grupetto turn?!
Question: I'm playing an etude for an audition and there are a few grupetto turns. I know what they are but I still have some questions. they are all the kind written after the note not above.
1st- when the note the turn is on is an 8th note then what note value do the short notes in the turn become. (like when it's a dotted quarter it's 32nd)
2nd- if there is an accidental written in the middle of the turn does it hold for the entire turn since it is played 2x, does it hold for the entire measure, or does it only apply to the one note? (in my case the turn starts on an a, and has a sharp sign on the a space below the turn sign. I know it won't apply to the one you start on and that it does apply to the second, but does it apply to the third and the rest of the measure?) a b #a g #a?ora
thanx sorry it's written really confusing
Answers: I'm playing an etude for an audition and there are a few grupetto turns. I know what they are but I still have some questions. they are all the kind written after the note not above.
1st- when the note the turn is on is an 8th note then what note value do the short notes in the turn become. (like when it's a dotted quarter it's 32nd)
2nd- if there is an accidental written in the middle of the turn does it hold for the entire turn since it is played 2x, does it hold for the entire measure, or does it only apply to the one note? (in my case the turn starts on an a, and has a sharp sign on the a space below the turn sign. I know it won't apply to the one you start on and that it does apply to the second, but does it apply to the third and the rest of the measure?) a b #a g #a?ora
thanx sorry it's written really confusing
OK, let's work this one backwards, starting with the notes themselves.
A turn starts on the first scale note up from the main note, returns to the main, drops to the first scale note below the main, and returns finally to the main note again. The accidental sharp placed below the symbol indicates that the first scale note below the main note must be sharpened. If your main note is 'a' and the '#' is below the turn sign, the turn notes (e.g. in the key of a-minor) will be b-a-g#-a, and the accidental will remain in force for the rest of that measure unless explicitly revoked. (If an accidental above or below a turn symbol happens to align with a line or space on the staff, ignore it. That's a typographical thing. The accidentals will always *only* affect the first scale note above or below the main one, or both, one for each, if provided.
Right, now for the time values. The main, or principal note is held for the larger part of its value, normally half in a brisk tempo, or three-quarters in a slow tempo, subject to some performer discretion, the composing style and the artistic context as a whole. So, a quarter note with a turn becomes an eighth principal note and a turn in four 32nds (brisk tempo) or a dotted eighth principal note and a turn in four 64ths (slow tempo).
Were the principal note to be an eighth rather than a quarter, you would again halve/three-quarter it to give you the main note's value of a 16th (brisk), or a dotted 16th (slow), with the turn notes becoming 64ths (brisk) and 128ths (slow).
There are a few further considerations when the turn symbol is placed specifically above the main note, rather than after it, but I'll leave that to one side as you've already indicated that it doesn't apply in this case.
Hope this clears things up for you, but ask more in a supplementary if you need to, ok?