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In music, an anacrusis (also known as a pickup, or fractional pick-up) is a note or sequence of notes, a motif, which precedes the first downbeat in a bar in a musical phrase.
What is the point of a pickup note?
From a metrical perspective the pick up note (anacrusis) is there to clarify the emphasis on a strong beat. This is closely connected to the sense of a barline and the beginning of phrases. So you can also say a pick up note can be used as a phrase beginning, a phrase articulation device.
What does an anacrusis do?
Anacrusis, or pickup measure, in piano music. Definition: The anacrusis is a note or series of notes that comes before the first complete measure of a composition; an introductory (and optional) measure that does not hold the number of beats expressed by the time signature.
