In poetry, anacrusis is the lead-in syllables, collectively, that precede the first full measure. Similarly, in music, it is the note or notes (even a phrase) which precede the first downbeat in a bar. In the latter sense an anacrusis is often called a pickup, pickup note, or pickup measure, referring to the syncopation. A piece of music beginning with an anacrusis will often end before the last beat of the last bar, in order to keep the number of bars in the entire piece at a whole number.
In the song "Happy Birthday to You", the anacrusis forms the Happy and the accent is on Birthday.
In The Star Spangled Banner, the word Oh in the first line is an anacrusis in both the music and the anapestic meter of the poem:
x / x x / x x / x x / Oh, say, can you see, by the dawn's ear ly light. . . In the Beatles' "Yellow Submarine", "In the" is the anacrusis, "town" falls on the downbeat.
See also
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Last updated on Friday October 10, 2008 at 11:12:50 PDT (GMT -0700)
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