Steve Goss: Interpretation and Analysis | Harmony and Structure in Bach, Sor, and Falla (Feb 13) Questions / Suggestions

Dennis Greensmith Hi Dennis - thank you for the reminder! I just did. Go to the pinned comment above to download all six files we used in the stream!

Peter Hi Peter - in my opinion, almost everything is better than that version we used. So many inaccuracies and just... unwarranted, inexplicable changes.

If you go to IMSLP, you will find some versions that are not in the public domain in the US, but they are public domain in Canada (where IMSLP is hosted) and some other countries. Depending on where you live, it might be legal to download and use those.

If it is, I'd absolutely recommend the standard versions you can download from IMSLP!

Dennis Greensmith Hi Dennis! I can answer that. You see the little grace note G? Steve was saying that most people play it as a short ornament (like I did when I sight read the piece at the beginning of the section), however, he thinks it should be played as a full-on quarter note.

Under certain conditions, grace notes are supposed to be played with their full rhythmical value, and Steve rightly pointed out that this is most likely one of them. Does that make sense?

Dennis Greensmith this one is going to be a lot more "fuzzy" of an answer, unfortunately. Basically, it depends on a number of different factors.

• Period: Playing grace notes at their full value will happen most commonly in the classical period (which Sor belongs to); you won't see this being done nearly as often in the romantic and after.
• Accentuated note: Full-value grace notes will only ever happen on accented notes, where the grace note creates some sort of tension (usually dissonance) that is resolved on the regular, full-value note following it.
• Grace note value: If the grace note has the same value as the notes before it (e.g. it's a sixteenth-note grace note following a passage full of sixteenth notes), it's much more likely to be played at full value. An eighth-note grace note in a quarter note passage will not generally ever be played full-length.
• Style and composer preference: Some composers are well-known for having preferred "long" or "short" grace notes. Tarrega, for example, liked most of his grace notes (especially ones followed by a glissando) extremely short - you would generally never do what Steve says in a Tarrega piece.

Basically, it's complicated, and musicians often disagree. Just keep in mind they are both valid options for certain music, so if you think you might be working on a piece from the historical context where this could be expected to happen, do play around and see what might work best.