Music Fundamentals A Balanced Approach

Exercise 5

1. Sing “Happy Birthday to You” (M. J. Hill, P.S. Hill)
   In the second line, sustain the note with the fermata written above it.


2. Chorale, Op. 68, No. 4 (originally 2/2) (R. Schumann)

• Count and clap.


• Then sing the letter name of each note, sustaining the notes with fermatas longer than their written note
  values.

Anacrusis

Music compositions do not always begin on the first beat of the measure. An incomplete measure at the beginning
of a piece is called an anacrusis(from the Greek word, anákrousis,meaning “to strike, push back”). An
incomplete measure at the end of the piece together with the anacrusis measure at the beginning will usually
total the correct number of beats signified by the top number of the time signature.
The anacrusis is sometimes called a pickupor upbeat.Do you recall that the conducting pattern for the first
beat is always a downbeat, and that the last beat of the measure is always an upward motion? The term “upbeat”
is derived from this upward motion. In “Oh, Susanna,” the first two notes form an anacrusis measure:

BASICS OF RHYTHM

71

3 + 1 2 3 1 (2) 3 + 1 2 3 1 (2) 3 +

1 2 3 1 2(hold)3 + 1 2 3 1 (2)