Anacrusis
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- For the Progressive/Thrash Metal group please refer to Anacrusis (band).
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In poetry, anacrusis is the lead-in syllables that precede the first full measure, while, similarly, in music, it is the note or notes (even a phrase) which precede the first downbeat in a group. In the latter sense an anacrusis is often called a pickup, pickup note, or pickup measure.
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 early light. . .
Beginning of BWV736, with anacrusis in Red.
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