Editing Grace note (section)

==Function==
A grace note represents an [[ornament (music)|ornament]], and distinguishing whether a given singular grace note is to be played as an appoggiatura or acciaccatura in the [[performance practice]] of a given historical period (or in the practice of a given [[composer]]) is usually the subject of lively debate. This is because we must rely on literary, interpretative accounts of performance practice in those days before such time as [[audio recording]] was implemented, and even then, only a composer's personal or sanctioned recording could directly document usage.

As either an appoggiatura or an acciaccatura, grace notes occur as notes of short duration before the sounding of the relatively longer-lasting note which immediately follows them. This longer note, to which any grace notes can be considered harmonically and melodically subservient (except in the cases of certain appoggiaturas, in which the ornament may be held for a longer duration than the note it ornaments), is called the ''principal'' in relation to the grace notes.

A grace note or notes may sometimes be noted in terms of exactly half of the principal note. Where they are multiple, an uncommon view is that their notation must always equal exactly half of the principal note. (i.e. If the principal note is a quarter-note the grace note must be notated as an eighth- note, two sixteenth notes, four thirty-second notes, or eight sixty-fourth notes, etc.){{citation needed|date=April 2020}}

Grace notes, unlike what are referred to as [[cue-note]]s, never affect the rhythmic subdivision, or musical "count" of the bar in which they are contained - and therefore, do not require other notes to be dropped from the bar to keep the time signature intact.<ref>[http://www.dummies.com/art-center/music/piano/playing-grace-notes-trills-and-glissandos-on-the-piano/ "Playing Grace Notes, Trills, and Glissandos on the Piano"], [[For Dummies]]</ref>