In the midst of the hullabaloo around Lieberman et al, I’ve succeeded, so far, in not tearing my hair out although I am kind of sick to my stomach.
While driving my kid to School this morning, an hour early for Band Sectionals, I listened to her telling me some silly story about her Band chums that she found rather funny. In the telling of her tale, she found she had to explain to me (since I don’t read music or speak theory) the concept of Grace Notes. They are merely extra little notes thrown in for… no reason, just extra, you don’t have to play them, but you can if you want to… [according to my kid]. They’re there for the taking, and they embellish the tune. Not to be confused, apparently, with Ghost Notes.
Ghost notes, however, are not simply the unaccented notes in a pattern. The unaccented notes in such a pattern as a clave are considered to represent the mean level of emphasis–they are neither absolutely emphasized nor unemphasized. If one further deemphasizes one of these unaccented notes to the same or a similar extent to which the accented notes in the pattern are emphasized, then one has ‘ghosted’ that note. In a case in which a ghost note is deemphasized to the point of silence, that note then represents a rhythmic placeholder in much the same way as does a rest. This can be a very fine distinction, and the ability of an instrumentalist to differentiate between what is a ghost note and what is a rest is governed largely by the acoustic nature of the instrument.
There’s metaphor to be had here, I just know it! Give me a minute. heh.
It becomes more and more obvious, on a daily basis, that Justice and Rule of Law in our country has been ghost noted.
Military justice is to justice what military music is to music.
~ Groucho Marx