Is There Life Before Bar 1?
This post is one of a 2-part series of free basic music theory lessons on my blog, musictheoryde-mystified.com. You can see the complete list here. Please feel welcome to make a comment or ask a question.
Bar Numbers
Each complete bar has a bar number. In a printed part, the bar number is usually written at the start of each stave except the first. Some parts number every bar or every few bars. Others, especially parts for shorter pieces, don’t include bar numbers at all.
Bar numbers are useful in longer pieces to identify sections that need practice.
How Bar Numbers Are Counted
A barline signifies the end of the current bar (and the start of the next bar).
The first complete bar is Bar 1. Typically Bar 1 starts on the first note or rest after the time signature. Bar 2 starts after the first barline.
Upbeats/Pickup Bars
I say typically because it’s not unusual for a part to start a note or two before the beginning of the first bar, as a lead-in to the first strong beat.
An example of this is when a song lyric starts with a preposition, such as “in the town”, “by the light” etc. where the emphasis is on the noun, “town” or “light”.
Lyrics or not, lead-ins are quite common. Usually a lead-in is just one or two quick notes, but longer lead-ins are also possible.
A lead-in is formally called an anacrusis. In popular music it is called an upbeat or a pickup bar.
Personally, I find the term “pickup bar” confusing because it isn’t a complete bar.
A pickup bar/upbeat/anacrusis consists of one or more notes before the start of bar 1.
Looping The Loop
Note that in the above example the last bar is 3 beats long instead of 4.
If the piece were to repeat, the timing would add up to whole bars and provide a smooth transition into the repeat.
If a piece starts with a partial bar, then it should finish with another partial bar equal to the remainder of that bar.
How To Recognise An Upbeat
An upbeat is less than a bar long. If the length of all the notes and rests before the first barline is less than a whole bar, it is an upbeat.
Bar 1 is always a complete bar. Anything less than a complete bar is an upbeat, not bar 1.
How To Work Out When To Come In
- Add up the length of the notes in the incomplete bar
- Subtract it from a whole bar to work out where the first note starts
- Imagine rests being written from the start of the bar to the first written note.
For example, if there is 1 beat worth of notes before the first barline and the piece is in 4/4, there are 3 unwritten beats (4-1=3): the first note is on beat 4. Imagine rests where beats 1, 2 and 3 would go.
Counting In
When starting a piece, it’s always good to count a bar at the intended tempo before starting to play. In an ensemble this is essential, so everyone can come in on time, but even for solo playing, it helps to establish the tempo and time signature in your mind before you start.
For a partial bar, count a complete bar followed by the unwritten part of the bar. This ensures that you can feel the rhythmic structure correctly.
A time signature has a hierarchy which is implicit in every bar (See 6. Time Signatures 1 – Simple Time and B8. Time Signatures 2: Compound Time). Beat 1 is the strongest part of a bar. By counting a whole bar plus the unwritten part of the pickup bar, it’s easier to feel where within the bar the upbeat starts.
Try These…
- Rewrite these melodies with rests before the first note to make up a whole bar.
- Count in 1 bar plus the rests and tap, clap or play the rhythm.
Answers at the end of this post.
Upbeats Within A Piece
Upbeats don’t just occur at the beginning of a piece. Any musical phrase can start before the first full bar of that phrase. To do this, there has to be enough room at the end of the previous bar to fit the upbeat in.
In the above example, the first phrase finishes before the end of the bar to make room for the upbeat of the second phrase.
Practising A Phrase With An Upbeat
If you want to practise a phrase which starts with an upbeat without having to play all the way from the start, treat it like it’s the start of the piece: count rests over the end of the previous phrase so you know which part of the bar you come in on.
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NEXT LESSON: B13. Degrees Of A Scale: Relative Note Names
PART 2 CONTENTS: Basic Music Theory Course Contents
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