Pickup (Anacrusis)
A pickup — also called an anacrusis — is an incomplete measure at the start of a piece, holding the note or notes that lead into the first full bar.
The beats missing from the pickup are usually made up at the very end of the piece, so the two incomplete bars add up to one whole one. Happy Birthday starts on a pickup, which is why the first syllable feels like it arrives early.
How To Spot Anacrusis
A first measure with fewer beats than the time signature says. Count them: 4/4 with a single quarter note before the first bar line is a pickup.
Find It In Thirty Seconds
Find a piece with a pickup and count the missing beats out loud before playing. Starting on the right beat is what makes the phrase land where it should.
Open any piece of sheet music on this site and do it now. Reading is a recognition skill, and recognition is built by finding things, not by reading about them.
Related Topics...
How to Read Sheet Music: Learn how to read sheet music using interactive lessons from Chordzy. Or browse our various reading music topics.
Music Notation Glossary: Every symbol on a page of piano music, explained in one sentence each — clefs, note values, rests, accidentals, dynamics and repeat marks.
Bar Line: A bar line is the vertical line crossing the staff that divides music into measures. A double bar line marks the end of a section, and a thick double bar marks…
Measure (Bar): A measure — also called a bar — is the space between two bar lines. The time signature says how many beats each measure holds.
Time Signature: The time signature is the pair of numbers after the clef. The top number says how many beats are in each measure; the bottom says which note value gets one bea…
More in This Section
Bass Clef: The bass clef is the symbol at the start of the lower staff. Its two dots sit either side of the fourth line up, fixing that line as F below middle C — hence i…