grace note

In music, an ornamental note written in small type to show that its duration is not counted as a part of the metre of the bar, but must be subtracted from either the following or the preceding full note. When appearing singly, written as a quaver or sometimes a crotchet, it can indicate an appoggiatura (‘leaning’ note), requiring up to half the value of the next note. If it appears as a semiquaver or as a quaver with a stroke through the stem, it generally appears just on or before the beat, in the manner of an appoggiatura or acciaccatura (‘crushed’ note). When appearing in a large group, as in a cadenza by Beethoven or a melody by Chopin, the grace notes usually fill in the duration of a single note in the melody, and may (if time permits) be played with greater rhythmic flexibility than in standard notation.