Appoggiatura

An appoggiatura (/əˌpɒdʒəˈtjʊərə/ ə-POJ-ə-TURE-ə, Italian: [appoddʒaˈtuːra]; German: Vorschlag or Vorhalt; French: port de voix) is a musical ornament that consists of an added non-chord note in a melody that is resolved to the regular note of the chord.

An appoggiatura may also be notated precisely as it should be performed, with full-size notes, to reduce ambiguity.

So-called unaccented appoggiaturas are also quite common in many periods of music, even though they are disapproved of by some early theorists (for example, by C. P. E. Bach, in his Versuch über die wahre Art das Clavier zu spielen [de]).

While not being identical with the acciaccatura, these are almost always quite short, and take their time from the allocation for the note that precedes them.

One such example is present in Schubert's "Wiegenlied" D. 867: Appoggiaturias can also be found in many popular songs as they grab a listener's attention especially when placed in the vocal melody.

Beatles' songs that make use of this technique (appoggiaturias underlined in the sung syllables below): "Yesterday": Yes - ter - day, all my troubles seemed so far away.