Playing the saxophone Does an 'X' instead of a note-head mean a ghost/grace note?

[cappers]

Does an 'X' instead of a note-head mean a ghost/grace note?

I thought a smaller sized note with a slash before another note was a ghost note.

I read somewhere X can mean staccato or tenuto or a ghost. I thought staccato and tenuto are indicated with a dot or dash?

I not talking about a double sharp blocky X

Thank you.

 

[Pete Effamy]

But the line through it indicates it is an acciaccatura (literally crush note as you say). Without the line it would be an appoggiatura.

I do have big band charts with both in, so knowing the difference is useful.

Yep, the line thing.
Which big band chart has an appogiatura? It’s a Baroque practice - is it a cod-Baroque section?
I’ve never seen in in non-classical music, as you’re better off writing it out long-hand as some times they get complicated.

 

[thomsax]

For beginners. Try to do some "Ghosting" excercises as warm-up. Here is 3 samples. It's Andrew Clark , Boston, who is playing ghosting warm-ups. Mpc. Dukoff D8 and LaVoz m reed.

View: https://youtu.be/mNdv45Uk2UQ?si=P0UdDt_Aw0Oy7nQ7

 

[mrblackbat]

Yep, the line thing.
Which big band chart has an appogiatura? It’s a Baroque practice - is it a cod-Baroque section?
I’ve never seen in in non-classical music, as you’re better off writing it out long-hand as some times they get complicated.

They’re handwritten charts that the band I play in have.

 

[Pete Effamy]

They’re handwritten charts that the band I play in have.

Ah ok.

 

[Pete Effamy]

For beginners. Try to do some "Ghosting" excercises as warm-up. Here is 3 samples. It's Andrew Clark , Boston, who is playing ghosting warm-ups. Mpc. Dukoff D8 and LaVoz m reed.

View: https://youtu.be/mNdv45Uk2UQ?si=P0UdDt_Aw0Oy7nQ7

While standing on your head…

 

[thomsax]

Don't read and "talk" so much ... use your ears and sax .....

 

[Colin the Bear]

You're all wrong. An "X" on a note is an old fashioned thing, which means only over 18's can play it.

 

[turf3]

It’s also worth noting that although staccato can be interpreted as half the length, it can just mean detached or shorter. I find it totally pointless to write a staccato half note.

EDIT: Tenor Viol beat me to it with a better and more detailed post.

In jazz notation, that might be written as two quarter notes tied together with the second one having a staccato dot. Or a quarter and eighth tied together with the staccato on the eighth. That, to me, would indicate (in 4 4) one beat of sound with a hard stop.

In most practice, a series of eighth note-eighth rest-eighth note-eighth rest-etc. is NOT played the same as a series of staccato indicated quarters. The first one, I would expect hard stops to the notes so that the beginning point of the rests' silence is clearly defined; the second one, I would expect the note to be allowed to die at (approximately) half a beat, but not a hard stop.

In matters of rhythm and articulation, the key is to play what's appropriate for the style; and for the copyist to make it clear when something different is desired at a particular place. As I've said many times, standard notation does a bang-up job with pitches, and a kinda OK job at general overall rhythms, but it leaves a great deal to be desired in communicating rhythmic details. Some of those double-time offbeat Latin riffs and hits that are notated with a bunch of sixteenths (and even, sometimes, thirty-seconds) are just basically unreadable and you have to just hear how they're supposed to go. A simpler example of that is the stop-time passage in Chick Corea's "Spain" - which has cratered I don't know how many big bands faced with it for the first time - you can't sit there and count all those wee rests as you play it; you just have to know how it goes and then play THAT.

 

[Pete Thomas]

In jazz notation, that might be written as two quarter notes tied together with the second one having a staccato dot. Or a quarter and eighth tied together with the staccato on the eighth.

I have never seen that, just as I have never seen a staccato half note (that I can recall).

 

[MikeMorrell]

I bow deeply to to my superiors on the café.

In my limited amatuer experience playing in big bands, occasional 'ghost notes' are clearly marked with an 'x'. I've always interpreted 'ghost notes' as being 'subtlety suggested'. Through volume and/or tone. TBH, 'ghost notes' in the sax section of my band are never picked up by our audiences.

I really do appreciate how some soloists use 'ghost notes'.
I've only just quickly browsed through a this this thread but my 1st impression is that there might be some confusion between 'ghost notes' and 'grace notes'. Look them up to discover the differences.

 

[Pete Thomas]

'ghost notes' and 'grace notes'. Look them up to discover the differences.

Just because we're way past the answer/s, a summary of what I consider to be the practical definitions. These definitions are in the context of pop, rock or jazz and based solely on my experience. Classical mileage may vary.

A ghost note is either an effect (as in dooden tonguing) or sometimes a note that (by accident) didn't quite speak properly so the pitch is indeterminate. You mostly see the latter in transcriptions of solos as a way to notate a note that doesn't really have any pitch (but the context can imply a pitch that was meant).

A grace note is a very short note played as an ornament preceding another note that is part of a melodic phrase. Usually below and leading up to it but not necessarily. Think of it as a melodic equivalent of a drummer playing a flam.

A grace note is too short for its length to be practically notated otherwise and is normally interpreted as short as possible. Either the grace note or the note it leads to could be on the actual beat, but in my experience (and if I am the composer), the grace note itself is more often than not placed on the beat - which I find helps to maintain the flow of the melody. Pianists can actually play the grace note simultaneously with a longer note and remove the grace note finger ASAP.

 

[Ghr9204]

An "X" on a note is an old fashioned thing, which means only over 18's can play it.

Wow! A Rated "X" note, for mature audiences only! 😉

 

[Pete Effamy]

I have never seen that, just as I have never seen a staccato half note (that I can recall).

Me niether. Think I'd be a little confused by it too.

 

[Ghr9204]

Me neither. Think I'd be a little confused by it too.

It was one of those sleepless nights. I open up the laptop. Changing feet in my mouth give a poor example.

But seriously, thinking of a King or Henry Fillmore march at cut time, saxes sometimes playing as part of the background beat along with the French horns, we have staccato notes, sometimes on the upbeat.

Don't have a march book in front of me, otherwise would show say 16 bars of a staccato section as a typical example.