Music notation glossary · Time signatures
Upbeat
the incomplete first bar
In the score
What it means
A piece begins before beat one. The missing value appears at the end: an upbeat of one quarter means the last bar is one quarter short. Together they make one full bar.
Related pages
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See AnotonaEvery note on this page is computed, not typed in — following the rule that also makes F# major spell its seventh degree E#, not F.