Grace Notes

I LEARNED TO PLAY PIANO AT 41.

- Mark Nepo

 I worked my fingers long enough that the uncanny dimension of being played appeared briefly: In those moments, beyond all logic, my hands started to behave more quickly than my mind, which was trying to read the notes and position my fingers. My teacher noticed this and thought I was ready to tackle my first piece by Bach, a minuet known as “Bach’s Notebook for Anna Magdalena.”

In the eighth measure of that minuet, a note smaller than the rest appears. Almost ghostlike, it hovers very near the others like a barely seeable angel or a hummingbird whose path is more readily seen than its body. It surprised me. My teacher called it a grace note—a note that, though played and heard, takes up no time; a note that matters, though it is timeless. And therein lies its grace.