# Correct ending meassure when using a upbeat



## stigc56 (Jan 3, 2018)

Hi
I wonder if it's still a rule, that if you have a quarter note upbeat in 4/4, then you MUST edit the last bar to have only 3 quarter notes?


----------



## mikeh-375 (Jan 3, 2018)

It's an old rule Stigc56, but I'd suggest that it is not relevant unless you want your final chord or notes to be 3 beats long.
I don't believe in a 'MUST' at all unless you are learning, then it's important. The reasons for this rule seem pretty pedantic to me.


----------



## stigc56 (Jan 3, 2018)

Yes I agree. It's old fashioned. I will use a modern approach.


----------



## mikeh-375 (Jan 3, 2018)

Absolutely, unless you are doing a pastiche in academia!! It has got me thinking though as to why it came about. Was it just to complete the anacrusis bar? - perhaps a kind of tidying up.....


----------



## bryla (Jan 3, 2018)

It was mostly a relevant custom when you had D.S./D.C. it came to be. At that time it was also normal to put a repeat bar line in mid-bar.


----------



## Rodney Money (Jan 3, 2018)

I would only do that if I was writing a hymn or a chorus that has optional repeats that needs to transition back to the beginning smoothly when needed.


----------



## mikeh-375 (Jan 3, 2018)

oh yes, of course..thanks Bryla.


----------

