Quiz #19 - Ornaments

Music Ornaments

Music Ornaments (also known as "embellishments" or "flourishes") are decorative notes added to a musical phrase to enhance its expressiveness and complexity. They are typically not essential to the main melody but serve to add character, nuance, and style to the music. Ornaments are common in Baroque, Classical, and Romantic music, but they also appear in modern compositions and improvisation.

Here are the most common music ornaments:

Trill A trill is a rapid alternation between two notes.
Mordent A mordent is a quick upward and downward movement between two notes.
Inverted Mordent An inverted mordent is a quick downward and upward movement between two notes.
Turn A turn is a musical ornament consisting of a rapid sequence of four notes that embellish a main note.
Inverted Turn Similar to the regular turn, the order of the notes is inverted.
Acciaccatura An acciaccatura is a type of musical ornament known as a grace note, played as a very quick, crushed note just before the main note.
Appoggiatura An appoggiatura is a type of musical ornament that consists of a grace note that leans on the main note taking time from it.
Double Acciaccatura A double acciaccatura a rapid succession of two or more acciaccaturas.
Double Appoggiatura A double appoggiatura is a succession of two or more appoggiaturas.
Arpeggiato An arpeggiato is a type of musical ornament in which the notes of a chord are played in rapid succession rather than simultaneously.
Glissando A glissando is a musical ornament that consists of a rapid slide between two pitches, passing through all the intermediate notes in a smooth, continuous motion.

Learn more about ornaments in the Music Ornaments part of the Basic Music Principles theory section.