Ornamentation (music) Facts for Kids

In music, ornaments are special notes added to a main melody. They make the music sound more interesting and fancy. Think of them like decorations for a song!

Composers from the Renaissance and Baroque periods, which were hundreds of years ago, used lots of ornaments. They often showed these ornaments with small signs above the notes. Sometimes, especially in slower songs, composers expected musicians to add their own ornaments. Knowing how to play these decorations was a very important skill for musicians back then.

The way ornaments were played changed a lot over time and in different countries. What was popular in one century might be different in the next. Today, musicians who play old music study these styles. They want to perform the music as the composer intended. Luckily, some composers and music theorists wrote books explaining how to play ornaments. This helps us understand the different ways music was performed.

A "grace note" is a small note written in music. It doesn't count towards the main rhythm of the measure. It's just a quick, extra sound.

In Spain, these musical decorations were called "diferenzias." They were used as early as the 16th century, especially in music for the guitar. In French music, they were known as "agréments."

Ornaments were still used in music from the Classical music period. However, composers slowly started writing down every note they wanted. By the Romantic period, ornaments were rarely used, except for a sign like "tr" which meant "trill."

Types of Musical Ornaments
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Types of Musical Ornaments

What is a Trill?

A trill is a very fast back-and-forth playing between a main note and the note just above it. It was also called a shake.

If the music was written before 1800, the trill usually starts on the note above the written note. If the music was written after 1800, it usually starts on the written note itself. These were not strict rules, as musical styles changed slowly over time.

Sometimes, a trill ends with a turn. This means playing the note above, then the main note, then the note below, and finally the main note again.

In musical notation, a trill is shown by a "tr" or "tr~~" sign above the staff. The wavy line shows how long the trill should last.

What is a Mordent?

A mordent is like a very short trill. It usually involves playing the main note, then the note above it, and then the main note again.

If the middle note is the one below the main note, it's called an "inverted mordent" or "lower mordent."

The sign for an upper mordent looks like a short squiggle. A lower mordent has the same squiggle but with a small vertical line through it.

Signs for upper and lower mordents

The speed of a mordent depends on how fast the piece of music is.

What is a Turn?

A turn is a short musical pattern. It goes like this: the note above the main note, then the main note itself, then the note below the main note, and finally the main note again.

The sign for a turn looks like a mirrored "S" shape lying on its side, placed above the staff.

Sometimes, the lower added note might be made a sharp (chromatically raised).

An inverted turn plays the notes in the opposite order: the note below, the main note, the note above, and then the main note again. This is usually shown by a vertical line through the normal turn sign, or sometimes the sign is just upside down.

What is an Appoggiatura?

An Appoggiatura is like a "leaning note." The word comes from the Italian word appoggiare, meaning "to lean upon." It's a note that wants to move down to the next note, which fits with the harmony (the chords).

Composers often wrote an appoggiatura in small print. This usually meant it should take half the time value of the next note. For example, an appoggiatura before a quaver (eighth note) would make both notes into two semiquavers (sixteenth notes). During the 18th century, composers started writing them as normal-sized notes instead of small ones.

What is an Acciaccatura?

An acciaccatura is a note that is played as quickly as possible. It means a "crushed note" in Italian (acciaccare means "to crush").

It is usually written in small print, but it has a slash through it. This slash shows that it is different from an appoggiatura. Most musicians play acciaccaturas exactly on the beat. However, sometimes it sounds better to play it just before the beat, so the main note lands perfectly on time.