Music theory · 6 min read

Ornaments explained: trills, mordents and grace notes

Trills, mordents, turns, appoggiaturas and acciaccaturas: what each symbol means, which note it starts on, and how the answer changes with period and style.

2026-07-20

Why ornaments are written as symbols

Ornamentation was originally improvised. A performer in 1700 was expected to decorate a plain line, and the symbols that appear in the score are shorthand for figures everyone in the room already knew. That history explains two things that frustrate modern students: the symbols are ambiguous, and their interpretation depends on period and on national style.

It also explains why ornaments are not optional decoration in Baroque music. A trill at a cadence is a structural event, marking the arrival, and leaving it out sounds as odd as leaving out a chord. In later music ornaments drift towards colour rather than structure, but they are still expressive rather than merely pretty.

One general rule saves a great deal of trouble: an ornament takes its time from the main note, not from the note before. The figure begins on the beat and eats into the written value. This is true of almost all Baroque and Classical ornaments, and it is the point beginners most often get wrong.

Trills

A trill, marked tr or a wavy line, is a rapid alternation between the written note and the note above it within the prevailing key. If the piece is in C major and the trill is on A, you alternate A and B natural, unless an accidental is printed above the symbol.

The disputed question is which note comes first. In Baroque and most Classical practice the trill begins on the upper note, on the beat, which creates a dissonance against the harmony and makes the trill an expressive event rather than a shimmer. From roughly the early nineteenth century the convention shifts towards starting on the main note. Chopin and Brahms trills generally start on the principal note.

Trills often end with a turn figure, two extra notes stepping below and back, which may be written out in small notes or simply expected. At a cadence this ending is close to obligatory. Speed is a matter of tempo and character, not of maximum velocity; a slow, measured trill in a sarabande is correct, and rushing it is not a sign of skill.

Mordents, turns and the rest

A mordent is a short zigzag symbol meaning a single rapid alternation. The lower mordent, an unbroken zigzag, goes main note, note below, main note. The upper mordent, sometimes called a pralltriller, has the same symbol with a vertical stroke through it in some editions and the opposite convention in others, which is why you should check the edition's preface rather than trust memory. Either way the figure is brief and begins on the beat.

A turn, written as a sideways S, circles the note: upper neighbour, main note, lower neighbour, main note. Placed directly above a notehead it happens at the start of the note; placed after it, between two notes, it happens later, filling the end of the first note's value.

An appoggiatura is a leaning note. It is printed small, usually without a stroke through the stem, and it takes a substantial share of the main note's value, typically half. It is a dissonance that resolves, and it is meant to be heard as an expressive delay, not as a flick.

An acciaccatura is a crushed note, printed small with a stroke through the stem. It is as short as possible and squeezed in immediately before or on the beat. The difference between the two is the difference between a sigh and a scratch, and editions are not always careful about which they print.

Ornaments on accordion and bayan

The accordion is unusually good at ornaments, for a specific mechanical reason: a reed speaks almost instantly and keeps speaking as long as the air moves. There is no decay to fight, so a long trill stays even from beginning to end, which is difficult on a plucked or struck instrument. Bayan players in particular use very fast, very clean trills as a normal part of technique.

Registration changes how an ornament lands. A trill in a high, thin single-reed register sounds brilliant; the same trill on a full musette or with a low octave coupled sounds thick and can obscure the harmony. Choose the register before you decide the speed.

The bellows are also part of the ornament. An appoggiatura will only lean if the bellows put weight on it and then release into the resolution. Played with a flat air stream, it becomes two notes of equal value and the expressive point disappears. Students who practise ornaments with the right hand alone learn the notes and miss the music.

Ornaments on the double bass

On the bass, ornaments have to survive a slow-speaking string. The lowest notes take measurable time to start, so a fast trill on a low E is muddy no matter how good the left hand is. In practice, ornamentation on the bass sits mainly in the middle and upper register, and in thumb position it is comfortable and clear.

Where an open string is available as the upper or lower neighbour, a trill can be played by alternating a stopped note with an open string, which is fast and reliable but has a different tone colour from a stopped-to-stopped trill. Whether that colour difference is a problem depends on the passage.

Ornaments in pizzicato are largely impractical, since each note is a separate pluck with its own decay. Jazz players achieve a comparable effect with grace-note slides, which is an ornament in spirit if not in notation. We spend a lesson or two on this with bass students at A&G Academy when they first meet Baroque repertoire and discover that the printed symbols assume a violin.

Frequently asked

Does a trill start on the note above or the written note?

In Baroque and most Classical music it starts on the upper note, on the beat, so the trill begins as a dissonance that resolves. From the nineteenth century onwards the convention shifts to starting on the written note. When an edition is unclear, the period of the piece is a more reliable guide than the symbol.

What is the difference between an appoggiatura and an acciaccatura?

An appoggiatura is a leaning note that takes real time from the main note, often half its value, and resolves as a dissonance. An acciaccatura is crushed as short as possible against the beat. In print the acciaccatura has a stroke through its stem; the appoggiatura does not.

Do ornaments take time from the note before or the note itself?

From the note itself, in nearly all Baroque and Classical practice. The ornament begins on the beat and consumes part of the written value of its main note. Playing the figure before the beat, so the main note still arrives on time, is the most common student error and changes the harmony at that moment.


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