Trill A
trill, also known as a "shake", is a rapid alternation between an indicated note and the one above it. In simple music, trills may be
diatonic, using just the notes of the scale; in other cases, the trill may be
chromatic. The trill is usually indicated by either a or a , with the
~ representing the length of the trill, above the
staff. {{block indent| { \override Score.TimeSignature #'stencil = ##f \relative c'' { \time 2/4 g2\trill } } }} At a moderate tempo, the above might be executed as follows: {{block indent| { \override Score.TimeSignature #'stencil = ##f \relative c'' { \time 2/4 g32[ a g \set stemRightBeamCount = #1 a \set stemLeftBeamCount = #1 g a g a] g32[ a g \set stemRightBeamCount = #1 a \set stemLeftBeamCount = #1 g a g a] } } }} In Baroque music, the trill is sometimes indicated with a
+ (plus) sign above or below the note. In the late 18th century, when performers played a trill, it always started from the upper note. However, "Heinrich Christoph Koch|[Heinrich Christoph] Koch expressed no preference and observed that it was scarcely a matter of much importance whether the trill began one way or the other, since there was no audible difference after the initial note had been sounded." Clive Brown writes that "Despite three different ways of showing the trills, it seems likely that a trill beginning with the upper note and ending with a turn was envisaged in each case." Sometimes it is expected that the trill will end with a turn (by sounding the note below rather than the note above the principal note, immediately before the last sounding of the principal note), or some other variation. Such variations are often marked with a few grace notes following the note that bears the trill indication. There is also a single tone trill variously called
trillo or
tremolo in late
Renaissance and early Baroque. Trilling on a single note is particularly idiomatic for the bowed strings.
Mordent A
mordent is a rapid alternation between an indicated note, the note above (called the
upper mordent,
pralltriller, or simply
mordent) or below (called the
inverted mordent or
lower mordent), and the indicated note again. The upper mordent is indicated by a short thick
tilde (which may also indicate a trill); the lower mordent is the same with a short vertical line through it. {{block indent| { \override Score.TimeSignature #'stencil = ##f \relative c'' { \time 2/4 d\prall c\mordent } }}} As with the trill, the exact speed with which a mordent is performed will vary according to the
tempo of the piece, but, at a moderate tempo, the above might be executed as follows: {{block indent| { \override Score.TimeSignature #'stencil = ##f \relative c'' { \time 2/4 d32 e d16~ d8 c32 b c16~ c8 } } }} Confusion over the meaning of the unadorned word
mordent has led to the modern terms
upper and
lower mordent being used, rather than
mordent and
inverted mordent. Practice, notation, and nomenclature vary widely for all of these ornaments; that is to say, whether, by including the
symbol for a mordent in a
musical score, a composer intended the direction of the additional note (or notes) to be played above or below the principal note written on the sheet music varies according to when the piece was written, and in which country. In the
Baroque period, a
mordant (the
German or
Scottish equivalent of
mordent) was what later came to be called an
inverted mordent and what is now often called a
lower mordent. In the 19th century, however, the name
mordent was generally applied to what is now called the
upper mordent. Although mordents are now thought of as a single alternation between notes, in the Baroque period a
mordant may have sometimes been executed with more than one alternation between the indicated note and the note below, making it a sort of inverted trill. Mordents of all sorts might typically, in some periods, begin with an extra
inessential note (the lesser, added note), rather than with the
principal note as shown in the examples here. The same applies to trills, which in the Baroque and
Classical periods would begin with the added, upper note. A
lower inessential note may or may not be chromatically raised (that is, with a natural, a sharp, or even a double sharp) to make it one
semitone lower than the principal note.
Turn A turn is a short
figure consisting of the note above the one indicated, the note itself, the note below the one indicated, and the note itself again. It is marked by a backwards S-shape lying on its side, sometimes known as an "inverted lazy S", above the staff. The details of its execution depend partly on the exact placement of the turn mark. For instance, the turns below {{block indent| { \override Score.TimeSignature #'stencil = ##f > } }} may be executed as {{block indent| { \override Score.TimeSignature #'stencil = ##f \relative c'' { c8 \tuplet 3/2 { d16 c b } c8 d e2 c4 e16 d c d e2 } } }} The exact speed with which a turn is executed can vary, as can its rhythm. The question of how a turn is best executed is largely one of context, convention, and taste. The lower and upper added notes may or may not be chromatically raised. An inverted turn (the note below the one indicated, the note itself, the note above it, and the note itself again) is usually indicated by putting a short vertical line through the normal turn sign, though sometimes the sign itself is turned upside down.
Appoggiatura An
appoggiatura ( , ) is an added note that is important melodically (unlike an acciaccatura) and suspends the principal note by a portion of its time-value, often about half, but this may be considerably more or less depending on the context. The added note (the
auxiliary note) is one degree higher or lower than the principal note, and may or may not be chromatically altered. Appoggiaturas are also usually on the strong or strongest beat of the resolution, are themselves emphasised, and are approached by a leap and left by a step in the opposite direction of the leap. An appoggiatura is often written as a
grace note prefixed to a principal note and printed in small character, without the oblique stroke: {{block indent| { \override Score.TimeSignature #'stencil = ##f \relative c'' { \time 2/4 \grace { d4( } c2) } } }} This may be executed as follows: {{block indent| { \override Score.TimeSignature #'stencil = ##f \relative c'' { \time 2/4 d4( c) } } }}
Acciaccatura The word
acciaccatura (, ; ) comes from the Italian verb
acciaccare, "to crush". In the 18th century, it was an ornament applied to any of the main notes of
arpeggiated chords, either a tone or semitone below the chord tone, struck simultaneously with it and then immediately released. Hence the German translation
Zusammenschlag (together-stroke). In the 19th century, the acciaccatura (sometimes called
short appoggiatura) came to be a shorter variant of the
long appoggiatura, where the delay of the principal note is quick. It is written using a grace note (often a quaver, or
eighth note), with an oblique stroke through the stem. In the
Classical period, an acciaccatura is usually performed before the beat and the emphasis is on the main note, not the grace note. The
appoggiatura long or short has the emphasis on the grace note. {{block indent| { \override Score.TimeSignature #'stencil = ##f \relative c'' { \time 2/4 \slashedGrace { d8( } c4) \slashedGrace { e8( } d4) } } }} The exact interpretation of this will vary according to the tempo of the piece, but the following is possible: {{block indent| { \override Score.TimeSignature #'stencil = ##f \relative c'' { \time 2/4 d32 c32~ c16~ c8 e32 d32~ d16~ d8 } } }} Whether the note should be played before or on the beat is largely a question of taste and performance practice. Exceptionally, the acciaccatura may be notated in the bar preceding the note to which it is attached, showing that it is to be played before the beat. The implication also varies with the composer and the period. For example,
Mozart's and
Haydn's long appoggiaturas are – to the eye – indistinguishable from
Mussorgsky's and
Prokofiev's before-the-beat acciaccaturas.
Glissando A
glissando is a slide from one note to another, signified by a wavy line connecting the two notes. {{block indent| { \override Score.TimeSignature #'stencil = ##f \relative c' { \override Glissando.style = #'trill e2\glissando e' } } }} All of the intervening
diatonic or chromatic notes (depending on instrument and context) are heard, albeit very briefly. In this way, the glissando differs from
portamento. In
contemporary classical music (especially in avant garde pieces), a glissando tends to assume the whole value of the initial note.
Slide A
slide (or
Schleifer in German) instructs the performer to begin one or two diatonic steps below the marked note and slide upward. The schleifer usually includes a prall trill or mordent trill at the end. Willard A. Palmer writes that "[t]he schleifer is a 'sliding' ornament,
Nachschlag The word
Nachschlag () translates, literally, to "after-beat", and refers to "the two notes that sometimes terminate a trill, and which, when taken in combination with the last two notes of the shake, may form a turn". The first definition of
Nachschlag refers to the "shaken" or trilled version of the ornament, while the second definition refers to the "smooth" version. This ornament has also been referred to as a
cadent or a
springer in English Baroque performance practice. Instruction books from the Baroque period, such as
Christopher Simpson's
The Division Violist, refer to the
cadent as an ornament in which "a Note is sometimes graced by joyning part of its sound to the note following... whose following Quaver is Placed with the ensuing Note, but played with the same Bow." ==In Western classical music==