The mordent · Ornaments · Music theory
The mordent is a quick back-and-forth between the main note and its neighbor: main, auxiliary, main. The zigzag sign without a line is the upper mordent,…
The mordent
The mordent is a quick back-and-forth between the main note and its neighbor: main, auxiliary, main. The zigzag sign without a line is the upper mordent, which goes to the note above; with a vertical line it is the lower mordent, which goes to the note below.
Beware of the names
The term mordent has changed meaning. In the Baroque, the mordent was the lower one, the sign with the line, and could have several repetitions, like a short trill. In the 19th century, mordent came to mean the upper one. That is why today we always say upper or lower.
If an accidental appears next to the sign, it applies to the auxiliary note. A mordent sometimes also starts on an auxiliary note, depending on the period and country.