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PhiNotPi's avatar

What musical symbol is this? (part 2)

Asked by PhiNotPi (12681points) March 24th, 2012

In one piece of music, I noticed a strange new musical symbol (I think ornament is the correct term). It looks very similar to a mordent, but has a small, “c”-shaped curved line that is attached to the front of the squiggle. This ornament does not appear on Wikipedia’s list of musical symbols.

What is the name of this symbol, and more importantly, how do I play it?

As for background information, the piece is a duo written by Bach, so it would be in the Baroque style.

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3 Answers

gailcalled's avatar

Baroque ornaments developed by J S Bach’s father.

You can fudge on most of the ornaments, depending how fast you are racketing along.

gailcalled (54644points)“Great Answer” (3points) Flag as…
PhiNotPi's avatar

@gailcalled GA. The first thing I notice is that what Wikipedia calls a mordent is under the name of “trillo” and is played slightly differently. The symbol on the page looks the most like number 13 on that list.

PhiNotPi (12681points)“Great Answer” (0points) Flag as…
gailcalled's avatar

They were all developed before the pianoforte and its sustaining pedal was invented, so the various embellishments were used to fill up dead air on the harpsichord and clavichord.

Play them any way you live

gailcalled (54644points)“Great Answer” (1points) Flag as…

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