Ornamentation is the musical symbols instructing the musicians to embellish or add to the actual written notes and instruction. Composers use ornamentation or style marks as a way of expressing themselves through the music by adding emotion. Through embellishment, the performer can add more style to the music making it more appealing to the listener.
As mentioned, ornamentation can help the composer convey his intent to the musicians by offering the freedom of style and emotion. Through the embellishment of tones and chords, the audience gets a more accurate sense of how the composer really feels and the true message of the song. Review the symbols of ornamentation below:
Accent marks - tells the musician to emphasize a note over the other notes around it; play a note with emphasis over other notes
Mordent, upper - tells the musician to play the note in a rapid alternation with the note above it in the scale
Accented pressure - tells the musician to play the note(s) with a strong emphasis over other notes
Natural harmonics for strings - tells the musician to play the string open while lightly touching it at the octave fret
Accented staccato - tells the musician to play the note(s) with strong emphasis and separation
Portato, louré - indicates an articulation of legato that is not as detached as staccato
Acciaccatura - (Italian, "to crush") tells the musician to play a quick light leading tone into the next tone using none of its time value
Appogiatura or grace note - (Italian, "to lean upon") indicates to play a leading tone into the next note using half of it's time value.
Rhythm notation - tells the musician to improvise a rhythm based on the chord written above the staff; normally written for guitar
Arpeggiate chord down - tells the musician to play a chord's lower arpeggio in a sequence of notes
Slash notation - a series of slash marks as notes normally written for guitar
Arpeggiate chord up - tells the musician to play a chord's upper arpeggio in a sequence of notes
Slide - tells the musician to play the note with a leading slide up to the note or a following slide down from the note
Artificial harmonics for strings - tells the musician to press and play a note then lightly touch the string at the octave fret
Staccatissimo - tells the musician to play the note(s) detached in a separated and equal manner; cut the note(s) slightly short
Bend string down - tells the musician to bend the string downward to increase its pitch; the number indicates the fret
Staccato - tells the musician to play the note(s) detached in a separated and equal manner; cut the note(s) slightly short
Bend string down - tells the musician to bend the string downward to increase its pitch; the number indicates the fret
Tremolo - tells the musician to rapidly repeat the note or rapidly alternate the note with it's adjacent note; the number of bars indicates the duration of the tremolo.
Bend string up - tells the musician to bend the string upward to increase its pitch; tablature staff; number indicates fret
Trill - tells the musician to rapidly alternate the note with its next higher note within the same time; also called shake or tremblement
Bend string up - tells the musician to bend the string upward to increase its pitch; tablature staff; number indicates fret
Triplet 1 - a group of three notes played with an identical significant accent
Caesura - tells the musician to make a brief pause between musical sections, phrases, or movements
Triplet 2 - a group of three notes played in the time value of two
Glissando, portimento - tells the musician to play a series of leading notes into the next note or phrase
Turn 1, gruppetto - placed above a note, tells the musician to play a short figure (musical phrase) consisting of the note above, the note itself, the note below, and back to the main note.
Glissando - tells the musician to play a series of leading notes into the next note or phrase
Turn 2, inverted - when placed to the right of a note, tells the musician to play a short figure consisting of the note above, the note itself, the note below, and back to the main note
Legato, Tie, Slur - tells the musician to play the notes blending together without separation
Turn 3, Inverted - a notation, when written with a short vertical line through, tells the musician to play a short figure consisting of, in reverse order: note below, note itself, note above, main note
Mordent, Inverted or lower - tells the musician to play the note in a rapid alternation with the note above it in the scale
