ORNAMENT

Ornament

In music, ornaments or embellishments are musical flourishes that are not necessary to carry the overall line of the melody, but serve instead to decorate or "ornament" that line. Many ornaments are performed as "fast notes" around a central note. The amount of ornamentation in a piece of music can vary from quite extensive to relatively little or even none. The word agrément is used specifically to indicate the French Baroque style of ornamentation. A very important function of the ornamentation in early and baroque keyboard music was as a way of creating a longer sustain of the note on a harpsichord, ...

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ornament

Noun

  1. An element of decoration; that which embellishes or adorns.
    1. A Christmas tree decoration.
  2. A musical flourish that is unnecessary to the overall melodic or harmonic line, but serves to decorate or "ornament" that line.

Verb

  1. To decorate.
    We will ornament the windows with trim to make the room seem brighter.
  2. To add to.
    The editor ornamented his plain writing, making it fancier but less clear.


The above text is a snippet from Wiktionary: ornament
and as such is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

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