Mordent
The mordent is an ornament: a rapid alternation from the main note to the lower neighbour note and back to the main note. Its sign is a short zigzag line with a vertical stroke. Without the stroke the sign means the inverted mordent (German Pralltriller), which goes to the upper neighbour note.
- Sequence
- main note – lower neighbour – main note
- Sign
- zigzag with a vertical stroke
- Without the stroke
- inverted mordent (upper neighbour note)
- Period
- Baroque
A quick flick downwards
The symbol library describes the mordent as a zigzag line with a vertical stroke: a rapid alternation from the main note via the lower neighbour back to the main note. The symbol without the stroke, the inverted mordent, goes to the upper neighbour note. This distinction, it says, is essential in the Baroque repertoire.
Mordent on A: A – G – A
The main note A becomes, in very quick succession, A, the lower neighbour G and A again. The lower neighbour note is marked. With the inverted mordent it would be the B above.
| Sign | Name | Neighbour note |
|---|---|---|
| zigzag with stroke | mordent | lower |
| zigzag without stroke | inverted mordent (Pralltriller) | upper |
In the sheet music archive
Piano
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Menuett g-Moll from the Notebook for Anna Magdalena Bach, BWV Anh. 115 · piano · 1 page
The piece in 3/4 time with two flats carries an ornament sign several times in the melody, for example in bar 13 over the first note (mordent with a vertical stroke); in bars 8, 9 and 15 the sign without a stroke, the inverted mordent, appears instead. In both cases the sign is placed on a note within the course of the melody, not only at the close.
Why the distinction matters
Both signs look almost the same but sound different: the mordent pulls briefly downwards, the inverted mordent briefly upwards, like a “hiccup”. The library names C. P. E. Bach's “Essay on the True Art of Playing Keyboard Instruments” of 1753 as the most important school of ornamentation. Anyone playing a Baroque piece should decide the execution beforehand and then keep to it consistently.
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Related terms
Editor: Maik Krohm · reviewed on 3 October 2026
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