mordent

American  

[mawr-dnt] / ˈmɔr dnt /

Or mordant

noun

Music.

1. a melodic embellishment consisting of a rapid alternation of a principal tone with the tone a half or a whole step below it, called single or short when the auxiliary tone occurs once and double or long when this occurs twice or more.

2. inverted mordent.

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mordent British  

/ ˈmɔːdənt /

noun

1. Also called: lower mordent.  music a melodic ornament consisting of the rapid alternation of a note with a note one degree lower than it

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Etymology

Origin of mordent

1800–10; < German < Italian mordente biting < Latin mordent-, stem of mordēns, present participle of mordēre to bite; see -ent

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

mordent

Sonata, accenting a mordent in a, 70. in playing a, 75.

From Piano Playing: With Piano Questions Answered by Josef Hofmann

The mordent must be played fast enough to preserve the rhythmic integrity of the melody-note.

From Piano Playing: With Piano Questions Answered by Josef Hofmann

The Fingers Needed to Play a Mordent When executing the mordent, is not the use of three fingers preferable to two?

From Piano Playing: With Piano Questions Answered by Josef Hofmann

I have heard the mordent sound like a triplet?

From Piano Playing: With Piano Questions Answered by Josef Hofmann

Accenting a Mordent in a Sonata How should one play and accent the mordent occurring in the forty-seventh measure of the first movement—allegro di molto—of Beethoven's Sonata Pathétique, Opus 13?

From Piano Playing: With Piano Questions Answered by Josef Hofmann