> In music, what's the term for a rapid alternation between two adjacent notes?And the answer: trill. In printed music, a trill is seen above a note with either the letters tr, orwith a plus sign. This is a signal to the musician to play the note, and thenrapidly go back and forth between the printed note and the note above it.Image credit: Music Theory AcademyAlso known as embellishments or flourishes,musical ornaments are added to decorate melodic lines. Most ornaments areperformed as "fast notes" around a central note, and can vary widely in numberdepending on the composer or musical epoch. Baroque music, for one, is a styleand period in music history that is characterized by extensive ornamentation.While most of these extraneous notes were improvised, Bach was the firstcomposer to begin recording them on sheet music. Others, such as Handel, Vivaldiand Corelli, followed suit (or should we say suite?).Aside from the trill, there are many other forms of musical ornamentation. Amordent, for one, is similar to a trill in execution but consists of a single ora few alternations rather than many. Meanwhile, an appoggiatura comes from theItalian verb appoggiare, meaning "to lean upon," and is a note placed on thebeat before a regular note. There are also acciaccaturas (grace notes), turns,glissandos, and more. Learn more about musical ornamentation below.