{"id":186,"date":"2019-12-17T20:28:41","date_gmt":"2019-12-18T02:28:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/soundadventurer.com\/?p=186"},"modified":"2023-03-09T17:51:22","modified_gmt":"2023-03-09T23:51:22","slug":"what-is-that-sideways-s-in-music-for","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/soundadventurer.com\/what-is-that-sideways-s-in-music-for\/","title":{"rendered":"What is That Sideways S in Music For? Turns & Mordents With Examples"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It’s amazing what kind of musical notation you can stumble on. You might have seen an S or a squiggly line that’s not a trill above your music, and thought “how on earth do I play that?” Well, hopefully by the end of this article you’ll know how. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is that Sideways S in Music? The turn, also known as the gruppetto, appears as a sideways S above the staff<\/strong>. The “turn”, based on its orientation signifies playing the the note above or below the “primary” note, the primary note itself, the note above or below the turn note, and then the primary note itself again.<\/strong> Mordents are played similarly without the last note.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I admit, as I was doing research for this article, I found some good information on Wikipedia. But, if you’re like me, you found the information a little lacking–so I decided to write a bit more in depth with some examples. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

First I’ll explain the sideways S, or the Gruppetto, and then I’ll talk about Mordents… because they also kind of look like S’s, and I think it will help the discussion since the concept is similar. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you didn’t find what you are looking for, I explain all the S-shaped music symbols in my other post here<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

How to Play a Turn, aka Gruppetto<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A turn, also known as a gruppetto shows up as a sideways S above the staff. Such as is shown here:<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"gruppetto-aka-turn\" <\/picture>
A Gruppetto, also called a Turn<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

A turn is a kind of shorthand used to tell the musician to quickly play a set of notes. <\/strong> The turn is usually placed above (but can be placed between two notes) a note, which I will call the primary note<\/strong>s. A turn signals the musician to play 4 notes in this order for a normal turn<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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  1. The note above the primary note<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. The primary note<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. The note below the primary note<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. The primary note, again<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    The shape of the gruppetto actually gives a clue to how the note should be played. <\/strong> If you look at this picture, you can imagine the gruppetto as a kind of slide with a dip where you start above the primary note, dip below, and then return back again. <\/p>\n\n\n

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    \"\" <\/picture>
    The Slide of the Gruppetto<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

    The speed that you play a turn is usually fast, like you would a trill, but it’s completely up to the piece and the music director. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    This is an example of a turn<\/strong> within a song, and how it would look if all the notes were drawn out. <\/p>\n\n\n

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    \"\" <\/picture><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n