The Thing About Ornamentation I Wish Everyone Knew

As I write this, I have just returned from a workshop at which I taught, among other things, a four-day course on ornamentation.

Ornamentation –the practice of adding to and/or changing what’s on the page– is an integral part of playing music from the Renaissance and Baroque eras. It is not optional!

But it can feel feel intimidating, especially (though not exclusively!) if you’re just getting started.

Possibly for this reason, I really enjoy teaching ornamentation.  It’s fun to demystify a complex process, breaking it down so it becomes, step by step, more approachable.   

But what if, instead of four days, I only had one blog entry to cut to the heart of what ornamentation was all about? If I could tell every student of ornamentation only one thing, what would that thing be?

Don’t ornament because you can; ornament because you must.

If your main reason for adding notes is the fact that you can, you are unlikely to be doing the most important job of a musician, which is, like an actor, to bring what’s on the page vividly to life.

The musical text in front of us is the beating heart of our endeavor, and it should be the driving force behind any ornamentation. A good ornament feels compelled.  It feels necessary.  It highlights the shapes and moods and colors and correspondences that are already front of you. It grows from the the music, an organic extension of its power.

An ornament that is not compelled by the music, in contrast, sounds cheap.  It obscures the text. It’s a glitter bomb, burying everything in sparkle.

Don’t be a rhinestone cowboy. Grow your ornaments from seed.

Want more tips on how to ornament with grace and style? Check out my Ornamentation Starter Kit.