Appoggiaturas

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A type of musical ornament consisting of a non-chord tone that resolves to a chord tone, often creating a momentary tension in the piece
2. A melodic embellishment where a dissonant note is approached by a leap and then resolves to a consonant note within a musical phrase
3. An extra note added in music, typically before a main note, which enhances the expressiveness by introducing dissonance that resolves harmonically

Etymology: "Appoggiatura" is the plural of "appoggiatura", the musical ornament: a grace note that leans on a principal note, usually a step above or below it, and takes part of that note's time value. The noun is borrowed from Italian, where "appoggiatura" is derived from "appoggiare", meaning "to lean" or "to rest upon", and the ornament is named for that leaning: the grace note leans on the harmony it resolves into. The plural form simply reflects that the English noun is treated as a count noun, so one speaks of several appoggiaturas in a score. The Italian root gives the sense of a note that rests on another, which is why the term describes a musical gesture of leaning rather than a decorative flourish.