A mordent is, roughly speaking, an inverted prall - an ornament consisting of 3 notes: a base note, a lower auxillary and a return to the base note. In contrast with pralls (which almost always use the chromatic auxillary), the lower auxillary in a mordent may be either the diatonic (in scale) or chromatic (half-step) neighbor. Pralls tend to make a passage brighter and livelier, while mordents impart a darker and smoother quality. Thus, intermixing pralls and mordents is a useful tool in shaping a melody.
Mordents are fairly rare in the work of old-style Bulgarian accordionists (e.g. Boris Karlov), somewhat more common in the players who followed (e.g. Traicho Sinapov) and are quite common amoung modern "wedding band" musicians (e.g. Petar Ralchev). Mordents are also integral to the "Gaida-inspired technique" (see lesson so titled).
Mordent execution admits a range of timing, for which I will use the (non-standard) terms "orthomordent" and "antemordent" to denote the extremes. An orthomordent is just an inversion of a smooth prall (see Lesson 6): the two base notes sound on the melody's 16th note pulse. In this tutorial, I notate orthomordents with the standard mordent symbol or with an auxillary grace, depending upon rhythmic context. A caret symbol "^" marks the orthomordents in the passage below:
Unless explicitly noted with an accidental over the mordent symbol, I leave it to the player to determine whether the diatonic or chromatic auxillary should be used.
In an antemordent, the auxillary is pushed earlier on the beat relative to the base notes. As a result, the auxillary is held longer that the first base note, which is then heard as a pickup to the auxillary. I notate antemordents with an initial (base note) grace, followed by 2 16ths, all grouped with a slur:
IMPORTANT: The above notation should not be read in the classical matter, where the grace is played before the beat. The grace is played on the beat with the stronger auxillary following shortly thereafter. This situation is similar to the interpretation of graces notating double-note hold onsets (see Lessson 6).
Orthomordents and antemordents are not distinct types, but merely endpoints on a sliding scale of execution timing: orthomordents tend hit a note head on, while antemordents (because of the accent on the auxillary) slide up to a note. Thus, orthomordents are a good fit to ornament an 8th note, while antemordents are a good fit to ornament two stepwise rising 16ths. Because of the sliding scale of execution timing, one should not make too much of mordents notated one way or the other. Once you realize a mordent if present, you need to adjust the timing based on what sounds good in the passage. I've heard gaida players play a passage with an orthomordent on a melody's first repeat, and an antemordent on the second (and vice versa).
Mordents are most easily fingered 323 or 434 (notated "3" or "4", respectively). Execution of orthomordents uses the same mechanics as 232 or 343 smooth pralls, but with the fingers reversed. To execute antemordents, drop the base note and auxillary note fingers simultaneously, with the base note hitting slightly earlier, then release the base note and move back onto it at the proper time.Some overlap (a simultaneous 2nd) between the first base note and auxillary can be interesting.
Mordents make a nice alternative to double-note onset to initiate a hold. Always use the chromatic auxillary for this purpose. Since I like my holds "dirty" (longer duration of the simultaneous minor second), I usually execute these more like antemordents than orthomordents, although I usually notate them with the mordents symbol for simplicity's sake:
An antemordent can be a good ornamentation for 2 stepwise rising 16ths, especially if you want to give it a strong emphasis, as in the beginning of a phrase. In the fragment below (from Boris Karlov) I've applied this technique to melodies that were more simply presented in the "Trills" lesson:
Here are some melodies with mordents, both ortho and ante. Choosing when to use pralls, orthomordents and antemordents is a matter of personal taste, so expect different players to play them differently.
(Note the 321 switch fingered mordent in the next to last bar above.)
In the gaida passage below, the only change between the melodies is switching an orthomordent for an antemordent. Playing with the timing like this draws the audience into fine details of execution, inviting more careful listening:
Antemordents can also be fingered 545 when a long stretch is required.
Consecutive pralls on the same note are usually kind of weak, so replace one of them with a mordent. The melody below is from Ivo Papazov:
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