French Baroque ornamentation (keyboard)

The system of ornaments — trills (tremblement), mordents (pincé), turns (double cadence), appoggiaturas — used in French and North German Baroque keyboard music. Buxtehude's harpsichord suites use French ornament signs derived from Chambonnières and Louis Couperin.

Trills begin on the upper auxiliary (the note above), not the main note — Baroque practice throughout. Mordents begin on the main note and dip once below. Appoggiaturas are generally on the beat, taking value from the following note. Ornaments should be crisp in faster dances (gigue, courante) and more lingering in the allemande and sarabande.