In
music,
ornaments or
embellishments are musical flourishes that are not necessary to carry the overall line of the
melody (or
harmony), but serve instead to decorate or "
ornament" that line. Many ornaments are performed as "fast notes" around a central
note. The amount of
ornamentation in a piece of music can vary from quite extensive (it was often so in the
Baroque period) to relatively little or even none. The word
agrément is used specifically to indicate the French Baroque style of ornamentation.