A ricercar (Italian pronunciation: [ritʃɛr'kare], also spelled ricercare, recercar, recercare) is a type of late Renaissance and mostly early Baroque instrumental composition. The term means to search out, and many ricercars serve a preludial function to "search out" the key or mode of a following piece. A ricercar may explore the permutations of a given motif, and in that regard may follow the piece used as illustration. For example, "Ricercar sopra Benedictus" might develop motifs from a motet titled "Benedictus". The term is also used to designate an etude or study that explores a technical device in playing an instrument, or singing.