: I've played piano for three years and have never seen this symbol above a note, what is it? Really freaked me out when I saw something this uncommon in a beginner song. It's piano solo music if you need that info.

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This indicates a lower mordent -- a decoration of the note that involves starting on the indicated note, rapidly toggling down to a lower auxiliary note, and then returning to the principal (written) note. The exact rate of the decoration is context dependent, but might be played like so:

(n.b. this specific interpretation was taken from the linked wiki page).

Note the vertical line through the symbol -- this is what indicates a lower mordent; the squiggle without the line would be an upper mordent.

Typically, the auxiliary note is a semi-tone below the principle note, though exceptions occur if the preceding/following note is itself a full tone below the principle, or if the principal note is the 3rd or the 7th of the (current) scale; c.f. this question, or this section of Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians.

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It is a [lower] mordent, which is related to a trill. See en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Baroque_Trill_Instructions.png or en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trill_(music) or en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mordent for details.