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Master the Language of Music
Musical terms are woven into every part of your audition journey. They appear on entrance exams, guide your sightreading, shape your solo interpretation, and may even be part of your solo’s title. That’s why a confident understanding of musical terminology isn’t just helpful—it’s essential.
To create the Accoladi Musical Terms Directory, our research team reviewed more than 500 music school entrance exams, 100 sightreading excerpts, and hundreds of required solos and orchestral excerpts. From this comprehensive analysis, we identified 470 core musical terms.
Each term in this directory has been categorized into five levels of difficulty, based on how frequently they appear and the selectivity of the institutions that use them. Whether you're just starting out or preparing for a conservatory audition, this tool helps you focus your study and speak the universal language of music with confidence.
LEVEL I
Common to 52%
of researched institutions
LEVEL II
Common to an additional 21%
of researched Institutions
LEVEL III
Common to an additional 12%
of researched Institutions
LEVEL IV
Common to an additional 9%
of researched Institutions
LEVEL V
Common to an additional 6%
of researched Institutions
Origins and Languages of Musical Terms – Italian, French, German, Latin, English, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, Hungarian, Slavic, and Greek.
Origins and Languages of Musical Terms – Italian, French, German, Latin, English, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, Hungarian, Slavic, and Greek.
All Musical Terms
Level I Musical Terms
Level II Musical Terms
Level III Musical Terms
Level IV Musical Terms
Level V Musical Terms
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Level I Musical Terms
- A Cappella – Choral music with no instrumental accompaniment
- A Poco – a little, gradually
- A Tempo – in time, generally implies a return to an original rate of speed
- Accelerando – gradually faster
- Accent – A marking above or below a note to show that the note should be stressed or emphasized
- Accidental – A sign written before a note that changes the pitch of that note for an entire measure
- Accompaniment – The musical part which provides the rhythmic and harmonic support for the melody or main themes of a song or instrumental piece
- Acoustic – Relating to music produced by instruments, as opposed to electric or electronic means
- Ad Libitum – At pleasure (often regard to tempo or style)
- Adagietto – A rather slow tempo, slightly faster than the adagio (BPM/140-176)
- Adagio – very slow
- Agitato – agitated, rapid
- Al Fine – to the finish
- Allargando – Broadening, becoming progressively slower
- Allegro – rapid, lively
- Alto – A low ranged woman’s voice
- Andante – moderately slow, but moving
- Andantino – generally a little quicker than andante
- Animato – Animated, lively, spirited
- Anthem – a musical composition of celebration, usually used as a symbol for a distinct group, particularly the national anthems of countries. Most often the celebratory text is of a religious context and is set for four-part choirs. This type of choral work is also referred to as an “anthem.”
- Aria – A self-contained piece for one voice. Most often found in Opera
- Arpeggio - Chord notes played in succession rather than simultaneously
- Art Song – A musical setting of artistic poetry for solo voice accompanied by piano or orchestra
- Articulation – The way a single note is sounded
- Ascending and Descending – Pitches rising or getting lower
- Balance – Each part playing at the right volume so everything can be heard
- Ballad – A song with a slower tempo that is emotionally-driven and tells a story.
- Band – A group of musicians performing music of a specialized type. Traditionally a band consists of brass, woodwinds, and percussion.
- Bar Line – A thin vertical line that separates measures
- Baritone – A moderately low male voice; in range between tenor and bass
- Bass - the lowest male voice-type in a mixed chorus, or any one of various musical instruments that roughly correspond to the human bass voice.
- Bass Clef – A sign used to show lower pitches on the staff
- Bass Clef Lines – G B D F A
- Bass Clef Spaces – A C E G
- Beam – Horizontal or diagonal line used to connect multiple consecutive notes
- Beat – Basic unit of time; the pulse
- Beats Per Minute – (BMP) The number of beats that occur in a piece of music every minute.
- Brass – A family of musical instruments which produces sound by air passing through the vibration of the performer’s lips. Instruments within the Brass family – Trumpet, Cornet, Flugelhorn, French Horn, Mellophone, Trombone, Bass-Trombone, Euphonium, Tuba, and Sousaphone.
- Bridge - Transitional passage connecting two sections of a composition (song), or between two A sections. Another way of defining “Bridge” is a contrasting section that prepares for the return of the original material section. Part of a stringed instrument that holds the strings in place and transmits their vibrations to the resonant body of the instrument.
- Cadence - A melodic or harmonic punctuation mark at the end of a phrase, major section, or the end of the entire work (a resting place in the melody)
- Cadenza - An unaccompanied section of virtuosic display performed by a soloist in a concerto
- Capo – (Short for capotasto) a key changing device for stringed instruments (e.g. guitars and banjos). Head (i.e., the beginning, as in Da Capo)
- Cello – The tenor-ranged instrument of the string family (also called violoncello)
- Chamber Music – A musical genre where the music is performed by a small group of performers (one performer per part). It can also be a reference for a solo with accompaniment.
- Choir – A group of singers performing music of a specialized type.
- Chorale – A sacred four-part musical style where the melody is in the soprano line and each note has its own harmonic progression. A chorale is often referred to as a hymn
- Chord - A harmonic combination with multiple pitches sounding simultaneously
- Chord Progression – In a musical composition it is a succession of chords
- Chromatic – by half-steps (semitones)
- Chromatic Scale – A scale by half-steps
- Coda – the final added measures of a musical composition
- Composer – A person who writes an original piece of music
- Concerto – composition for instrumental soloist in multi-movements
- Conductor – The leader of a performing group of musicians
- Count – Series of regularly occurring sounds to assist with ready identification of beat
- Crescendo – gradually louder
- Cut Time – Same as the meter 2/2 two half-note beats per measure. Notated and executed like common time except with the beat lengths doubled. Indicated by (image). This comes from a literal cut of the (image) symbol of common time. Thus, a quarter note in cut time is only half a beat long, and a measure has only two beats. See also alla breve.
- Da Capo – from the beginning
- Decrescendo – Gradually decreasing volume (same as diminuendo)
- Diminuendo – gradually softer
- Dot – The sign added to a note or rest that increases its duration by one-half
- Double Bar Line – The thin line followed by a thick line written after the final measure of a piece of music. It denotes the end of the composition
- Double Bass – the lowest (bass) sounding instrument of the string family
- Downbeat– The first beat of a measure (usually accented more strongly than other beats)
- Duet – Composition performed by two performers
- Dynamics - Intensity of sound
- Eighth Notes – Two of these notes equal the time of one quarter note
- Eighth Rest – A rest for half a beat
- Encore – Again (i.e., a request to perform once more a passage or piece); a performer returning to the stage to perform an unlisted piece
- Ensemble – a group of performers
- Etude – a study
- Euphonium – a valved brass instrument that is the baritone in the brass family
- Expressivo, espress. or espr. – Expressive or with expression
- Fermata – A mark used above a note that indicates that a note should be played or sung longer than its normal value, or a hold or pause
- Film Music – Music that serves either as background or foreground material for a movie
- Fine – A term of music direction showing where to end a piece of music
- First Ending – The first measure or group of measures that the performer plays or sings when repeating a section of music that has multiple endings.
- Flat – An accidental that lowers a note’s pitch a half step.
- Flat Key Signature Name – Second to last flat is the name of key
- Forte – loud
- Fortissimo – very loud
- French Horn – a valved brass instrument of medium range considered the alto in the brass family
- Grandioso – Grand, solemn
- Grand Staff – Treble and Bass Clef Staves joined by a bracket
- Guitar – a six-stringed fretted instrument
- Harmony – two or more pitches sounded at the same time to create purposefully a pleasant or unpleasant sound
- Harp – a plucked instrument having strings stretched on a triangular frame
- Interval - The distance between two pitches
- Keyboardist – A musician who plays an instrument with a keyboard. In Classical music, this may refer to instruments such as the piano, pipe organ, harpsichord, and so on. In a jazz or popular music context, this may refer to instruments such as the piano, electric piano, synthesizer, Hammond organ, and so on.
- Key Signature – A list of sharps or flats at the beginning of a staff line that indicate what scale, (key), is in use.
- Largo - large and slow-moving pace
- Lead Sheet - A form of musical notation that specifies the essential elements of a popular song: the melody, lyrics, and harmony. The melody is written in modern Western music notation, the lyric is written as text below the staff and the harmony is denoted with chord symbols above the staff.
- Ledger Line – A short, horizonal line that allows a note to be written outside the staff.
- Love Song – a song about romantic love, falling in love, heartbreak after a breakup, and the feelings that these experiences bring.
- Lullaby – (or cradle song) is a soothing song or piece of music that is usually played for, or sung to, children.
- Madrigal – A secular vocal music composition of the Renaissance and early Baroque eras. Traditionally, polyphonic madrigals are unaccompanied; the number of voices varies from two to eight, and most frequently from three to six.
- Maestoso – Majestically, in a grand style
- Marcato – Marked with emphasis
- Measure – The standard of measurement in music in which bar lies separate rhythms into manageable sections
- Melody – (tune) is a succession of musical tones that the listener perceives as a single entity. In its most literal sense, a melody is a combination of rhythm and pitch that make a complete musical sentence.
- Meter – Groups of beats in a recurring pattern with accentuation on strong beats. Meter is denoted by the time signature.
- Metronome – A device that measures beats per minute.
- Metronome Marking – Another term from tempo marking, which indicates the number of beats per minute.
- Mezzo – Half
- Mezzo Forte – (mf) Dynamic mark denoting moderately loud
- Mezzo Piano – (mp) Dynamic mark denoting moderately soft
- Mezzo Soprano – a dramatic woman’s voice that combines the power of an alto with primary high range of a soprano
- Modesto – Modest
- Modulation – Moving from one key center to another key center
- Molto- Very
- Natural – An accidental that cancels a sharp or flat
- Nocturne – A piece written for the night
- Octave – The interval distance of 8 notes. This eighth note interval has a sound-wave frequency of vibration twice that of its lower note.
- Opera - A form of theatre in which music has a leading role and the parts are taken by singers, but is distinct from musical theatre. This story based musical production is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librettist and incorporates a number of the performing arts, such as acting, scenery, costume, and sometimes dance or ballet. An opera is accompanied by an orchestra or smaller musical ensemble.
- Orchestra – A group of musicians performing music of a specialized type. Traditionally orchestra consists of strings, brass, woodwinds, and percussion.
- Order of Flats – B E A D G C F
- Order of Sharps – F C G D A E B
- Overture – An orchestral composition forming the prelude or introduction of an opera, oratorio, Broadway musical, etc.
- Percussion – A family of musical instruments that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped, or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument.
- Phrase – A musical unit with a terminal point or cadence. Lengths of phrases can vary.
- Phrasing - Performing notes in a musical way – not all notes are equal
- Piano – (p) Dynamic mark denoting very softy
- Pitch – the highness or lowness of a sound
- Pizzicato – (pizz.) Plucked with the finger rather than the bow
- Poco – Little
- Poco a Poco – Little by little
- Prelude – A musical introduction to subsequent movements during the Baroque area.
- Presto – a very fast tempo (BPM/168-200)
- Quarter Note – One beat of playing or singing / a basic pulse in time
- Quarter Tone – a music interval that is half of a semitone, or a quarter of a whole tone
- Quartet – A musical composition for four singers or instrumental performers; or a group of four performers.
- Rallentando – (rall.) Gradually slower
- Range – The distance between the lowest and highest pitches, usually referred to in the context of vocal ranges or melody
- Rap – a style of popular music developed by Afro-Americans in the 1970, in which the lyrics are spoken over rhythm tracks
- Religioso – Religious
- Repeat Sign – Repeat the previous section
- Reprise – Repetition of a phrase or verse; return to the original theme
- Rest - intervals of silence in pieces of music, marked by symbols indicating the length of the pause.
- Rhythm – Arrangement of pitches of varying lengths or duration
- Ritardando – (rit.) Gradually slower
- Rubato – In free time, no steady beat
- Sacred Music – Music composed for a religious purpose, often for the church liturgy
- Scherzo – a short orchestral piece of music
- Second Ending – The second measure or group of measures that the performer plays or sings after repeating the denoted section following the repeat from the First ending. (Play this the second time you play the repeat)
- Secular Music – Music composed for non-religious purposes.
- Semitone – the smallest interval in classical Western music, equal to a twelfth of an octave or half a tone
- Sempre – Always
- Sharp – An accidental that raises a note’s pitch a half step
- Sharp Key Signature Names – One note higher than last sharp is the name of key
- Sight Reading – Playing or singing for the first time a musical piece never seen before
- Simile – In a similar way
- Simile Bar (Measure) – A denoted sign that indicates that the previous measure should be repeated
- Simple Meters – Beats subdivided into two parts (Time Signatures 2/4, 3/4, 4/4)
- Sixteenth Notes – Four of these notes equal one quarter note (or two eight notes)
- Slur – The joining of two notes without tonguing
- Solo - is a piece or a section of a piece played or sung featuring a single performer, who may be performing completely alone or supported by an accompanying instrument such as a piano or organ, or the rest of a choir, orchestra, band, or other ensemble.
- Sonata – An extended composition for instruments (not vocal) and can have several movements
- Song – a musical composition intended to be performed by the human voice. The structure of a song is lyrics set to a melody usually with accompaniment.
- Soprano – The highest range of a woman’s voice
- Sostenuto – sustained. (Sostenuto notes or musical passages require the performer to play each note beyond its normal value)
- Staccato – Short, detached, light notes
- Staff – A Grid with 5 lines and 4 spaces where music notation is written
- Stanza – A verse of a song
- Stem – Vertical line that is directly connected to the note head
- Strings – A family of instruments that produce sound from vibrating strings when the performer plays or sounds the strings in some manner. Performers plays string instruments by plucking the strings with their fingers, by hitting the strings with a light wooden hammer, or by rubbing the strings with a bow. Instruments within the string family: violin, viola, cello, double bass, harp, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, bass guitar, harpsichord, banjo, mandolin, and lute.
- Subito – Suddenly, quickly
- Syncopation – a rhythm that accents a weak beat instead of a strong beat
- Tacet – Silent; Do not play
- Tempo – Speed of music
- Tempo Marking – An instruction in the music that indicates to the performer the specific tempo of the piece of music.
- Tenor – A high-ranged male voice
- Tenuto – Sustained, hold the note for the full value
- Tie – The curved line that connect two adjacent notes of the same pitch, thus combining their durations
- Timbre – The unique quality of the sound (tone color)
- Time – In a jazz or rock score, after a rubato or rallentando section, the term “time” indicates that performers should return to tempo (this is equivalent to the term “a tempo”)
- Time Signature – The set of numbers at the beginning of a piece of music that show the meter
- Tonic – First scale degree or the first note of a scale or key
- Tonic Key – the “home” key of a tonal composition
- Treble Clef – A sign used to show higher pitches on the staff
- Treble Clef Lines - E G B D F
- Treble Clef Spaces – F A C E
- Triad- a three-note chord built on alternating scale steps (1-3-5, 2-4-6)
- Trill – Play back and forth between one note and the note above as fast as the performer can
- Trio – A musical composition for three instruments or voices, or a group of three performers.
- Triplet – three notes played in the rhythmic space of two notes of identical value
- Trombone – a brass instrument that changes pitch via a moveable slide. A trombone can be a Tenor Trombone which is the tenor sound in the brass family or the Bass Trombone which is the bass sound in the Brass family.
- Trumpet – a valved brass instrument that is the soprano of the brass family
- Tuba – a large, valved brass instrument, the bass of the brass family
- Tutti – Performed by the entire ensemble or (Italian for “all” or “everyone) an indication for all performers to play together
- Unison – two or more musical parts sounding the same pitch, or an octave interval, at the same time
- Unisono – In unison
- Vibrato – A rapid repeated slight change in the pitch of a note
- Viola – the alto instrument of the string family
- Violin – the soprano instrument of the string family
- Virtuoso – Performing with exceptional ability, technique, or artistry
- Vivace – A fast and lively tempo (BPM/140-176)
- Vocal Score – A music score of an opera, or a vocal or choral composition with orchestra (like oratorio or cantata) where the vocal parts are written out in full, but the accompaniment is reduced to two staves and adapted for playing on piano
- Whole Notes – A note that lasts for the whole measure (bar) of any time signature
- Wind Ensemble - a musical performance group made up of instruments from the woodwind, brass, and percussion families of musical instruments. Typically, the size of the group numbers about 45 musicians
- Wind Instruments – All musical instruments in which a column of air is set into vibration by the player blowing into a mouthpiece.
- Woodwinds – A family of instruments within the general category of wind instruments. The two main types of woodwind instruments are flutes and reed instruments. It is the way these instruments make sound by splitting the air blown into them on a sharp edge, such as a reed or a fipple. (Fipple – a constricted mouthpiece common to flutes.) The instruments within the Woodwind family – Piccolo, Flute, Recorder, Oboe, English Horn, Eb Clarinet, Bb Clarinet, Alto Clarinet, Bass Clarinet, Contra-Bass Clarinet, Bassoon, Contrabassoon, Soprano Saxophone, Alto Saxophone, Tenor Saxophone, and Baritone Saxophone.
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Level II Musical Terms
- Accentato – Accented; with emphasis
- Adagissimo – Very, very slow
- Alla Breve – in cut-time; two beats per measure
- Allegretto – A moderately fast tempo, slightly slower than allegro (BPM/112-120)
- Allegro Moderato - A moderately fast tempo, slightly slower than allegro (BPM/116-120)
- Amore – Love; con amore: with love, tenderly
- Andante Moderato – A moderately walking pace tempo, faster than andante (BPM/92-112)
- Appassionate – Passionately
- Appassionato – intensely, passionately
- Arioso – Airy, or like an air; melodious
- Bebop - a style popular in the 1940’s and 50’s which features compositions characterized by a fast tempo, complex chord progressions with rapid chord changes and numerous changes of key, instrumental virtuosity, and improvisation.
- Ben – Well; in ben marcato (“well marked”)
- Breath Mark - is a symbol used in musical notation that directs the performer of the music passage to take a breath (for wind instruments and vocalists) or to make a slight pause.
- Brio – Vigor; usually in con brio; with spirit and vigor.
- Broken Chord – a chord in which the notes are not all played at once, but in some more or less consistent sequence. They may follow singly one after the other, or two notes may be immediately followed by another two.
- Brillante – Brilliantly, with sparkle. Play in a showy and spirited style.
- Caesura – A mark used to indicate a sudden stop or pause in the music. It is sometimes called “railroad tracks” because of the way it looks.
- Canon (Round) - a musical composition originally for voices (adopted in instrumental parts) that sing or play the same music starting at different times. A round is a type of canon, but in a round each voice, when it finishes, can start at the beginning again so that the piece can go “round and round”.
- Cantabile – in a singing style.
- Cantata – A composition in several movements, written for chorus, soloists, and orchestra. Traditionally, these are religious works.
- Codetta – a small coda, but usually applied to a passage appended to a section of a movement, not to the whole movement.
- Coloratura – An elaborate melody with runs, trills, wide leaps, or similar-like material, or a passage of such music. Operatic roles in which such music plays a prominent part, and singers of these roles are called coloratura.
- Comp - Abbreviation of accompanying, accompanying music, accompaniment. Describes the chords, rhythms, and countermelodies that instrumental players used to support a musician melody and improvised solos.
- Common Time – The time signature 4/4: four beats per measure, each beat is a quarter note in length. 4/4 is often on the musical staff as C.
- Comping – to comp: action of accompanying.
- Contralto – Lowest female singing voice type.
- Countertenor - (also contra tenor) is a type of a classic male singing voice whose vocal range is equivalent to that of the female contralto or mezzo soprano.
- Divisi (div.) – Divided (i.e. in a part in which several musicians normally play exactly the same notes they are instead to split playing of the written simultaneous notes among themselves); the return from divisi is marked unisono or unison.
- Dominant – Fifth scale degree.
- Double Stop – The technique of playing two notes simultaneously on a bowed string instrument.
- Drammatico – Dramatic.
- Duration – the length of sound.
- Embouchure – The use of the lips, facial muscles, tongue, and teeth in playing a wind instrument.
- Falsetto - A vocal technique that allows a male to sing in a much higher, lighter register.
- Folk Music – Music (or songs) transmitted orally from one generation to the next, usually with an unknown composer/songwriter, or formed by custom over a long period of time. Folk Music is identified by people groups, national culture, religious heritage, and celebrated events.
- Fortepiano – (fp) Dynamic mark denoting loud, then immediately soft.
- G.P. – Grand Pause, General Pause; indicates to the performers that the entire ensemble has a rest of indeterminate length, often as a dramatic effect during a loud section.
- Glissando – to slide in pitch from note to note.
- Homophonic Texture: 1) a main melody supported by chords; 2) a texture in which voices on different pitches sing the same words simultaneously (example – a Hymn).
- Hook – A musical idea, often a short riff, passage, or phrase, that is used in popular music to make a song appealing and to “catch the ear of the listener.”.
- Improvisation – The “on-the-spot” creation of music while it is being performed. Made popular in the jazz performance style.
- Largamente – Broadly (i.e. slowly) (same as largo).
- Larghetto – A rather slow and broad tempo, slightly faster than largo (BPM/60-66).
- Larghissimo – A extremely slow tempo, slower than largo (BPM/25-and below).
- Leading Tone – Seventh scale degree.
- Leap or Stepwise – Leap: more than one step away / Step: one note or half a step.
- Lento – A slow tempo (BPM/45-60).
- Liturgical Music – music (or chants or songs) originated as a part of religious ceremony.
- M.M. – Metronome Marking.
- Maggiore – The major key.
- Marcia – A march; alla marcia means in the manner of a march.
- Mediant – Third scale degree.
- Medley – Piece composed from parts of existing pieces, usually three or more, played one after another, sometimes overlapping.
- Melisma – One syllable sung to several notes.
- Melodic Contour – The shape of a melodic phrase, rising or falling in pitch.
- Minore – Minor key.
- Moderato – A moderately paced tempo, faster than andantino (BPM/108-120).
- Monophonic Texture – a single-line texture with no harmony.
- Morendo – Dying (i.e. dying away in dynamics, and perhaps also in tempo).
- Motet – an unaccompanied choral composition based on a sacred Latin text, it was the first example of contrapuntal composition technique.
- Musical Texture – how the melodic, rhythmic, and harmonic materials are combined in a composition, thus determining the overall quality of the sound in a musical composition.
- Oratorio – is a large musical composition for orchestra, choir, and soloists. Like opera, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an instrumental ensemble, various distinguishable characters, and arias.
- Patter Song – a song characterized by a moderately fast to very fast tempo with a rapid succession of rhythmic patterns in which each syllable of the text corresponds to one note. The lyric of a patter song generally features tong-twisting text with alliterative words and other consonant, or vowel sounds that are intended to be entertaining to listen to a rapid speed. (Alliteration – repetition of identical initial consonant sounds in successive or closely associated syllables within a group of words. Example: “potential power play” or “Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.”).
- Pedal (or Ped) – in piano scores, this instructs the player to press the damper pedal to sustain the note or chord being played.
- Pianissimo – (pp) Dynamic mark denoting very soft.
- Pianississimo – (ppp) Dynamic mark denoting as soft as possible.
- Polyphonic Texture – When two or more independent melodic lines are sounding at the same time.
- Prestissimo - A extremely fast tempo, faster than presto (BPM/200 – and above).
- Rhapsody – a one-movement piece of music that explores multiple free-flowing sections that do not necessarily relate to one another.
- Riff – A repeated chord progression or refrain.
- Rondo – a musical form (or song structure) consisting of multiple repeating sections.
- Run – A rapid series of ascending or descending musical notes which are closely spaced in pitch forming a scale, arpeggio, or such pattern.
- Segno – The beginning or end of a repeat.
- Senza – Without.
- Senza Misura – Without measures.
- Senza Sordino – Without a mute.
- Serioso – Seriously.
- Smorzando – Extinguishing or dampening; usually interpreted as a drop in dynamics, and very often in tempo as well.
- Sonatina – A little sonata.
- Sordina – a mute or a muted tone.
- Staccatissimo – (staccatiss.) Shortened and extremely separated notes.
- Stringendo – Gradually faster.
- Sub-Dominant – Fourth scale degree.
- Sub-Mediant – Sixth scale degree.
- Supertonic - the second degree of the diatonic scale.
- Tessitura – The “best” or most comfortable pitch range, generally used to identify the most prominent / common vocal range within a piece of music.
- Tonality – Music centered around a “home” key (based on a major or minor scale).
- Tone Cluster – a modern technique of extreme harmonic dissonance created by a large block of pitches sounding simultaneously.
- Tone Color – the unique, characteristic sound of a musical instrument or voice.
- Tremolo – An effect musicians can put on a sustained note to create a trembling sound. Usually, it takes shape in the form of repeating the same note very quickly.
- Vamp – Improvised accompaniment, usually a repeating pattern played before next musical passage.
- Vivacissimo – A very fast tempo, faster than vivace (BPM/172-176).
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Level III Musical Terms
- Accarezzevole – Expressive and caressing
- Acciaccatura – a very fast grace note that is “crushed” against the note that follows and takes no value in the measure
- Alla Marcia – in the style of a march
- Allegrezza – Cheerfully, joyfully
- Allegrissimo – A very fast tempo, faster than allegro (BPM/172-176)
- Anacrusis – Italian word for a pick-up note
- Antiphon – A liturgical or other composition consisting of choral responses, sometimes between two choirs
- Antiphonal – a style of composition in which two sections of singers or instrumentalists exchange sections or music one after the other; typically, the performers are on different sides of a performance venue.
- Assai – very
- Atonality – Modern harmony that intentionally avoids a tonal center (has no apparent home key)
- Basso Continuo – a bass accompaniment part played continuously throughout a piece by a chordal instrument (pipe organ, harpsichord, lute, etc.), often with a bass instrument, to give harmonic structure; used especially in the Baroque period.
- Binary – A musical (song) form in two sections: AB
- Bitonality - Modern music sounding in two different keys simultaneously
- Cantilena – a vocal melody or instrumental passage in a smooth, lyrical style
- Colossale – Enormous, immense
- Compound Meters – Beats subdivided into three parts (Time Signatures 6/8, 9/8, 12/8)
- Con – with
- Con Sordino – with mute
- Contour – The shape of the melodic line as rising or falling
- Countermelody – A secondary melodic idea that accompanies and opposes a main thematic idea
- Counterpoint – a musical composition that employees the use of two or more melodies at the same time
- Dal Segno – from the sign
- Dal Segno al Fine – from the sign to the finish
- Disjunct – An adjective applied to a melodic line which moves by leaps (intervals of more than a 2nd) as opposed to conjunct motion (by step)
- Dissonante – Dissonant
- Dolce – Sweet; con dolcezza: with sweetness
- Double Dot – two dots placed side by side after a note to indicate that it is to be lengthened by three quarters of the value
- Elegy – in the form of a lament
- Energico- energetically
- Fantasia – A piece not adhering to any strict musical form: can also be used in con fantasia: With imagination
- Fill – A jazz or rock term which instructs performers to improvise a scalar passage or riff to “fill in” the brief time between lyrical phrases, the lines of melody, or between two sections
- Form - Design and structure of the music
- Forza – Force; con forza: with force
- Forzando – forcefully accented
- Fugue - a contrapuntal compositional technique in two or more voices, built on a subject (a musical theme) that is introduced at the beginning in imitation (repetition at different pitches) and which recurs frequently in the course of the composition.
- Fusion - The blending of jazz and rock styles
- Grace Note – An extra note added as an embellishment and not essential to the harmony or melody
- Grave – A very slow tempo (BPM/25-45)
- Grazioso – Graceful
- In Alt – Octave above the treble staff
- Intensity – the loudness or softness of a sound
- Jete – a bowing technique in which the player is instructed to let the bow bounce or jump off the strings.
- Leggiero – light or light-hearted
- Libero – Free
- Loco – [in] place, i.e. perform the notes at the pitch written, generally used to cancel an 8va or 8vb direction, in string music, also to indicate return to normal playing position
- Lunga – (shortened form of the Italian lungapausa, meaning "long pause") is sometimes added above a fermata to indicate a longer duration, the length of which is at the discretion of the performer rather than note values.
- Ma – But
- Ma Non Tanto – But not so much
- Ma Non Troppo – But not too much
- Magnifico – Magnificent
- Mano Destra – (m.d.) Right hand
- Mano Sinsitra – (m.s.) Left hand
- Martellato – Hammered out
- Meno – Less
- Meno Mosso - Less motion, slower
- Mixed Meters – The shifting between meters
- Multi Measure (Bar) Rest – Rest for the number of measures (bars) shown
- Non – Not
- Octet - A musical composition for eight singers or instrumental performers; or a group of eight performers.
- Pastorale – In a pastoral style, peaceful and simple
- Pausa – Rest
- Pesante – Heavy, ponderous
- Piu - More
- Piu Mosso – More motion, faster
- Prim Volta – The first time; for example, prima volta senza accompagnamento (the first time without accompaniment)
- Prima Donna – Leading female singer in an opera company
- Prima or Primo – First
- Quintet – A musical composition for five singers or instrumental performers; or a group of five performers.
- Rapido – Fast
- Recapitulation – one of the sections of a movement written in sonata form. The recapitulation occurs after the movement’s development section, and typically presents again the musical themes from the movement’s exposition.
- Ritenuto – (riten.) Immediately slower
- Ritornello – A recurring passage
- Saltando – For string instruments bouncing the bow as in a staccato arpeggio
- Scatenato -Unchained, wild
- Scordatura – Technique of altering the normal tuning of a stringed instrument to produce particular effects.
- Segue – “it follows” / to be carried on to the next section without pause
- Semplice – Simple
- Sentimento – Feeling, emotional
- Sextet – A musical composition for six singers or instrumental performers; or a group of six performers.
- Sforzando – (sfp) Strong attack and then immediately soft
- Sonoro – with full sound
- Sotto Voce – in an undertone; quietly
- Sound Properties – Pitch, intensity, duration, timbre
- Spinto – Pushed
- Spirito – Spirited
- Syllabic – One syllable sung to each note
- Texture – The depth of the music
- Through-Composed – One continuous line of pitches that evolve
- Troppo – Too much; usually seen as non troppo, meaning not too much
- Turn – Multi-note ornament above and below the main note; it may also be inverted
- Veloce – Fast
- Vittorioso – Victorious
- Voce – Voice
- Whole Tone Scale - a scale in which each note is separated from its neighbors by the interval of a whole tone
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All Musical Terms
- A Cappella: Choral music with no instrumental accompaniment
- A Poco: a little, gradually
- A Tempo: in time, generally implies a return to an original rate of speed
- Accelerando: gradually faster
- Accent: A marking above or below a note to show that the note should be stressed or emphasized
- Accidental: A sign written before a note that changes the pitch of that note for an entire measure
- Accompaniment: The musical part which provides the rhythmic and harmonic support for the melody or main themes of a song or instrumental piece
- Acoustic: Relating to music produced by instruments, as opposed to electric or electronic means
- Adagio: very slow
- Agitato: agitated, rapid
- Al Fine: to the finish
- Ad Libitum: At pleasure (often regard to tempo or style)
- Adagietto: A rather slow tempo, slightly faster than the adagio (BPM/140-176)
- Allargando: Broadening, becoming progressively slower
- Allegro: rapid, lively
- Alto: A low ranged woman’s voice
- Andante: moderately slow, but moving
- Andantino: generally a little quicker than andante
- Animato: Animated, lively, spirited
- Anthem: a musical composition of celebration, usually used as a symbol for a distinct group, particularly the national anthems of countries. Most often the celebratory text is of a religious context and is set for four-part choirs. This type of choral work is also referred to as an “anthem.”
- Aria: A self-contained piece for one voice. Most often found in Opera
- Art Song: A musical setting of artistic poetry for solo voice accompanied by piano or orchestra
- Articulation: The way a single note is sounded
- Ascending and Descending: Pitches rising or getting lower
- Accentato: Accented; with emphasis
- Adagissimo: Very, very slow
- Alla Breve: in cut-time; two beats per measure
- Allegretto: A moderately fast tempo, slightly slower than allegro (BPM/112-120)
- Amore: Love; con amore: with love, tenderly
- Andante Moderato: A moderately walking pace tempo, faster than andante (BPM/92-112)
- Appassionate: Passionately
- Appassionato: intensely, passionately
- Arioso: Airy, or like an air; melodious
- Accarezzevole: Expressive and caressing
- Acciaccatura: a very fast grace note that is “crushed” against the note that follows and takes no value in the measure
- Alla Marcia: in the style of a march
- Allegrezza: Cheerfully, joyfully
- Allegrissimo: A very fast tempo, faster than allegro (BPM/172-176)
- Anacrusis: Italian word for a pick-up note
- Antiphon: A liturgical or other composition consisting of choral responses, sometimes between two choirs
- Antiphonal: a style of composition in which two sections of singers or instrumentalists exchange sections or music one after the other; typically, the performers are on different sides of a performance venue.
- Assai: very
- Atonality: Modern harmony that intentionally avoids a tonal center (has no apparent home key)
- Agile: Agile, nimble
- Ambitus: Range between the highest and lowest note
- Anima: with animation, spirited
- Attacca: attack or attach; go straight on (i.e., at the end of a movement, a direction to attach the next movement to the previous one, without gap or pause) Often used as “attacca subito” meaning a “sudden” movement transition (literally, “attack suddenly”)
- Acceso: Ignited, on fire
- Affrettando: Hurrying, pressing forward
- Arco: the bow used for playing some string instruments (i.e., played with the bow, as opposed to pizzicato, in music for bowed instruments) normally used to cancel a pizzicato direction.
- Ballad: A song with a slower tempo that is emotionally-driven and tells a story.
- Balance: Each part playing at the right volume so everything can be heard
- Band: A group of musicians performing music of a specialized type. Traditionally a band consists of brass, woodwinds, and percussion.
- Bar Line: A thin vertical line that separates measures
- Baritone: A moderately low male voice; in range between tenor and bass
- Bass Clef: A sign used to show lower pitches on the staff
- Bass Clef Lines: G B D F A
- Bass Clef Spaces: A C E G
- Beam: Horizontal or diagonal line used to connect multiple consecutive notes
- Beat: Basic unit of time; the pulse
- Beats Per Minute: (BMP) The number of beats that occur in a piece of music every minute.
- Brass: A family of musical instruments which produces sound by air passing through the vibration of the performer’s lips. Instruments within the Brass family – Trumpet, Cornet, Flugelhorn, French Horn, Mellophone, Trombone, Bass-Trombone, Euphonium, Tuba, and Sousaphone.
- Ben: Well; in ben marcato (“well marked”)
- Brio: Vigor; usually in con brio; with spirit and vigor
- Broken Chord: a chord in which the notes are not all played at once, but in some more or less consistent sequence. They may follow singly one after the other, or two notes may be immediately followed by another two.
- Brillante: Brilliantly, with sparkle. Play in a showy and spirited style.
- Basso Continuo: a bass accompaniment part played continuously throughout a piece by a chordal instrument (pipe organ, harpsichord, lute, etc.), often with a bass instrument, to give harmonic structure; used especially in the Baroque period.
- Binary: A musical (song) form in two sections: AB
- Bravura: Boldness; as in con bravura, boldly, flaunting technical skill
- Bellicoso: Warlike, aggressive (English – Bellicose)
- Capo: (Short for capotasto) a key changing device for stringed instruments (e.g. guitars and banjos)
- Cello: The tenor-ranged instrument of the string family (also called violoncello)
- Chamber Music: A musical genre where the music is performed by a small group of performers (one performer per part). It can also be a reference for a solo with accompaniment.
- Choir: A group of singers performing music of a specialized type.
- Chorale: A sacred four-part musical style where the melody is in the soprano line and each note has its own harmonic progression. A chorale is often referred to as a hymn
- Chord Progression: In a musical composition it is a succession of chords
- Chromatic: by half-steps (semitones)
- Chromatic Scale: A scale by half-steps
- Coda: the final added measures of a musical composition
- Composer: A person who writes an original piece of music
- Concerto: composition for instrumental soloist in multi-movements
- Conductor: The leader of a performing group of musicians
- Count: Series of regularly occurring sounds to assist with ready identification of beat
- Crescendo: gradually louder
- Cut Time: Same as the 2/2 two half-note beats per measure. Notated and executed like common time except with the beat lengths doubled. Indicated by . This comes from a literal cut of the symbol of common time. Thus, a in cut time is only half a beat long, and a measure has only two beats. See also alla breve.
- Caesura: A mark used to indicate a sudden stop or pause in the music. It is sometimes called “railroad tracks” because of the way it looks.
- Cantabile: in a singing style
- Cantata: A composition in several movements, written for chorus, soloists, and orchestra. Traditionally, these are religious works.
- Codetta: a small coda, but usually applied to a passage appended to a section of a movement, not to the whole movement
- Coloratura: An elaborate melody with runs, trills, wide leaps, or similar-like material, or a passage of such music.
- Common Time: The time signature 4/4: four beats per measure, each beat is a quarter note in length. 4/4 is often on the musical staff as C
- Comping: to comp: action of accompanying
- Contralto: Lowest female singing voice type
- Cantilena: a vocal melody or instrumental passage in a smooth, lyrical style
- Colossale: Enormous, immense
- Compound Meters: Beats subdivided into three parts (Time Signatures 6/8, 9/8, 12/8)
- Con: with
- Con Sordino: with mute
- Contour: The shape of the melodic line as rising or falling
- Countermelody: A secondary melodic idea that accompanies and opposes a main thematic idea
- Counterpoint: a musical composition that employees the use of two or more melodies at the same time
- Collegium Musicum: a university ensemble dedicated to the performance of early music (pre-1750)
- Capriccio: A humorous, fanciful, or bizarre, composition, often characterized by an idiosyncratic departure from current stylistic norms.
- Col Legno: with the wood (i.e., the strings of a violin) are to be struck with the wood of the bow, making a percussive sound; also battuto col legno: beaten with the wood
- Conjunct: an adjective applied to a melodic line that moves by step (intervals of a 2nd) rather in disjunct motion (by leap).
- Da Capo: from the beginning
- Decrescendo: Gradually decreasing volume (same as diminuendo)
- Diminuendo: gradually softer
- Dot: The sign added to a note or rest that increases its duration by one-half
- Double Bar Line: The thin line followed by a thick line written after the final measure of a piece of music. It denotes the end of the composition
- Double Bass: the lowest (bass) sounding instrument of the string family
- Downbeat: The first beat of a measure (usually accented more strongly than other beats)
- Duet: Composition performed by two performers
- Divisi (div.): Divided (i.e. in a part in which several musicians normally play exactly the same notes they are instead to split playing of the written simultaneous notes among themselves); the return from divisi is marked unisono or unison
- Dominant: Fifth scale degree
- Double Stop: The technique of playing two notes simultaneously on a bowed string instrument
- Drammatico: Dramatic
- Duration: the length of sound
- Dal Segno: from the sign
- Dal Segno al Fine: from the sign to the finish
- Dissonante: Dissonant
- Disjunct: An adjective applied to a melodic line which moves by leaps (intervals of more than a 2nd) as opposed to conjunct motion (by step)
- Dolce: Sweet; con dolcezza: with sweetness
- Double Dot: two dots placed side by side after a note to indicate that it is to be lengthened by three quarters of the value
- Decelerando: Slowing down; decelerating; opposite of accelerando (same as ritardando or rallentando)
- Delicato: Delicate
- Doloroso: Sorrowful, plaintive
- Drone: Bass note or chord performed continuously throughout a composition
- Eighth Notes: Two of these notes equal the time of one quarter note
- Eighth Rest: A rest for half a beat
- Encore: Again (i.e., a request to perform once more a passage or piece); a performer returning to the stage to perform an unlisted piece
- Ensemble: a group of performers
- Etude: a study
- Euphonium: a valved brass instrument that is the baritone in the brass family
- Expressivo, espress. or espr.: Expressive or with expression
- Embouchure: The use of the lips, facial muscles, tongue, and teeth in playing a wind instrument.
- Elegy: in the form of a lament
- Energico: Energetic, strong
- Espirando: Expiring (i.e., dying away)
- En Mesure: in time
- Fermata: A mark used above a note that indicates that a note should be played or sung longer than its normal value, or a hold or pause
- Film Music: Music that serves either as background or foreground material for a movie
- Fine: A term of music direction showing where to end a piece of music
- First Ending: The first measure or group of measures that the performer plays or sings when repeating a section of music that has multiple endings.
- Flat: An accidental that lowers a note’s pitch a half step.
- Flat Key Signature Name: Second to last flat is the name of key
- Forte: loud
- Fortissimo: very loud
- French Horn: a valved brass instrument of medium range considered the alto in the brass family
- Folk Music: Music (or songs) transmitted orally from one generation to the next, usually with an unknown composer/songwriter, or formed by custom over a long period of time. Folk Music is identified by people groups, national culture, religious heritage, and celebrated events.
- Fortepiano: (fp) Dynamic mark denoting loud, then immediately soft
- Fantasia: A piece not adhering to any strict musical form: can also be used in con fantasia: With imagination
- Fill: A jazz or rock term which instructs performers to improvise a scalar passage or riff to “fill in” the brief time between lyrical phrases, the lines of melody, or between two sections
- Forza: Force; con forza: with force
- Forzando: forcefully accented
- Focoso: Fiery (i.e., passionate) – a song transmitted orally and performed by custom over a long period of time
- Fuoco: Fire: con fuoco: with fire, in a fiery manner
- Furioso: Rapidly and with passion
- Grandioso: Grand, solemn
- Grand Staff: Treble and Bass Clef Staves joined by a bracket
- Guitar: a six-stringed fretted instrument
- G.P.: Grand Pause, General Pause; indicates to the performers that the entire ensemble has a rest of indeterminate length, often as a dramatic effect during a loud section
- Glissando: to slide in pitch from note to note
- Grace Note: An extra note added as an embellishment and not essential to the harmony or melody
- Grave: A very slow tempo (BPM/25-45)
- Grazioso: Graceful
- Gentile: Gentle
- Giocoso: in a fun and carefree manner, most often at a higher tempo
- Gregorian Chant: (genre) monophonic, non-metered melodies set to Latin sacred text
- Harmony: two or more pitches sounded at the same time to create purposefully a pleasant or unpleasant sound
- Harp: a plucked instrument having strings stretched on a triangular frame
- Homophonic Texture: 1) a main melody supported by chords; 2) a texture in which voices on different pitches sing the same words simultaneously (example: a Hymn)
- Hook: A musical idea, often a short riff, passage, or phrase, that is used in popular music to make a song appealing and to “catch the ear of the listener.”
- Hemiola: The imposition of a pattern of rhythm or articulation other than that implied by the time signature; specifically, in triple time (for example ¾) the imposition of a duple pattern (as if the time signature were, for example, 2/4).
- Improvisation: The “on-the-spot” creation of music while it is being performed. Made popular in the jazz performance style.
- In Alt: Octave above the treble staff
- Intensity: the loudness or softness of a sound
- In Stand: A term for brass players that requires them to direct the bell of their instrument into the music stand, instead of up and toward the audience, thus muting the sound but without changing the timbre as a mute would
- Jete: a bowing technique in which the player is instructed to let the bow bounce or jump off the strings.
- Keyboardist: A musician who plays an instrument with a keyboard. In Classical music, this may refer to instruments such as the piano, pipe organ, harpsichord, and so on. In a jazz or popular music context, this may refer to instruments such as the piano, electric piano, synthesizer, Hammond organ, and so on.
- Key Signature: A list of sharps or flats at the beginning of a staff line that indicate what scale, (key), is in use.
- Largo: large and slow-moving pace
- Lead Sheet: A form of musical notation that specifies the essential elements of a popular song: the melody, lyrics, and harmony. The melody is written in modern Western music notation, the lyric is written as text below the staff and the harmony is denoted with chord symbols above the staff.
- Ledger Line: A short, horizonal line that allows a note to be written outside the staff.
- Love Song: a song about romantic love, falling in love, heartbreak after a breakup, and the feelings that these experiences bring.
- Lullaby: (or cradle song) is a soothing song or piece of music that is usually played for, or sung to, children.
- Largamente: Broadly (i.e. slowly) (same as largo)
- Larghetto: A rather slow and broad tempo, slightly faster than largo (BPM/60-66)
- Larghissimo: A extremely slow tempo, slower than largo (BPM/25-and below)
- Leading Tone: Seventh scale degree
- Leap or Stepwise: Leap: more than one step away / Step: one note or half a step
- Lento: A slow tempo (BPM/45-60)
- Liturgical Music: music (or chants or songs) originated as a part of religious ceremony.
- Leggiero: light or light-hearted
- Libero: Free
- Loco: [in] place, i.e. perform the notes at the pitch written, generally used to cancel an 8va or 8vb direction, in string music, also to indicate return to normal playing position
- Lunga: (shortened form of the Italian lungapausa, meaning "long pause") is sometimes added above a fermata to indicate a longer duration, the length of which is at the discretion of the performer rather than note values.
- Lamentando: Lamenting, mournfully
- Lamentoso: Lamenting, mournfully
- Lilt: A jaunty rhythm
- Lo Stesso: The same; applied to the manner of articulation, tempo, etc.
- Madrigal: A secular vocal music composition of the Renaissance and early Baroque eras. Traditionally, polyphonic madrigals are unaccompanied; the number of voices varies from two to eight, and most frequently from three to six.
- Maestoso: Majestically, in a grand style
- Marcato: Marked with emphasis
- Measure: The standard of measurement in music in which bar lies separate rhythms into manageable sections
- Melody: (tune) is a succession of musical tones that the listener perceives as a single entity. In its most literal sense, a melody is a combination of rhythm and pitch that make a complete musical sentence.
- Meter: Groups of beats in a recurring pattern with accentuation on strong beats. Meter is denoted by the time signature.
- Metronome: A device that measures beats per minute.
- Metronome Marking: Another term from tempo marking, which indicates the number of beats per minute.
- Mezzo: Half
- Mezzo Forte: (mf) Dynamic mark denoting moderately loud
- Mezzo Piano: (mp) Dynamic mark denoting moderately soft
- Mezzo Soprano: a dramatic woman’s voice that combines the power of an alto with primary high range of a soprano
- Modesto: Modest
- Modulation: Moving from one key center to another key center
- M.M.: Metronome Marking
- Maggiore: The major key
- Marcia: A march; alla marcia means in the manner of a march
- Mediant: Third scale degree
- Minore: Minor key
- Medley: Piece composed from parts of existing pieces, usually three or more, played one after another, sometimes overlapping.
- Melisma: One syllable sung to several notes
- Melodic Contour: The shape of a melodic phrase, rising or falling in pitch
- Moderato: A moderately paced tempo, faster than andantino (BPM/108-120)
- Monophonic Texture: a single-line texture with no harmony
- Morendo: Dying (i.e. dying away in dynamics, and perhaps also in tempo)
- Motet: an unaccompanied choral composition based on a sacred Latin text, it was the first example of contrapuntal composition technique.
- Musical Texture: how the melodic, rhythmic, and harmonic materials are combined in a composition, thus determining the overall quality of the sound in a musical composition
- Ma: But
- Ma Non Tanto: But not so much
- Ma Non Troppo: But not too much
- Magnifico: Magnificent
- Mano Destra: (m.d.) Right hand
- Mano Sinsitra: (m.s.) Left hand
- Martellato: Hammered out
- Meno: Less
- Mixed Meters: The shifting between meters
- Multi Measure (Bar) Rest: Rest for the number of measures (bars) shown
- Mordent: Rapid alternation of a note with the note immediately below or above it in the scale, sometimes further distinguished as lower mordent and upper mordent. The term “Inverted mordent” usually refers to the upper mordent.
- Mano Sinistra: (m.s.) Left hand
- Natural: An accidental that cancels a sharp or flat
- Nocturne: A piece written for the night
- Non: Not
- Nonet: A musical composition for nine singers or instrumental performers; or a group of nine performers
- Octave: The interval distance of 8 notes. This eighth note interval has a sound-wave frequency of vibration twice that of its lower note.
- Orchestra: A group of musicians performing music of a specialized type. Traditionally orchestra consists of strings, brass, woodwinds, and percussion.
- Order of Flats: B E A D G C F
- Order of Sharps: F C G D A E B
- Overture: An orchestral composition forming the prelude or introduction of an opera, oratorio, Broadway musical, etc.
- Oratorio: is a large musical composition for orchestra, choir, and soloists. Like opera, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an instrumental ensemble, various distinguishable characters, and arias.
- Ostinato: a specific rhythmic pattern that repeats throughout a piece of music or song. (Similar to a motif)
- One-Voice-Per-Part (OVPP): The practice of using solo voices on each musical line or part in choral music
- Percussion: A family of musical instruments that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped, or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. The instruments within the Percussion family – Bells, Snare Drum, Bass Rum, Timpani, Crash Cymbals Bongos, Tri-Toms, Chimes, Tambourine, Cowbell, Handbells, Marimba, Steel Drums, Temple Blocks, Gong, Triangle, Vibraphone, Wood Block, Xylophone, Hammered Dulcimer, and Piano.
- Phrase: A musical unit with a terminal point or cadence. Lengths of phrases can vary.
- Phrasing: Performing notes in a musical way – not all notes are equal
- Piano: (p) Dynamic mark denoting very softy
- Pitch: the highness or lowness of a sound
- Pizzicato: (pizz.) Plucked with the finger rather than the bow
- Poco: Little
- Poco a Poco: Little by little
- Prelude: A musical introduction to subsequent movements during the Baroque area.
- Presto: a very fast tempo (BPM/168-200)
- Patter Song: a song characterized by a moderately fast to very fast tempo with a rapid succession of rhythmic patterns in which each syllable of the text corresponds to one note. The lyric of a patter song generally features tong-twisting text with alliterative words and other consonant, or vowel sounds that are intended to be entertaining to listen to a rapid speed. (Alliteration – repetition of identical initial consonant sounds in successive or closely associated syllables within a group of words. Example: “potential power play” or “Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.”)
- Pedal (or Ped): in piano scores, this instructs the player to press the damper pedal to sustain the note or chord being played
- Pianissimo: (pp) Dynamic mark denoting very soft
- Pianississimo: (ppp) Dynamic mark denoting as soft as possible
- Polyphonic Texture: When two or more independent melodic lines are sounding at the same time
- Prestissimo: A extremely fast tempo, faster than presto (BPM/200 – and above)
- Pastorale: In a pastoral style, peaceful and simple
- Pausa: Rest
- Pesante: Heavy, ponderous
- Piu: More
- Piu Mosso: More motion, faster
- Prima or Primo: First
- Prima Donna: Leading female singer in an opera company
- Prim Volta: The first time; for example, prima volta senza accompagnamento (the first time without accompaniment)
- Pan: in audio production refers to the stereo direction of the audio signal. For example, when an audio signal is fully panned to the left it will come from the left side of a stereo speaker
- Pezzo: a composition
- Pomposo: Pompous, ceremonious
- Picardy Third: a harmonic device used in classical music. It refers to the use of a major chord of the tonic at the end of a musical section (or the entire composition) that is either modal or in a minor key.
- Portamento: (port.) A smooth side from one note to another
- Quarter Note: One beat of playing or singing / a basic pulse in time
- Quarter Tone: a music interval that is half of a semitone, or a quarter of a whole tone
- Quartet: A musical composition for four singers or instrumental performers; or a group of four performers.
- Quintet: A musical composition for five singers or instrumental performers; or a group of five performers.
- Quasi: Almost (e.g., quasi recitativo almost a recitative)
- Quintuplet: A rhythmic notation that instructs the performer to play five notes in the space a quarter notes uses. (Similar to a triplet)
- Rallentando: (rall.) Gradually slower
- Range: The distance between the lowest and highest pitches, usually referred to in the context of vocal ranges or melody
- Rap: a style of popular music developed by Afro-Americans in the 1970, in which the lyrics are spoken over rhythm tracks
- Religioso: Religious
- Repeat Sign: Repeat the previous section
- Reprise: Repetition of a phrase or verse; return to the original theme
- Rhythm: Arrangement of pitches of varying lengths or duration
- Ritardando: (rit.) Gradually slower
- Rubato: In free time, no steady beat
- Rhapsody: a one-movement piece of music that explores multiple free-flowing sections that do not necessarily relate to one another.
- Riff: A repeated chord progression or refrain
- Rondo: a musical form (or song structure) consisting of multiple repeating sections
- Run: A rapid series of ascending or descending musical notes which are closely spaced in pitch forming a scale, arpeggio, or such pattern
- Rapido: Fast
- Recapitulation: one of the sections of a movement written in sonata form. The recapitulation occurs after the movement’s development section, and typically presents again the musical themes from the movement’s exposition.
- Ritenuto: (riten.) Immediately slower
- Ritornello: A recurring passage
- Ragtime: a style of piano music developed in the late 1800’s to the beginning of the 1900’s in a march-like tempo with a right-hand syncopated melody against an “oom-pah” left hand accompaniment.
- Recitativo: Recitative (lyrics not to be sung but to be recited, imitating the natural inflections of speech)
- Rinforzando: (rfz or rf) Reinforced
- Sacred Music: Music composed for a religious purpose, often for the church liturgy
- Scherzo: a short orchestral piece of music
- Second Ending: The second measure or group of measures that the performer plays or sings after repeating the denoted section following the repeat from the First ending. (Play this the second time you play the repeat)
- Secular Music: Music composed for non-religious purposes.
- Semitone: the smallest interval in classical Western music, equal to a twelfth of an octave or half a tone
- Sempre: Always
- Sharp: An accidental that raises a note’s pitch a half step
- Sharp Key Signature Names: One note higher than last sharp is the name of key
- Sight Reading: Playing or singing for the first time a musical piece never seen before
- Simile: In a similar way
- Simile Bar (Measure): A denoted sign that indicates that the previous measure should be repeated
- Simple Meters: Beats subdivided into two parts (Time Signatures 2/4, 3/4, 4/4)
- Sixteenth Notes: Four of these notes equal one quarter note (or two eight notes)
- Slur: The joining of two notes without tonguing
- Sonata: An extended composition for instruments (not vocal) and can have several movements
- Song: a musical composition intended to be performed by the human voice. The structure of a song is lyrics set to a melody usually with accompaniment.
- Soprano: The highest range of a woman’s voice
- Sostenuto: sustained. (Sostenuto notes or musical passages require the performer to play each note beyond its normal value)
- Staccato: Short, detached, light notes
- Staff: A Grid with 5 lines and 4 spaces where music notation is written
- Stanza: A verse of a song
- Stem: Vertical line that is directly connected to the note head
- Strings: A family of instruments that produce sound from vibrating strings when the performer plays or sounds the strings in some manner. Performers plays string instruments by plucking the strings with their fingers, by hitting the strings with a light wooden hammer, or by rubbing the strings with a bow. Instruments within the string family: violin, viola, cello, double bass, harp, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, bass guitar, harpsichord, banjo, mandolin, and lute.
- Subito: Suddenly, quickly
- Syncopation: a rhythm that accents a weak beat instead of a strong beat
- Segno: The beginning or end of a repeat
- Senza: Without
- Senza Misura: Without measures
- Senza Sordino: Without a mute
- Serioso: Seriously
- Smorzando: Extinguishing or dampening; usually interpreted as a drop in dynamics, and very often in tempo as well
- Sonatina: A little sonata
- Sordina: a mute or a muted tone
- Staccatissimo: (staccatiss.) Shortened and extremely separated notes
- Stringendo: Gradually faster
- Sub-Dominant: Fourth scale degree
- Sub-Mediant: Sixth scale degree
- Segue: “it follows” / to be carried on to the next section without pause
- Semplice: Simple
- Sentimento: Feeling, emotional
- Saltando: For string instruments bouncing the bow as in a staccato arpeggio
- Scordatura: Technique of altering the normal tuning of a stringed instrument to produce particular effects.
- Sextet: A musical composition for six singers or instrumental performers; or a group of six performers.
- Sforzando: (sfp) Strong attack and then immediately soft
- Sonoro: with full sound
- Sotto Voce: in an undertone; quietly
- Sound Properties: Pitch, intensity, duration, timbre
- Spinto: Pushed
- Spirito: Spirited
- Syllabic: One syllable sung to each note
- Stentando: Labored, heavy, in a dragging manner, holding back each note
- Stretto: Tight, narrow (faster or hastening ahead)
- Sforzato: (sf) Dynamic mark denoting suddenly accented
- Sopra: for keyboard players; a directive to cross hands in a composition
- Spiccato: Distinct, separated (a way of playing bowed instruments by bouncing the bow on the string, giving characteristic staccato effect)
- Tacet: Silent; Do not play
- Tempo: Speed of music
- Tempo Marking: An instruction in the music that indicates to the performer the specific tempo of the piece of music.
- Tenor: A high-ranged male voice
- Tenuto: Sustained, hold the note for the full value
- Tie: The curved line that connect two adjacent notes of the same pitch, thus combining their durations
- Timbre: The unique quality of the sound (tone color)
- Time: In a jazz or rock score, after a rubato or rallentando section, the term “time” indicates that performers should return to tempo (this is equivalent to the term “a tempo”)
- Time Signature: The set of numbers at the beginning of a piece of music that show the meter
- Tonic: First scale degree or the first note of a scale or key
- Tonic Key: the “home” key of a tonal composition
- Treble Clef: A sign used to show higher pitches on the staff
- Treble Clef Spaces: F A C E
- Trill: Play back and forth between one note and the note above as fast as the performer can
- Trio: A musical composition for three instruments or voices, or a group of three performers.
- Triplet: three notes played in the rhythmic space of two notes of identical value
- Trombone: a brass instrument that changes pitch via a moveable slide. A trombone can be a Tenor Trombone which is the tenor sound in the brass family or the Bass Trombone which is the bass sound in the Brass family.
- Trumpet: a valved brass instrument that is the soprano of the brass family
- Tuba: a large, valved brass instrument, the bass of the brass family
- Tutti: Performed by the entire ensemble or (Italian for “all” or “everyone) an indication for all performers to play together
- Tessitura: The “best” or most comfortable pitch range, generally used to identify the most prominent / common vocal range within a piece of music
- Tonality: Music centered around a “home” key (based on a major or minor scale)
- Tone Cluster: a modern technique of extreme harmonic dissonance created by a large block of pitches sounding simultaneously
- Tone Color: the unique, characteristic sound of a musical instrument or voice
- Tremolo: An effect musicians can put on a sustained note to create a trembling sound. Usually, it takes shape in the form of repeating the same note very quickly.
- Texture: The depth of the music
- Through-Composed: One continuous line of pitches that evolve
- Troppo: Too much; usually seen as non troppo, meaning not too much
- Turn: Multi-note ornament above and below the main note; it may also be inverted
- Tempo Rubato: Stolen time; an expressive way of performing a rhythm
- Ternary: Having three parts. In particular, referring to a three-part musical form with the parts represented by letters: ABA
- Tranquillo: Calm, peaceful
- Tresillo: A duple-pulse rhythmic cell in Cuban and other Latin American music
- Unison: two or more musical parts sounding the same pitch, or an octave interval, at the same time
- Unisono: In unison
- Unison: two or more musical parts sounding the same pitch, or an octave interval, at the same time
- Unisono: In unison
- Up-tempo: A fast, lively, or increased tempo, or played in such a tempo
- Vibrato: A rapid repeated slight change in the pitch of a note
- Violin: the soprano instrument of the string family
- Viola: the alto instrument of the string family
- Virtuoso: Performing with exceptional ability, technique, or artistry
- Vivace: A fast and lively tempo (BPM/140-176)
- Vocal Score: A music score of an opera, or a vocal or choral composition with orchestra (like oratorio or cantata) where the vocal parts are written out in full, but the accompaniment is reduced to two staves and adapted for playing on piano
- Vamp: Improvised accompaniment, usually a repeating pattern played before next musical passage.
- Vivacissimo: A very fast tempo, faster than vivace (BPM/172-176)
- Veloce: Fast
- Vittorioso: Victorious
- Voce: Voice
- Vivo: Lively, intense
- Volante: Flying, moving with light rapidity
- Whole Notes: A note that lasts for the whole measure (bar) of any time signature
- Wind Instruments: All musical instruments in which a column of air is set into vibration by the player blowing into a mouthpiece.
- Woodwinds: A family of instruments within the general category of wind instruments. The two main types of woodwind instruments are flutes and reed instruments. It is the way these instruments make sound by splitting the air blown into them on a sharp edge, such as a reed or a fipple. (Fipple – a constricted mouthpiece common to flutes.) The instruments within the Woodwind family – Piccolo, Flute, Recorder, Oboe, English Horn, Eb Clarinet, Bb Clarinet, Alto Clarinet, Bass Clarinet, Contra-Bass Clarinet, Bassoon, Contrabassoon, Soprano Saxophone, Alto Saxophone, Tenor Saxophone, and Baritone Saxophone.
- Work Song: A song closely connected to a form of work, either sung while conducting a task (usually to coordinate timing) or a song linked to a task which might be a connected narrative, description, or protest.
- Zydeco: is an American form (genre) that evolved in southwest Louisiana within the French Creole community which blends blues, rhythm and blues, and music indigenous to the Louisiana Creoles and the Native American people of Louisiana.
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- Simple Meters – Beats subdivided into two parts (Time Signatures 2/4, 3/4, 4/4)
- Sixteenth Notes – Four of these notes equal one quarter note (or two eight notes)
- Slur – The joining of two notes without tonguing
- Solo - is a piece or a section of a piece played or sung featuring a single performer, who may be performing completely alone or supported by an accompanying instrument such as a piano or organ, or the rest of a choir, orchestra, band, or other ensemble.
- Sonata – An extended composition for instruments (not vocal) and can have several movements
- Song – a musical composition intended to be performed by the human voice. The structure of a song is lyrics set to a melody usually with accompaniment.
- Soprano – The highest range of a woman’s voice
- Sostenuto – sustained. (Sostenuto notes or musical passages require the performer to play each note beyond its normal value)
- Staccato – Short, detached, light notes
- Staff – A Grid with 5 lines and 4 spaces where music notation is written
- Stanza – A verse of a song
- Stem – Vertical line that is directly connected to the note head
- Strings – A family of instruments that produce sound from vibrating strings when the performer plays or sounds the strings in some manner. Performers plays string instruments by plucking the strings with their fingers, by hitting the strings with a light wooden hammer, or by rubbing the strings with a bow. Instruments within the string family: violin, viola, cello, double bass, harp, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, bass guitar, harpsichord, banjo, mandolin, and lute.
- Subito – Suddenly, quickly
- Syncopation – a rhythm that accents a weak beat instead of a strong beat
- Tacet – Silent; Do not play
- Tempo – Speed of music
- Tempo Marking – An instruction in the music that indicates to the performer the specific tempo of the piece of music.
- Tenor – A high-ranged male voice
- Tenuto – Sustained, hold the note for the full value
- Tie – The curved line that connect two adjacent notes of the same pitch, thus combining their durations
- Timbre – The unique quality of the sound (tone color)
- Time – In a jazz or rock score, after a rubato or rallentando section, the term “time” indicates that performers should return to tempo (this is equivalent to the term “a tempo”)
- Time Signature – The set of numbers at the beginning of a piece of music that show the meter
- Tonic – First scale degree or the first note of a scale or key
- Tonic Key – the “home” key of a tonal composition
- Treble Clef – A sign used to show higher pitches on the staff
- Treble Clef Lines - E G B D F
- Treble Clef Spaces – F A C E
- Trill – Play back and forth between one note and the note above as fast as the performer can
- Trio – A musical composition for three instruments or voices, or a group of three performers.
- Triplet – three notes played in the rhythmic space of two notes of identical value
- Trombone – a brass instrument that changes pitch via a moveable slide. A trombone can be a Tenor Trombone which is the tenor sound in the brass family or the Bass Trombone which is the bass sound in the Brass family.
- Trumpet – a valved brass instrument that is the soprano of the brass family
- Tuba – a large, valved brass instrument, the bass of the brass family
- Tutti – Performed by the entire ensemble or (Italian for “all” or “everyone) an indication for all performers to play together
- Unison – two or more musical parts sounding the same pitch, or an octave interval, at the same time
- Unisono – In unison
- Vibrato – A rapid repeated slight change in the pitch of a note
- Viola – the alto instrument of the string family
- Violin – the soprano instrument of the string family
- Virtuoso – Performing with exceptional ability, technique, or artistry
- Vivace – A fast and lively tempo (BPM/140-176)
- Vocal Score – A music score of an opera, or a vocal or choral composition with orchestra (like oratorio or cantata) where the vocal parts are written out in full, but the accompaniment is reduced to two staves and adapted for playing on piano
- Whole Notes – A note that lasts for the whole measure (bar) of any time signature
- Wind Ensemble - a musical performance group made up of instruments from the woodwind, brass, and percussion families of musical instruments. Typically, the size of the group numbers about 45 musicians
- Wind Instruments – All musical instruments in which a column of air is set into vibration by the player blowing into a mouthpiece.
- Woodwinds – A family of instruments within the general category of wind instruments. The two main types of woodwind instruments are flutes and reed instruments. It is the way these instruments make sound by splitting the air blown into them on a sharp edge, such as a reed or a fipple. (Fipple – a constricted mouthpiece common to flutes.) The instruments within the Woodwind family – Piccolo, Flute, Recorder, Oboe, English Horn, Eb Clarinet, Bb Clarinet, Alto Clarinet, Bass Clarinet, Contra-Bass Clarinet, Bassoon, Contrabassoon, Soprano Saxophone, Alto Saxophone, Tenor Saxophone, and Baritone Saxophone.
- Adagissimo – Very, very slow
- Alla Breve – in cut-time; two beats per measure
- Allegretto – A moderately fast tempo, slightly slower than allegro (BPM/112-120)
- Allegro Moderato - A moderately fast tempo, slightly slower than allegro (BPM/116-120)
- Amore – Love; con amore: with love, tenderly
- Andante Moderato – A moderately walking pace tempo, faster than andante (BPM/92-112)
- Appassionate – Passionately
- Appassionato – intensely, passionately
- Arioso – Airy, or like an air; melodious
- Bebop - a style popular in the 1940’s and 50’s which features compositions characterized by a fast tempo, complex chord progressions with rapid chord changes and numerous changes of key, instrumental virtuosity, and improvisation.
- Ben – Well; in ben marcato (“well marked”)
- Breath Mark - is a symbol used in musical notation that directs the performer of the music passage to take a breath (for wind instruments and vocalists) or to make a slight pause
- Brillante – Brilliantly, with sparkle. Play in a showy and spirited style.
- Brio – Vigor; usually in con brio; with spirit and vigor
- Broken Chord – a chord in which the notes are not all played at once, but in some more or less consistent sequence. They may follow singly one after the other, or two notes may be immediately followed by another two.
- Canon (Round) - a musical composition originally for voices (adopted in instrumental parts) that sing or play the same music starting at different times. A round is a type of canon, but in a round each voice, when it finishes, can start at the beginning again so that the piece can go “round and round”
- Cantabile – in a singing style
- Cantata – A composition in several movements, written for chorus, soloists, and orchestra. Traditionally, these are religious works.
- Codetta – a small coda, but usually applied to a passage appended to a section of a movement, not to the whole movement
- Coloratura –
- Coloratura –
- Common Time – The time signature 4/4: four beats per measure, each beat is a quarter note in length. 4/4 is often on the musical staff as C
- Comp
- Comp
- Comp
- Comping – to comp: action of accompanying
- Contralto – Lowest female singing voice type
- Countertenor - (also contra tenor) is a type of a classic male singing voice whose vocal range is equivalent to that of the female contralto or mezzo soprano
- Divisi (div.) – Divided (i.e. in a part in which several musicians normally play exactly the same notes they are instead to split playing of the written simultaneous notes among themselves); the return from divisi is marked unisono or unison
- Dominant – Fifth scale degree
- Double Stop – The technique of playing two notes simultaneously on a bowed string instrument
- Drammatico – Dramatic
- Duration – the length of sound
- Embouchure – The use of the lips, facial muscles, tongue, and teeth in playing a wind instrument.
- Falsetto - A vocal technique that allows a male to sing in a much higher, lighter register
- Folk Music – Music (or songs) transmitted orally from one generation to the next, usually with an unknown composer/songwriter, or formed by custom over a long period of time. Folk Music is identified by people groups, national culture, religious heritage, and celebrated events.
- Fortepiano – (fp) Dynamic mark denoting loud, then immediately soft
- G.P. – Grand Pause, General Pause; indicates to the performers that the entire ensemble has a rest of indeterminate length, often as a dramatic effect during a loud section
- Glissando – to slide in pitch from note to note
- Homophonic Texture: 1) a main melody supported by chords; 2) a texture in which voices on different pitches sing the same words simultaneously (example – a Hymn)
- Hook – A musical idea, often a short riff, passage, or phrase, that is used in popular music to make a song appealing and to “catch the ear of the listener.”
- Improvisation – The “on-the-spot” creation of music while it is being performed. Made popular in the jazz performance style.
- Largamente – Broadly (i.e. slowly) (same as largo)
- Larghetto – A rather slow and broad tempo, slightly faster than largo (BPM/60-66)
- Larghissimo – A extremely slow tempo, slower than largo (BPM/25-and below)
- Leading Tone – Seventh scale degree
- Leap or Stepwise – Leap: more than one step away / Step: one note or half a step
- Lento – A slow tempo (BPM/45-60)
- Liturgical Music – music (or chants or songs) originated as a part of religious ceremony.
- M.M. – Metronome Marking
- Maggiore – The major key
- Marcia – A march; alla marcia means in the manner of a march
- Mediant – Third scale degree
- Medley – Piece composed from parts of existing pieces, usually three or more, played one after another, sometimes overlapping.
- Melisma – One syllable sung to several notes
- Melodic Contour – The shape of a melodic phrase, rising or falling in pitch
- Minore – Minor key
- Moderato – A moderately paced tempo, faster than andantino (BPM/108-120)
- Monophonic Texture – a single-line texture with no harmony
- Morendo – Dying (i.e. dying away in dynamics, and perhaps also in tempo)
- Motet – an unaccompanied choral composition based on a sacred Latin text, it was the first example of contrapuntal composition technique.
- Musical Texture – how the melodic, rhythmic, and harmonic materials are combined in a composition, thus determining the overall quality of the sound in a musical composition
- Oratorio – is a large musical composition for orchestra, choir, and soloists. Like opera, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an instrumental ensemble, various distinguishable characters, and arias.
- Patter Song – a song characterized by a moderately fast to very fast tempo with a rapid succession of rhythmic patterns in which each syllable of the text corresponds to one note. The lyric of a patter song generally features tong-twisting text with alliterative words and other consonant, or vowel sounds that are intended to be entertaining to listen to a rapid speed. (Alliteration – repetition of identical initial consonant sounds in successive or closely associated syllables within a group of words. Example: “potential power play” or “Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.”)
- Pedal (or Ped) – in piano scores, this instructs the player to press the damper pedal to sustain the note or chord being played
- Pianissimo – (pp) Dynamic mark denoting very soft
- Pianississimo – (ppp) Dynamic mark denoting as soft as possible
- Polyphonic Texture – When two or more independent melodic lines are sounding at the same time
- Prestissimo - A extremely fast tempo, faster than presto (BPM/200 – and above)
- Rhapsody – a one-movement piece of music that explores multiple free-flowing sections that do not necessarily relate to one another.
- Riff – A repeated chord progression or refrain
- Rondo – a musical form (or song structure) consisting of multiple repeating sections
- Run – A rapid series of ascending or descending musical notes which are closely spaced in pitch forming a scale, arpeggio, or such pattern
- Segno – The beginning or end of a repeat
- Senza – Without
- Senza Misura – Without measures
- Senza Sordino – Without a mute
- Serioso – Seriously
- Smorzando – Extinguishing or dampening; usually interpreted as a drop in dynamics, and very often in tempo as well
- Sonatina – A little sonata
- Sordina – a mute or a muted tone
- Staccatissimo – (staccatiss.) Shortened and extremely separated notes
- Stringendo – Gradually faster
- Sub-Dominant – Fourth scale degree
- Sub-Mediant – Sixth scale degree
- Supertonic - the second degree of the diatonic scale
- Tessitura – The “best” or most comfortable pitch range, generally used to identify the most prominent / common vocal range within a piece of music
- Tonality – Music centered around a “home” key (based on a major or minor scale)
- Tone Cluster – a modern technique of extreme harmonic dissonance created by a large block of pitches sounding simultaneously
- Tone Color – the unique, characteristic sound of a musical instrument or voice
- Tremolo – An effect musicians can put on a sustained note to create a trembling sound. Usually, it takes shape in the form of repeating the same note very quickly.
- Vamp – Improvised accompaniment, usually a repeating pattern played before next musical passage.
- Vivacissimo – A very fast tempo, faster than vivace (BPM/172-176)
- Accarezzevole – Expressive and caressing
- Acciaccatura – a very fast grace note that is “crushed” against the note that follows and takes no value in the measure
- Alla Marcia – in the style of a march
- Allegrezza – Cheerfully, joyfully
- Allegrissimo – A very fast tempo, faster than allegro (BPM/172-176)
- Anacrusis – Italian word for a pick-up note
- Antiphon – A liturgical or other composition consisting of choral responses, sometimes between two choirs
- Antiphonal – a style of composition in which two sections of singers or instrumentalists exchange sections or music one after the other; typically, the performers are on different sides of a performance venue.
- Assai – very
- Atonality – Modern harmony that intentionally avoids a tonal center (has no apparent home key)
- Basso Continuo – a bass accompaniment part played continuously throughout a piece by a chordal instrument (pipe organ, harpsichord, lute, etc.), often with a bass instrument, to give harmonic structure; used especially in the Baroque period.
- Binary – A musical (song) form in two sections: AB
- Bitonality - Modern music sounding in two different keys simultaneously
- Cantilena – a vocal melody or instrumental passage in a smooth, lyrical style
- Colossale – Enormous, immense
- Compound Meters – Beats subdivided into three parts (Time Signatures 6/8, 9/8, 12/8)
- Con – with
- Con Sordino – with mute
- Contour – The shape of the melodic line as rising or falling
- Countermelody – A secondary melodic idea that accompanies and opposes a main thematic idea
- Counterpoint – a musical composition that employees the use of two or more melodies at the same time
- Dal Segno – from the sign
- Dal Segno al Fine – from the sign to the finish
- Disjunct – An adjective applied to a melodic line which moves by leaps (intervals of more than a 2nd) as opposed to conjunct motion (by step)
- Dissonante – Dissonant
- Dolce – Sweet; con dolcezza: with sweetness
- Double Dot – two dots placed side by side after a note to indicate that it is to be lengthened by three quarters of the value
- Elegy – in the form of a lament
- Energico- energetically
- Fantasia – A piece not adhering to any strict musical form: can also be used in con fantasia: With imagination
- Fill – A jazz or rock term which instructs performers to improvise a scalar passage or riff to “fill in” the brief time between lyrical phrases, the lines of melody, or between two sections
- Form - Design and structure of the music
- Forza – Force; con forza: with force
- Forzando – forcefully accented
- Fugue - a contrapuntal compositional technique in two or more voices, built on a subject (a musical theme) that is introduced at the beginning in imitation (repetition at different pitches) and which recurs frequently in the course of the composition.
- Fusion - The blending of jazz and rock styles
- Grace Note – An extra note added as an embellishment and not essential to the harmony or melody
- Grave – A very slow tempo (BPM/25-45)
- Grazioso – Graceful
- In Alt – Octave above the treble staff
- Intensity – the loudness or softness of a sound
- Jete – a bowing technique in which the player is instructed to let the bow bounce or jump off the strings.
- Leggiero – light or light-hearted
- Libero – Free
- Loco – [in] place, i.e. perform the notes at the pitch written, generally used to cancel an 8va or 8vb direction, in string music, also to indicate return to normal playing position
- Lunga – (shortened form of the Italian lungapausa, meaning "long pause") is sometimes added above a fermata to indicate a longer duration, the length of which is at the discretion of the performer rather than note values.
- Ma – But
- Ma Non Tanto – But not so much
- Ma Non Troppo – But not too much
- Magnifico – Magnificent
- Mano Destra – (m.d.) Right hand
- Mano Sinsitra – (m.s.) Left hand
- Martellato – Hammered out
- Meno – Less
- Meno Mosso - Less motion, slower
- Mixed Meters – The shifting between meters
- Multi Measure (Bar) Rest – Rest for the number of measures (bars) shown
- Non – Not
- Octet - A musical composition for eight singers or instrumental performers; or a group of eight performers.
- Pastorale – In a pastoral style, peaceful and simple
- Pausa – Rest
- Pesante – Heavy, ponderous
- Piu - More
- Piu Mosso – More motion, faster
- Prim Volta – The first time; for example, prima volta senza accompagnamento (the first time without accompaniment)
- Prima Donna – Leading female singer in an opera company
- Prima or Primo – First
- Quintet – A musical composition for five singers or instrumental performers; or a group of five performers.
- Rapido – Fast
- Recapitulation – one of the sections of a movement written in sonata form. The recapitulation occurs after the movement’s development section, and typically presents again the musical themes from the movement’s exposition.
- Ritenuto – (riten.) Immediately slower
- Ritornello – A recurring passage
- Saltando – For string instruments bouncing the bow as in a staccato arpeggio
- Scatenato -Unchained, wild
- Scordatura – Technique of altering the normal tuning of a stringed instrument to produce particular effects.
- Segue – “it follows” / to be carried on to the next section without pause
- Semplice – Simple
- Sentimento – Feeling, emotional
- Sextet – A musical composition for six singers or instrumental performers; or a group of six performers.
- Sforzando – (sfp) Strong attack and then immediately soft
- Sonoro – with full sound
- Sotto Voce – in an undertone; quietly
- Sound Properties – Pitch, intensity, duration, timbre
- Spinto – Pushed
- Spirito – Spirited
- Syllabic – One syllable sung to each note
- Texture – The depth of the music
- Through-Composed – One continuous line of pitches that evolve
- Troppo – Too much; usually seen as non troppo, meaning not too much
- Turn – Multi-note ornament above and below the main note; it may also be inverted
- Veloce – Fast
- Vittorioso – Victorious
- Voce – Voice
- Whole Tone Scale - a scale in which each note is separated from its neighbors by the interval of a whole tone
- Ambitus – Range between the highest and lowest note
- Anima – with animation, spirited
- Asymmetric Meters - Meters with an uneven number of subdivisions (Time Signatures 7/4, 5/8)
- Attacca – attack or attach; go straight on (i.e., at the end of a movement, a direction to attach the next movement to the previous one, without gap or pause) Often used as “attacca subito” meaning a “sudden” movement transition (literally, “attack suddenly”)
- Bravura – Boldness; as in con bravura, boldly, flaunting technical skill
- Capriccio – A humorous, fanciful, or bizarre, composition, often characterized by an idiosyncratic departure from current stylistic norms.
- Chant - A monophonic melody sung in a free rhythm. Most often referenced as sacred music, the early music of the Catholic church
- Collegium Musicum – a university ensemble dedicated to the performance of early music (pre-1750)
- Decelerando – Slowing down; decelerating; opposite of accelerando (same as ritardando or rallentando)
- Delicato – Delicate
- Energico – Energetic, strong
- Focoso – Fiery (i.e., passionate) – a song transmitted orally and performed by custom over a long period of time
- Fuoco – Fire: con fuoco: with fire, in a fiery manner
- Gentile – Gentle
- Giocoso – in a fun and carefree manner, most often at a higher tempo
- Imitation - the repetition of a melody in a polyphonic texture shortly after its first appearance in a different voice
- Lamentando – Lamenting, mournfully
- Lamentoso – Lamenting, mournfully
- Mixed Meters – The shifting between meters
- Mordent – Rapid alternation of a note with the note immediately below or above it in the scale, sometimes further distinguished as lower mordent and upper mordent. The term “Inverted mordent” usually refers to the upper mordent.
- Multi Measure (Bar) Rest – Rest for the number of measures (bars) shown
- Ostinato – a specific rhythmic pattern that repeats throughout a piece of music or song. (Similar to a motif)
- Pan – in audio production refers to the stereo direction of the audio signal. For example, when an audio signal is fully panned to the left it will come from the left side of a stereo speaker
- Pezzo – a composition
- Pomposo – Pompous, ceremonious
- Quasi – Almost (e.g., quasi recitativo almost a recitative)
- Ragtime – a style of piano music developed in the late 1800’s to the beginning of the 1900’s in a march-like tempo with a right-hand syncopated melody against an “oom-pah” left hand accompaniment.
- Recitativo – Recitative (lyrics not to be sung but to be recited, imitating the natural inflections of speech)
- Sforzato – (sf) Dynamic mark denoting suddenly accented
- Stentando – Labored, heavy, in a dragging manner, holding back each note
- Stretto – Tight, narrow (faster or hastening ahead)
- Tempo Rubato – Stolen time; an expressive way of performing a rhythm
- Ternary – Having three parts. In particular, referring to a three-part musical form with the parts represented by letters: ABA
- Unison – two or more musical parts sounding the same pitch, or an octave interval, at the same time
- Unisono – In unison
- Vivo – Lively, intense
- Affetto -with affect (that is, with emotion)
- Affrettando – Hurrying, pressing forward
- Arco – the bow used for playing some string instruments (i.e., played with the bow, as opposed to pizzicato, in music for bowed instruments) normally used to cancel a pizzicato direction.
- Bellicoso – Warlike, aggressive (English – Bellicose)
- Col Legno – with the wood (i.e., the strings of a violin) are to be struck with the wood of the bow, making a percussive sound; also battuto col legno: beaten with the wood
- Conjunct – an adjective applied to a melodic line that moves by step (intervals of a 2nd) rather in disjunct motion (by leap).
- Doloroso – Sorrowful, plaintive
- Drone – Bass note or chord performed continuously throughout a composition
- En Mesure – in time
- Espirando – Expiring (i.e., dying away)
- Furioso - Rapidly and with passion
- Gregorian Chant – (genre) monophonic, non-metered melodies set to Latin sacred text
- Hemiola – The imposition of a pattern of rhythm or articulation other than that implied by the time signature; specifically, in triple time (for example ¾) the imposition of a duple pattern (as if the time signature were, for example, 2/4).
- In Stand – A term for brass players that requires them to direct the bell of their instrument into the music stand, instead of up and toward the audience, thus muting the sound but without changing the timbre as a mute would
- Lilt – A jaunty rhythm
- Lo Stesso – The same; applied to the manner of articulation, tempo, etc.
- Ma – But
- Ma Non Tanto – But not so much
- Ma Non Troppo – But not too much
- Mano Destra – (m.d.) Right hand
- Mano Sinistra – (m.s.) Left hand
- Nonet - A musical composition for nine singers or instrumental performers; or a group of nine performers
- One-Voice-Per-Part (OVPP) – The practice of using solo voices on each musical line or part in choral music
- Picardy Third – a harmonic device used in classical music. It refers to the use of a major chord of the tonic at the end of a musical section (or the entire composition) that is either modal or in a minor key.
- Portamento – (port.) A smooth side from one note to another
- Quintuplet – A rhythmic notation that instructs the performer to play five notes in the space a quarter notes uses. (Similar to a triplet)
- Rinforzando – (rfz or rf) Reinforced
- Sopra – for keyboard players; a directive to cross hands in a composition
- Spiccato – Distinct, separated (a way of playing bowed instruments by bouncing the bow on the string, giving characteristic staccato effect)
- Tranquillo – Calm, peaceful
- Tresillo – A duple-pulse rhythmic cell in Cuban and other Latin American music
- Up-tempo – A fast, lively, or increased tempo, or played in such a tempo
- Volante – Flying, moving with light rapidity
- Work Song – A song closely connected to a form of work, either sung while conducting a task (usually to coordinate timing) or a song linked to a task which might be a connected narrative, description, or protest.
- Zydeco – is an American form (genre) that evolved in southwest Louisiana within the French Creole community which blends blues, rhythm and blues, and music indigenous to the Louisiana Creoles and the Native American people of Louisiana.
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Level I Musical Terms
- A Poco – a little, gradually
- A Tempo – in time, generally implies a return to an original rate of speed
- Accelerando – gradually faster
- Accent – A marking above or below a note to show that the note should be stressed or emphasized
- Accidental – A sign written before a note that changes the pitch of that note for an entire measure
- Accompaniment – The musical part which provides the rhythmic and harmonic support for the melody or main themes of a song or instrumental piece
- Acoustic – Relating to music produced by instruments, as opposed to electric or electronic means
- Ad Libitum – At pleasure (often regard to tempo or style)
- Adagietto – A rather slow tempo, slightly faster than the adagio (BPM/140-176)
- Adagio – very slow
- Agitato – agitated, rapid
- Al Fine – to the finish
- Allargando – Broadening, becoming progressively slower
- Allegro – rapid, lively
- Alto – A low ranged woman’s voice
- Andante – moderately slow, but moving
- Andantino – generally a little quicker than andante
- Animato – Animated, lively, spirited
- Anthem – a musical composition of celebration, usually used as a symbol for a distinct group, particularly the national anthems of countries. Most often the celebratory text is of a religious context and is set for four-part choirs. This type of choral work is also referred to as an “anthem.”
- Aria – A self-contained piece for one voice. Most often found in Opera
- Arpeggio - Chord notes played in succession rather than simultaneously
- Art Song – A musical setting of artistic poetry for solo voice accompanied by piano or orchestra
- Articulation – The way a single note is sounded
- Ascending and Descending – Pitches rising or getting lower
- Balance – Each part playing at the right volume so everything can be heard
- Ballad – A song with a slower tempo that is emotionally-driven and tells a story.
- Band – A group of musicians performing music of a specialized type. Traditionally a band consists of brass, woodwinds, and percussion.
- Bar Line – A thin vertical line that separates measures
- Baritone – A moderately low male voice; in range between tenor and bass
- Bass - the lowest male voice-type in a mixed chorus, or any one of various musical instruments that roughly correspond to the human bass voice.
- Bass Clef – A sign used to show lower pitches on the staff
- Bass Clef Lines – G B D F A
- Bass Clef Spaces – A C E G
- Beam – Horizontal or diagonal line used to connect multiple consecutive notes
- Beat – Basic unit of time; the pulse
- Beats Per Minute – (BMP) The number of beats that occur in a piece of music every minute.
- Brass – A family of musical instruments which produces sound by air passing through the vibration of the performer’s lips. Instruments within the Brass family – Trumpet, Cornet, Flugelhorn, French Horn, Mellophone, Trombone, Bass-Trombone, Euphonium, Tuba, and Sousaphone.
- Bridge
- Bridge
- Cadence - A melodic or harmonic punctuation mark at the end of a phrase, major section, or the end of the entire work (a resting place in the melody)
- Cadenza - An unaccompanied section of virtuosic display performed by a soloist in a concerto
- Capo
- Capo
- Cello – The tenor-ranged instrument of the string family (also called violoncello)
- Chamber Music – A musical genre where the music is performed by a small group of performers (one performer per part). It can also be a reference for a solo with accompaniment.
- Choir – A group of singers performing music of a specialized type.
- Chorale – A sacred four-part musical style where the melody is in the soprano line and each note has its own harmonic progression. A chorale is often referred to as a hymn
- Chord - A harmonic combination with multiple pitches sounding simultaneously
- Chord Progression – In a musical composition it is a succession of chords
- Chromatic – by half-steps (semitones)
- Chromatic Scale – A scale by half-steps
- Coda – the final added measures of a musical composition
- Composer – A person who writes an original piece of music
- Concerto – composition for instrumental soloist in multi-movements
- Conductor – The leader of a performing group of musicians
- Count – Series of regularly occurring sounds to assist with ready identification of beat
- Crescendo – gradually louder
- Cut Time – Same as the meter 2/2 two half-note beats per measure. Notated and executed like common time except with the beat lengths doubled. Indicated by . This comes from a literal cut of the symbol of common time. Thus, a quarter note in cut time is only half a beat long, and a measure has only two beats. See also alla breve.
- Da Capo – from the beginning
- Decrescendo – Gradually decreasing volume (same as diminuendo)
- Diminuendo – gradually softer
- Dot – The sign added to a note or rest that increases its duration by one-half
- Double Bar Line – The thin line followed by a thick line written after the final measure of a piece of music. It denotes the end of the composition
- Double Bass – the lowest (bass) sounding instrument of the string family
- Downbeat– The first beat of a measure (usually accented more strongly than other beats)
- Duet – Composition performed by two performers
- Dynamics - Intensity of sound
- Eighth Notes – Two of these notes equal the time of one quarter note
- Eighth Rest – A rest for half a beat
- Encore – Again (i.e., a request to perform once more a passage or piece); a performer returning to the stage to perform an unlisted piece
- Ensemble – a group of performers
- Etude – a study
- Euphonium – a valved brass instrument that is the baritone in the brass family
- Expressivo, espress. or espr. – Expressive or with expression
- Fermata – A mark used above a note that indicates that a note should be played or sung longer than its normal value, or a hold or pause
- Film Music – Music that serves either as background or foreground material for a movie
- Fine – A term of music direction showing where to end a piece of music
- First Ending – The first measure or group of measures that the performer plays or sings when repeating a section of music that has multiple endings.
- Flat – An accidental that lowers a note’s pitch a half step.
- Flat Key Signature Name – Second to last flat is the name of key
- Forte – loud
- Fortissimo – very loud
- French Horn – a valved brass instrument of medium range considered the alto in the brass family
- Grand Staff – Treble and Bass Clef Staves joined by a bracket
- Grandioso – Grand, solemn
- Guitar – a six-stringed fretted instrument
- Harmony – two or more pitches sounded at the same time to create purposefully a pleasant or unpleasant sound
- Harp – a plucked instrument having strings stretched on a triangular frame
- Interval - The distance between two pitches
- Key Signature – A list of sharps or flats at the beginning of a staff line that indicate what scale, (key), is in use.
- Keyboardist – A musician who plays an instrument with a keyboard. In Classical music, this may refer to instruments such as the piano, pipe organ, harpsichord, and so on. In a jazz or popular music context, this may refer to instruments such as the piano, electric piano, synthesizer, Hammond organ, and so on.
- Largo - large and slow-moving pace
- Lead Sheet - A form of musical notation that specifies the essential elements of a popular song: the melody, lyrics, and harmony. The melody is written in modern Western music notation, the lyric is written as text below the staff and the harmony is denoted with chord symbols above the staff.
- Ledger Line – A short, horizonal line that allows a note to be written outside the staff.
- Love Song – a song about romantic love, falling in love, heartbreak after a breakup, and the feelings that these experiences bring.
- Lullaby – (or cradle song) is a soothing song or piece of music that is usually played for, or sung to, children.
- Madrigal – A secular vocal music composition of the Renaissance and early Baroque eras. Traditionally, polyphonic madrigals are unaccompanied; the number of voices varies from two to eight, and most frequently from three to six.
- Maestoso – Majestically, in a grand style
- Marcato – Marked with emphasis
- Measure – The standard of measurement in music in which bar lies separate rhythms into manageable sections
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- Melody – (tune) is a succession of musical tones that the listener perceives as a single entity. In its most literal sense, a melody is a combination of rhythm and pitch that make a complete musical sentence.
- Meter – Groups of beats in a recurring pattern with accentuation on strong beats. Meter is denoted by the time signature.
- Metronome – A device that measures beats per minute.
- Metronome Marking – Another term from tempo marking, which indicates the number of beats per minute.
- Mezzo – Half
- Mezzo Forte – (mf) Dynamic mark denoting moderately loud
- Mezzo Piano – (mp) Dynamic mark denoting moderately soft
- Mezzo Soprano – a dramatic woman’s voice that combines the power of an alto with primary high range of a soprano
- Modesto – Modest
- Modulation – Moving from one key center to another key center
- Molto- Very
- Natural – An accidental that cancels a sharp or flat
- Nocturne – A piece written for the night
- Octave – The interval distance of 8 notes. This eighth note interval has a sound-wave frequency of vibration twice that of its lower note.
- Opera - A form of theatre in which music has a leading role and the parts are taken by singers, but is distinct from musical theatre.[1] This story based musical production is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librettist and incorporates a number of the performing arts, such as acting, scenery, costume, and sometimes dance or ballet. An opera is accompanied by an orchestra or smaller musical ensemble.
- Orchestra – A group of musicians performing music of a specialized type. Traditionally orchestra consists of strings, brass, woodwinds, and percussion.
- Order of Flats – B E A D G C F
- Order of Sharps – F C G D A E B
- Overture – An orchestral composition forming the prelude or introduction of an opera, oratorio, Broadway musical, etc.
- Percussion – A family of musical instruments that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped, or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. The instruments within the Percussion family – Bells, Snare Drum, Bass Rum, Timpani, Crash Cymbals Bongos, Tri-Toms, Chimes, Tambourine, Cowbell, Handbells, Marimba, Steel Drums, Temple Blocks, Gong, Triangle, Vibraphone, Wood Block, Xylophone, Hammered Dulcimer, and Piano.
- Phrase – A musical unit with a terminal point or cadence. Lengths of phrases can vary.
- Phrasing - Performing notes in a musical way – not all notes are equal
- Piano – (p) Dynamic mark denoting very softy
- Pitch – the highness or lowness of a sound
- Pizzicato – (pizz.) Plucked with the finger rather than the bow
- Poco – Little
- Poco a Poco – Little by little
- Prelude – A musical introduction to subsequent movements during the Baroque area.
- Presto – a very fast tempo (BPM/168-200)
- Quarter Note – One beat of playing or singing / a basic pulse in time
- Quarter Tone – a music interval that is half of a semitone, or a quarter of a whole tone
- Quartet – A musical composition for four singers or instrumental performers; or a group of four performers.
- Rallentando – (rall.) Gradually slower
- Range – The distance between the lowest and highest pitches, usually referred to in the context of vocal ranges or melody
- Rap – a style of popular music developed by Afro-Americans in the 1970, in which the lyrics are spoken over rhythm tracks
- Religioso – Religious
- Repeat Sign – Repeat the previous section
- Reprise – Repetition of a phrase or verse; return to the original theme
- Rest - intervals of silence in pieces of music, marked by symbols indicating the length of the pause.
- Rhythm – Arrangement of pitches of varying lengths or duration
- Ritardando – (rit.) Gradually slower
- Rubato – In free time, no steady beat
- Sacred Music – Music composed for a religious purpose, often for the church liturgy
- Scherzo – a short orchestral piece of music
- Second Ending – The second measure or group of measures that the performer plays or sings after repeating the denoted section following the repeat from the First ending. (Play this the second time you play the repeat)
- Secular Music – Music composed for non-religious purposes.
- Semitone – the smallest interval in classical Western music, equal to a twelfth of an octave or half a tone
- Sempre – Always
- Sharp – An accidental that raises a note’s pitch a half step
- Sharp Key Signature Names – One note higher than last sharp is the name of key
- Sight Reading – Playing or singing for the first time a musical piece never seen before
- Simile – In a similar way
- Simile Bar (Measure) – A denoted sign that indicates that the previous measure should be repeated
- Simple Meters – Beats subdivided into two parts (Time Signatures 2/4, 3/4, 4/4)
- Sixteenth Notes – Four of these notes equal one quarter note (or two eight notes)
- Slur – The joining of two notes without tonguing
- Solo - is a piece or a section of a piece played or sung featuring a single performer, who may be performing completely alone or supported by an accompanying instrument such as a piano or organ, or the rest of a choir, orchestra, band, or other ensemble.
- Sonata – An extended composition for instruments (not vocal) and can have several movements
- Song – a musical composition intended to be performed by the human voice. The structure of a song is lyrics set to a melody usually with accompaniment.
- Soprano – The highest range of a woman’s voice
- Sostenuto – sustained. (Sostenuto notes or musical passages require the performer to play each note beyond its normal value)
- Staccato – Short, detached, light notes
- Staff – A Grid with 5 lines and 4 spaces where music notation is written
- Stanza – A verse of a song
- Stem – Vertical line that is directly connected to the note head
- Strings – A family of instruments that produce sound from vibrating strings when the performer plays or sounds the strings in some manner. Performers plays string instruments by plucking the strings with their fingers, by hitting the strings with a light wooden hammer, or by rubbing the strings with a bow. Instruments within the string family: violin, viola, cello, double bass, harp, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, bass guitar, harpsichord, banjo, mandolin, and lute.
- Subito – Suddenly, quickly
- Syncopation – a rhythm that accents a weak beat instead of a strong beat
- Tacet – Silent; Do not play
- Tempo – Speed of music
- Tempo Marking – An instruction in the music that indicates to the performer the specific tempo of the piece of music.
- Tenor – A high-ranged male voice
- Tenuto – Sustained, hold the note for the full value
- Tie – The curved line that connect two adjacent notes of the same pitch, thus combining their durations
- Timbre – The unique quality of the sound (tone color)
- Time – In a jazz or rock score, after a rubato or rallentando section, the term “time” indicates that performers should return to tempo (this is equivalent to the term “a tempo”)
- Time Signature – The set of numbers at the beginning of a piece of music that show the meter
- Tonic – First scale degree or the first note of a scale or key
- Tonic Key – the “home” key of a tonal composition
- Treble Clef – A sign used to show higher pitches on the staff
- Treble Clef Lines - E G B D F
- Treble Clef Spaces – F A C E
- Trill – Play back and forth between one note and the note above as fast as the performer can
- Trio – A musical composition for three instruments or voices, or a group of three performers.
- Triplet – three notes played in the rhythmic space of two notes of identical value
- Trombone – a brass instrument that changes pitch via a moveable slide. A trombone can be a Tenor Trombone which is the tenor sound in the brass family or the Bass Trombone which is the bass sound in the Brass family.
- Trumpet – a valved brass instrument that is the soprano of the brass family
- Tuba – a large, valved brass instrument, the bass of the brass family
- Tutti – Performed by the entire ensemble or (Italian for “all” or “everyone) an indication for all performers to play together
- Unison – two or more musical parts sounding the same pitch, or an octave interval, at the same time
- Unisono – In unison
- Vibrato – A rapid repeated slight change in the pitch of a note
- Viola – the alto instrument of the string family
- Violin – the soprano instrument of the string family
- Virtuoso – Performing with exceptional ability, technique, or artistry
- Vivace – A fast and lively tempo (BPM/140-176)
- Vocal Score – A music score of an opera, or a vocal or choral composition with orchestra (like oratorio or cantata) where the vocal parts are written out in full, but the accompaniment is reduced to two staves and adapted for playing on piano
- Whole Notes – A note that lasts for the whole measure (bar) of any time signature
- Wind Ensemble - a musical performance group made up of instruments from the woodwind, brass, and percussion families of musical instruments. Typically, the size of the group numbers about 45 musicians
- Wind Instruments – All musical instruments in which a column of air is set into vibration by the player blowing into a mouthpiece.
- Woodwinds – A family of instruments within the general category of wind instruments. The two main types of woodwind instruments are flutes and reed instruments. It is the way these instruments make sound by splitting the air blown into them on a sharp edge, such as a reed or a fipple. (Fipple – a constricted mouthpiece common to flutes.) The instruments within the Woodwind family – Piccolo, Flute, Recorder, Oboe, English Horn, Eb Clarinet, Bb Clarinet, Alto Clarinet, Bass Clarinet, Contra-Bass Clarinet, Bassoon, Contrabassoon, Soprano Saxophone, Alto Saxophone, Tenor Saxophone, and Baritone Saxophone.
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Level IV Musical Terms
- Agile – Agile, nimble
- Ambitus – Range between the highest and lowest note
- Anima – with animation, spirited
- Asymmetric Meters - Meters with an uneven number of subdivisions (Time Signatures 7/4, 5/8)
- Attacca – attack or attach; go straight on (i.e., at the end of a movement, a direction to attach the next movement to the previous one, without gap or pause) Often used as “attacca subito” meaning a “sudden” movement transition (literally, “attack suddenly”)
- Bravura – Boldness; as in con bravura, boldly, flaunting technical skill
- Capriccio – A humorous, fanciful, or bizarre, composition, often characterized by an idiosyncratic departure from current stylistic norms.
- Chant - A monophonic melody sung in a free rhythm. Most often referenced as sacred music, the early music of the Catholic church
- Collegium Musicum – a university ensemble dedicated to the performance of early music (pre-1750)
- Decelerando – Slowing down; decelerating; opposite of accelerando (same as ritardando or rallentando)
- Delicato – Delicate
- Energico – Energetic, strong
- Focoso – Fiery (i.e., passionate) – a song transmitted orally and performed by custom over a long period of time
- Fuoco – Fire: con fuoco: with fire, in a fiery manner
- Gentile – Gentle
- Giocoso – in a fun and carefree manner, most often at a higher tempo
- Imitation - the repetition of a melody in a polyphonic texture shortly after its first appearance in a different voice
- Lamentando – Lamenting, mournfully
- Lamentoso – Lamenting, mournfully
- Mixed Meters – The shifting between meters
- Mordent – Rapid alternation of a note with the note immediately below or above it in the scale, sometimes further distinguished as lower mordent and upper mordent. The term “Inverted mordent” usually refers to the upper mordent.
- Multi Measure (Bar) Rest – Rest for the number of measures (bars) shown
- Ostinato – a specific rhythmic pattern that repeats throughout a piece of music or song. (Similar to a motif)
- Pan – in audio production refers to the stereo direction of the audio signal. For example, when an audio signal is fully panned to the left it will come from the left side of a stereo speaker
- Pezzo – a composition
- Pomposo – Pompous, ceremonious
- Quasi – Almost (e.g., quasi recitativo almost a recitative)
- Ragtime – a style of piano music developed in the late 1800’s to the beginning of the 1900’s in a march-like tempo with a right-hand syncopated melody against an “oom-pah” left hand accompaniment.
- Recitativo – Recitative (lyrics not to be sung but to be recited, imitating the natural inflections of speech)
- Sforzato – (sf) Dynamic mark denoting suddenly accented
- Stentando – Labored, heavy, in a dragging manner, holding back each note
- Stretto – Tight, narrow (faster or hastening ahead)
- Tempo Rubato – Stolen time; an expressive way of performing a rhythm
- Ternary – Having three parts. In particular, referring to a three-part musical form with the parts represented by letters: ABA
- Unison – two or more musical parts sounding the same pitch, or an octave interval, at the same time
- Unisono – In unison
- Vivo – Lively, intense
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Level V Musical Terms
- Acceso – Ignited, on fire
- Affetto -with affect (that is, with emotion)
- Affrettando – Hurrying, pressing forward
- Arco – the bow used for playing some string instruments (i.e., played with the bow, as opposed to pizzicato, in music for bowed instruments) normally used to cancel a pizzicato direction.
- Bellicoso – Warlike, aggressive (English – Bellicose)
- Col Legno – with the wood (i.e., the strings of a violin) are to be struck with the wood of the bow, making a percussive sound; also battuto col legno: beaten with the wood
- Conjunct – an adjective applied to a melodic line that moves by step (intervals of a 2nd) rather in disjunct motion (by leap).
- Doloroso – Sorrowful, plaintive
- Drone – Bass note or chord performed continuously throughout a composition
- En Mesure – in time
- Espirando – Expiring (i.e., dying away)
- Furioso - Rapidly and with passion
- Gregorian Chant – (genre) monophonic, non-metered melodies set to Latin sacred text
- Hemiola – The imposition of a pattern of rhythm or articulation other than that implied by the time signature; specifically, in triple time (for example ¾) the imposition of a duple pattern (as if the time signature were, for example, 2/4).
- In Stand – A term for brass players that requires them to direct the bell of their instrument into the music stand, instead of up and toward the audience, thus muting the sound but without changing the timbre as a mute would
- Lilt – A jaunty rhythm
- Lo Stesso – The same; applied to the manner of articulation, tempo, etc.
- Ma – But
- Ma Non Tanto – But not so much
- Ma Non Troppo – But not too much
- Mano Destra – (m.d.) Right hand
- Mano Sinistra – (m.s.) Left hand
- Nonet - A musical composition for nine singers or instrumental performers; or a group of nine performers
- One-Voice-Per-Part (OVPP) – The practice of using solo voices on each musical line or part in choral music
- Picardy Third – a harmonic device used in classical music. It refers to the use of a major chord of the tonic at the end of a musical section (or the entire composition) that is either modal or in a minor key.
- Portamento – (port.) A smooth side from one note to another
- Quintuplet – A rhythmic notation that instructs the performer to play five notes in the space a quarter notes uses. (Similar to a triplet)
- Rinforzando – (rfz or rf) Reinforced
- Sopra – for keyboard players; a directive to cross hands in a composition
- Spiccato – Distinct, separated (a way of playing bowed instruments by bouncing the bow on the string, giving characteristic staccato effect)
- Tranquillo – Calm, peaceful
- Tresillo – A duple-pulse rhythmic cell in Cuban and other Latin American music
- Up-tempo – A fast, lively, or increased tempo, or played in such a tempo
- Volante – Flying, moving with light rapidity
- Work Song – A song closely connected to a form of work, either sung while conducting a task (usually to coordinate timing) or a song linked to a task which might be a connected narrative, description, or protest.
- Zydeco – is an American form (genre) that evolved in southwest Louisiana within the French Creole community which blends blues, rhythm and blues, and music indigenous to the Louisiana Creoles and the Native American people of Louisiana.
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Level II Musical Terms
- Adagissimo – Very, very slow
- Alla Breve – in cut-time; two beats per measure
- Allegretto – A moderately fast tempo, slightly slower than allegro (BPM/112-120)
- Allegro Moderato - A moderately fast tempo, slightly slower than allegro (BPM/116-120)
- Amore – Love; con amore: with love, tenderly
- Andante Moderato – A moderately walking pace tempo, faster than andante (BPM/92-112)
- Appassionate – Passionately
- Appassionato – intensely, passionately
- Arioso – Airy, or like an air; melodious
- Bebop - a style popular in the 1940’s and 50’s which features compositions characterized by a fast tempo, complex chord progressions with rapid chord changes and numerous changes of key, instrumental virtuosity, and improvisation.
- Ben – Well; in ben marcato (“well marked”)
- Breath Mark - is a symbol used in musical notation that directs the performer of the music passage to take a breath (for wind instruments and vocalists) or to make a slight pause
- Brillante – Brilliantly, with sparkle. Play in a showy and spirited style.
- Brio – Vigor; usually in con brio; with spirit and vigor
- Broken Chord – a chord in which the notes are not all played at once, but in some more or less consistent sequence. They may follow singly one after the other, or two notes may be immediately followed by another two.
- Canon (Round) - a musical composition originally for voices (adopted in instrumental parts) that sing or play the same music starting at different times. A round is a type of canon, but in a round each voice, when it finishes, can start at the beginning again so that the piece can go “round and round”
- Cantabile – in a singing style
- Cantata – A composition in several movements, written for chorus, soloists, and orchestra. Traditionally, these are religious works.
- Codetta – a small coda, but usually applied to a passage appended to a section of a movement, not to the whole movement
- Coloratura –
- Coloratura –
- Common Time – The time signature 4/4: four beats per measure, each beat is a quarter note in length. 4/4 is often on the musical staff as C
- Comp
- Comp
- Comp
- Comping – to comp: action of accompanying
- Contralto – Lowest female singing voice type
- Countertenor - (also contra tenor) is a type of a classic male singing voice whose vocal range is equivalent to that of the female contralto or mezzo soprano
- Divisi (div.) – Divided (i.e. in a part in which several musicians normally play exactly the same notes they are instead to split playing of the written simultaneous notes among themselves); the return from divisi is marked unisono or unison
- Dominant – Fifth scale degree
- Double Stop – The technique of playing two notes simultaneously on a bowed string instrument
- Drammatico – Dramatic
- Duration – the length of sound
- Embouchure – The use of the lips, facial muscles, tongue, and teeth in playing a wind instrument.
- Falsetto - A vocal technique that allows a male to sing in a much higher, lighter register
- Folk Music – Music (or songs) transmitted orally from one generation to the next, usually with an unknown composer/songwriter, or formed by custom over a long period of time. Folk Music is identified by people groups, national culture, religious heritage, and celebrated events.
- Fortepiano – (fp) Dynamic mark denoting loud, then immediately soft
- G.P. – Grand Pause, General Pause; indicates to the performers that the entire ensemble has a rest of indeterminate length, often as a dramatic effect during a loud section
- Glissando – to slide in pitch from note to note
- Homophonic Texture: 1) a main melody supported by chords; 2) a texture in which voices on different pitches sing the same words simultaneously (example – a Hymn)
- Hook – A musical idea, often a short riff, passage, or phrase, that is used in popular music to make a song appealing and to “catch the ear of the listener.”
- Improvisation – The “on-the-spot” creation of music while it is being performed. Made popular in the jazz performance style.
- Largamente – Broadly (i.e. slowly) (same as largo)
- Larghetto – A rather slow and broad tempo, slightly faster than largo (BPM/60-66)
- Larghissimo – A extremely slow tempo, slower than largo (BPM/25-and below)
- Leading Tone – Seventh scale degree
- Leap or Stepwise – Leap: more than one step away / Step: one note or half a step
- Lento – A slow tempo (BPM/45-60)
- Liturgical Music – music (or chants or songs) originated as a part of religious ceremony.
- M.M. – Metronome Marking
- Maggiore – The major key
- Marcia – A march; alla marcia means in the manner of a march
- Mediant – Third scale degree
- Medley – Piece composed from parts of existing pieces, usually three or more, played one after another, sometimes overlapping.
- Melisma – One syllable sung to several notes
- Melodic Contour – The shape of a melodic phrase, rising or falling in pitch
- Minore – Minor key
- Moderato – A moderately paced tempo, faster than andantino (BPM/108-120)
- Monophonic Texture – a single-line texture with no harmony
- Morendo – Dying (i.e. dying away in dynamics, and perhaps also in tempo)
- Motet – an unaccompanied choral composition based on a sacred Latin text, it was the first example of contrapuntal composition technique.
- Musical Texture – how the melodic, rhythmic, and harmonic materials are combined in a composition, thus determining the overall quality of the sound in a musical composition
- Oratorio – is a large musical composition for orchestra, choir, and soloists. Like opera, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an instrumental ensemble, various distinguishable characters, and arias.
- Patter Song – a song characterized by a moderately fast to very fast tempo with a rapid succession of rhythmic patterns in which each syllable of the text corresponds to one note. The lyric of a patter song generally features tong-twisting text with alliterative words and other consonant, or vowel sounds that are intended to be entertaining to listen to a rapid speed. (Alliteration – repetition of identical initial consonant sounds in successive or closely associated syllables within a group of words. Example: “potential power play” or “Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.”)
- Pedal (or Ped) – in piano scores, this instructs the player to press the damper pedal to sustain the note or chord being played
- Pianissimo – (pp) Dynamic mark denoting very soft
- Pianississimo – (ppp) Dynamic mark denoting as soft as possible
- Polyphonic Texture – When two or more independent melodic lines are sounding at the same time
- Prestissimo - A extremely fast tempo, faster than presto (BPM/200 – and above)
- Rhapsody – a one-movement piece of music that explores multiple free-flowing sections that do not necessarily relate to one another.
- Riff – A repeated chord progression or refrain
- Rondo – a musical form (or song structure) consisting of multiple repeating sections
- Run – A rapid series of ascending or descending musical notes which are closely spaced in pitch forming a scale, arpeggio, or such pattern
- Segno – The beginning or end of a repeat
- Senza – Without
- Senza Misura – Without measures
- Senza Sordino – Without a mute
- Serioso – Seriously
- Smorzando – Extinguishing or dampening; usually interpreted as a drop in dynamics, and very often in tempo as well
- Sonatina – A little sonata
- Sordina – a mute or a muted tone
- Staccatissimo – (staccatiss.) Shortened and extremely separated notes
- Stringendo – Gradually faster
- Sub-Dominant – Fourth scale degree
- Sub-Mediant – Sixth scale degree
- Supertonic - the second degree of the diatonic scale
- Tessitura – The “best” or most comfortable pitch range, generally used to identify the most prominent / common vocal range within a piece of music
- Tonality – Music centered around a “home” key (based on a major or minor scale)
- Tone Cluster – a modern technique of extreme harmonic dissonance created by a large block of pitches sounding simultaneously
- Tone Color – the unique, characteristic sound of a musical instrument or voice
- Tremolo – An effect musicians can put on a sustained note to create a trembling sound. Usually, it takes shape in the form of repeating the same note very quickly.
- Vamp – Improvised accompaniment, usually a repeating pattern played before next musical passage.
- Vivacissimo – A very fast tempo, faster than vivace (BPM/172-176)
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Level III Musical Terms
- Accarezzevole – Expressive and caressing
- Acciaccatura – a very fast grace note that is “crushed” against the note that follows and takes no value in the measure
- Alla Marcia – in the style of a march
- Allegrezza – Cheerfully, joyfully
- Allegrissimo – A very fast tempo, faster than allegro (BPM/172-176)
- Anacrusis – Italian word for a pick-up note
- Antiphon – A liturgical or other composition consisting of choral responses, sometimes between two choirs
- Antiphonal – a style of composition in which two sections of singers or instrumentalists exchange sections or music one after the other; typically, the performers are on different sides of a performance venue.
- Assai – very
- Atonality – Modern harmony that intentionally avoids a tonal center (has no apparent home key)
- Basso Continuo – a bass accompaniment part played continuously throughout a piece by a chordal instrument (pipe organ, harpsichord, lute, etc.), often with a bass instrument, to give harmonic structure; used especially in the Baroque period.
- Binary – A musical (song) form in two sections: AB
- Bitonality - Modern music sounding in two different keys simultaneously
- Cantilena – a vocal melody or instrumental passage in a smooth, lyrical style
- Colossale – Enormous, immense
- Compound Meters – Beats subdivided into three parts (Time Signatures 6/8, 9/8, 12/8)
- Con – with
- Con Sordino – with mute
- Contour – The shape of the melodic line as rising or falling
- Countermelody – A secondary melodic idea that accompanies and opposes a main thematic idea
- Counterpoint – a musical composition that employees the use of two or more melodies at the same time
- Dal Segno – from the sign
- Dal Segno al Fine – from the sign to the finish
- Disjunct – An adjective applied to a melodic line which moves by leaps (intervals of more than a 2nd) as opposed to conjunct motion (by step)
- Dissonante – Dissonant
- Dolce – Sweet; con dolcezza: with sweetness
- Double Dot – two dots placed side by side after a note to indicate that it is to be lengthened by three quarters of the value
- Elegy – in the form of a lament
- Energico- energetically
- Fantasia – A piece not adhering to any strict musical form: can also be used in con fantasia: With imagination
- Fill – A jazz or rock term which instructs performers to improvise a scalar passage or riff to “fill in” the brief time between lyrical phrases, the lines of melody, or between two sections
- Form - Design and structure of the music
- Forza – Force; con forza: with force
- Forzando – forcefully accented
- Fugue - a contrapuntal compositional technique in two or more voices, built on a subject (a musical theme) that is introduced at the beginning in imitation (repetition at different pitches) and which recurs frequently in the course of the composition.
- Fusion - The blending of jazz and rock styles
- Grace Note – An extra note added as an embellishment and not essential to the harmony or melody
- Grave – A very slow tempo (BPM/25-45)
- Grazioso – Graceful
- In Alt – Octave above the treble staff
- Intensity – the loudness or softness of a sound
- Jete – a bowing technique in which the player is instructed to let the bow bounce or jump off the strings.
- Leggiero – light or light-hearted
- Libero – Free
- Loco – [in] place, i.e. perform the notes at the pitch written, generally used to cancel an 8va or 8vb direction, in string music, also to indicate return to normal playing position
- Lunga – (shortened form of the Italian lungapausa, meaning "long pause") is sometimes added above a fermata to indicate a longer duration, the length of which is at the discretion of the performer rather than note values.
- Ma – But
- Ma Non Tanto – But not so much
- Ma Non Troppo – But not too much
- Magnifico – Magnificent
- Mano Destra – (m.d.) Right hand
- Mano Sinsitra – (m.s.) Left hand
- Martellato – Hammered out
- Meno – Less
- Meno Mosso - Less motion, slower
- Mixed Meters – The shifting between meters
- Multi Measure (Bar) Rest – Rest for the number of measures (bars) shown
- Non – Not
- Octet - A musical composition for eight singers or instrumental performers; or a group of eight performers.
- Pastorale – In a pastoral style, peaceful and simple
- Pausa – Rest
- Pesante – Heavy, ponderous
- Piu - More
- Piu Mosso – More motion, faster
- Prim Volta – The first time; for example, prima volta senza accompagnamento (the first time without accompaniment)
- Prima Donna – Leading female singer in an opera company
- Prima or Primo – First
- Quintet – A musical composition for five singers or instrumental performers; or a group of five performers.
- Rapido – Fast
- Recapitulation – one of the sections of a movement written in sonata form. The recapitulation occurs after the movement’s development section, and typically presents again the musical themes from the movement’s exposition.
- Ritenuto – (riten.) Immediately slower
- Ritornello – A recurring passage
- Saltando – For string instruments bouncing the bow as in a staccato arpeggio
- Scatenato -Unchained, wild
- Scordatura – Technique of altering the normal tuning of a stringed instrument to produce particular effects.
- Segue – “it follows” / to be carried on to the next section without pause
- Semplice – Simple
- Sentimento – Feeling, emotional
- Sextet – A musical composition for six singers or instrumental performers; or a group of six performers.
- Sforzando – (sfp) Strong attack and then immediately soft
- Sonoro – with full sound
- Sotto Voce – in an undertone; quietly
- Sound Properties – Pitch, intensity, duration, timbre
- Spinto – Pushed
- Spirito – Spirited
- Syllabic – One syllable sung to each note
- Texture – The depth of the music
- Through-Composed – One continuous line of pitches that evolve
- Troppo – Too much; usually seen as non troppo, meaning not too much
- Turn – Multi-note ornament above and below the main note; it may also be inverted
- Veloce – Fast
- Vittorioso – Victorious
- Voce – Voice
- Whole Tone Scale - a scale in which each note is separated from its neighbors by the interval of a whole tone
More Than Notes: How Musical Terms Can Set You Apart at Auditions
At a university audition in Texas, a professor asked a surprising question:
“What musical term best describes you as a person?”
The student paused, then answered:
“Sforzando — because I attack every opportunity with force.”
That one word made him unforgettable.
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