Musical terms – explained briefly

Italian performance direction: “in the style of a ballad” — to be played in a narrative, song-like manner. In detail ↗

“In strict time” — a return to strict, measured tempo after a freer passage. In detail ↗

Vocal music performed without instrumental accompaniment. In detail ↗

“At whim” — free in expression and tempo, without strict adherence to the beat. In detail ↗

French for “for two hands” — a performance direction for two-handed playing, usually at the piano. In detail ↗

"For two" – two instruments play the same part. In detail ↗

A major key with three sharps; relative major of F-sharp minor. In detail ↗

A minor key with no key signature; relative minor of C major. In detail ↗

“At pleasure” — tempo and delivery are left to the performer's discretion. In detail ↗

Sight-read, performed without prior rehearsal. In detail ↗

A string-playing direction to play at the tip of the bow. In detail ↗

Return to the original tempo after a deviation. In detail ↗

Major key with four flats; relative major of F minor. In detail ↗

Minor key with seven flats; relative minor of C-flat major, enharmonically equivalent to G-sharp minor. In detail ↗

Minor key with seven sharps; enharmonically equivalent to B-flat minor. In detail ↗

Italian performance direction calling for devoted, passionate expression. In detail ↗

Shorthand symbol used to simplify recurring figures. In detail ↗

Closing section of the medieval bar form AAB. In detail ↗

Sudden change of key without modulation. In detail ↗

Instrumental music with no extramusical content; the counterpart to program music. In detail ↗

Ability to identify pitches exactly without a reference tone. In detail ↗

A timpani technique: a rapid alternation between the two tuned timpani pitches. In detail ↗

Gradual increase in tempo, abbr. accel. In detail ↗

Accent sign above or below the note; the note is brought out. In detail ↗

The recitative, largely monotone chanting style for liturgical texts in Gregorian chant, opposed to concentus. In detail ↗

Player's accessories.

Very short crushed grace note written as a slashed flagged note. In detail ↗

A sign that raises, lowers or restores a note. In detail ↗

Brace joining multiple staves together.

A recitative accompanied by the orchestra (recitativo accompagnato). In detail ↗

Musical support for a leading or solo voice provided by other voices or instruments. In detail ↗

Subordinate voice to the main melody. In detail ↗

Prescribed standard tuning of a stringed instrument. In detail ↗

Hand-held bellows instrument with keys. In detail ↗

Study of the physical behaviour of sound. In detail ↗

The main division of an opera or other stage work. In detail ↗

At will, in tempo and instrumentation. In detail ↗

Slightly less slow than adagio. In detail ↗

Slow and calm, usually between 66 and 76 beats per minute. In detail ↗

Very slow, extremely sustained. In detail ↗

A triad with an added sixth instead of a seventh — a soft sound, common at endings. In detail ↗

Control curve in sound synthesis made up of four phases: Attack, Decay, Sustain, and Release. In detail ↗

Church mode on A, identical to the natural minor. In detail ↗

A stringed instrument whose strings are set sounding by the wind. In detail ↗

Historic organ or harmonium stop with free-swinging metal reeds and a soft, delicate tone. In detail ↗

Instrument in which vibrating air itself produces the sound (wind instruments). In detail ↗

"Anxious, distressed" – Italian expression marking meaning restless, mournful character. In detail ↗

To be performed with tender feeling. In detail ↗

Hurrying, becoming hastily faster. In detail ↗

Fast dance in triple time that follows a duple-time leading dance. In detail ↗

Agitated, restless. In detail ↗

"Lamb of God" – the final chant of the Mass Ordinary. In detail ↗

Emphasis given to a note through slight lengthening rather than volume, often at the end of a phrase. In detail ↗

Small tempo fluctuations used to enliven a performance. In detail ↗

Greek for "contest"; a musical competition in ancient Greece, as held at the Pythian Games. In detail ↗

French term for the ornaments of Baroque music. In detail ↗

A song-like melody; in the suite, a lyrical, generally calm movement. In detail ↗

Byzantine hymn of praise to Mary, sung standing in the Orthodox Church. In detail ↗

"To the end" – instruction to play through to the close. In detail ↗

Fade away until inaudible. In detail ↗

“To the sign” – repeat up to the segno sign. In detail ↗

Keyboard accompaniment pattern of broken triads. In detail ↗

Compositional principle using deliberate chance elements. In detail ↗

"Tutti", all playing together. In detail ↗

The half note rather than the quarter is the beat; common time is counted in two. In detail ↗

In the manner of a march. In detail ↗

In the character of a polonaise. In detail ↗

Turkish-style march. In detail ↗

“In a limping manner” – a syncopated rhythm with a long note between two short notes of equal duration. In detail ↗

Broadening, growing gradually slower. In detail ↗

A little more moderate than Allegro, cheerfully moving — around 98 to 120 beats. In detail ↗

Italian performance marking for liveliness and joy, often as “con allegrezza.” In detail ↗

Very fast, almost prestissimo. In detail ↗

Fast, lively, cheerful. In detail ↗

“Very fast” — Allegro with an explicit intensifier. In detail ↗

“Fast, but not too much” — a limiting addition to a tempo word. In detail ↗

Fast but moderate; between Allegretto and Allegro. In detail ↗

The jubilant chant of the Mass with the acclamation “alleluia,” sung before the Gospel. In detail ↗

A moderately paced dance in duple meter, usually the opening movement of the Baroque suite. In detail ↗

Alpine natural-tone horn up to four metres long. In detail ↗

Chromatic alteration of a chord tone. In detail ↗

Chord containing raised or lowered tones. In detail ↗

The low female or boy's voice, lying between soprano and tenor. In detail ↗

C clef placed on the third line of the staff. In detail ↗

A trombone pitched in E♭, a fourth higher than the tenor trombone. In detail ↗

A valve trumpet in a lower, alto-like range, usually pitched in B♭. In detail ↗

High male voice, countertenor. In detail ↗

“Lovable” – an Italian performance marking calling for a gentle, endearing expression. In detail ↗

The range of a melody, voice, or mode. In detail ↗

The liturgical chant of the Church of Milan, named after Saint Ambrose. In detail ↗

Plagal cadence IV–I, typical at the end of chorales. In detail ↗

To be performed lovingly, tenderly. In detail ↗

The extent of a vibration; it determines the loudness of a sound. In detail ↗

Longer subject of a fugue. In detail ↗

Walking pace, roughly 76 to 108 beats per minute. In detail ↗

Walking, but a little more restrained than plain Andante. In detail ↗

Slightly faster than andante. In detail ↗

Stylised English dance found in the Baroque suite. In detail ↗

Italian performance direction calling for an anxious, fearful expression. In detail ↗

Becoming animated, growing faster. In detail ↗

Animated, with verve. In detail ↗

First phrase of a musical period. In detail ↗

First half of a musical period.

An English sacred choral composition set to an English text. In detail ↗

Anticipating a note of the following chord. In detail ↗

A liturgical refrain that frames a psalm. In detail ↗

Performed in alternation between two sound groups. In detail ↗

A liturgical book containing the chants of the Divine Office. In detail ↗

"Open" first ending in medieval music. In detail ↗

Passionate, with intense feeling. In detail ↗

“Sorrowful, troubled” – Italian performance direction for a pained, mournful expression. In detail ↗

Long accented grace note that takes half the value of the main note. In detail ↗

Ornate character piece or figure. In detail ↗

Symmetrical form with a mirror axis ABCBA. In detail ↗

Theorbo with additional bass strings. In detail ↗

"With the bow"; cancels pizzicato. In detail ↗

"Bold, daring" — an Italian performance marking for an energetic, spirited delivery. In detail ↗

A solo vocal piece with accompaniment, chiefly in opera, oratorio, and cantata. In detail ↗

A small, song-like aria. In detail ↗

Lyrical, expressive vocal style between aria and recitative. In detail ↗

Successive playing of the tones of a chord.

A function in synthesizers and sequencers that plays a held chord back as a sequence of notes. In detail ↗

Broken chord played harp-like from low to high. In detail ↗

The adaptation of a piece of music for a different combination of performers. In detail ↗

Polyphonic music of 13th-century France, preceding the Ars nova. In detail ↗

New compositional and notational style in 14th-century France (Philippe de Vitry, Machaut). In detail ↗

Upbeat in the rhythmic rise and fall of a measure. In detail ↗

Clearly articulated. In detail ↗

The way successive notes are connected or separated, such as legato or staccato. In detail ↗

Sixth and seventh degrees raised so the melody runs smoothly to the tonic; descending, the natural form applies.

A vocal fault: an unintended "h" before a vowel, usually in fast runs or melismas. In detail ↗

"Very"; intensifies the following tempo word. In detail ↗

Music without reference to a tonal center or home key. In detail ↗

Move on to the next movement or section without a pause. In detail ↗

Morning serenade performed in the open air. In detail ↗

Perceptibility of a sound.

Lengthening of a theme's note values, usually to double their original duration. In detail ↗

Dotting a note. In detail ↗

Interval enlarged by a semitone. In detail ↗

Six semitones, the fourth widened by a semitone. It sounds like the diminished fifth but is written differently. In detail ↗

Three semitones within a step of a second; arises in harmonic minor between the sixth and seventh degrees. In detail ↗

A chord with an augmented sixth above the bass; called Italian, French or German by construction. In detail ↗

Triad built from two major thirds. In detail ↗

Ancient Greek reed instrument, usually played as a pair of pipes. In detail ↗

Dominant to tonic; with the root in the bass and the tonic on top, the strongest ending. In detail ↗

A church mode whose range extends an octave upward from the final. In detail ↗

Automatic pitch correction of an audio signal, usually vocals, without changing the tempo. In detail ↗

Composer's handwritten manuscript. In detail ↗

Non-chord neighbour note.

Organ stops that sound not the fundamental but fifths, thirds, or mixtures and reinforce overtones. In detail ↗

Major key with five sharps; relative major of G-sharp minor, enharmonically equal to C-flat major. In detail ↗

Key with two sharps, the relative minor of D major. In detail ↗

Key with two flats in its key signature. In detail ↗

Minor key with five flats; relative major is D-flat major. In detail ↗

High valved trumpet of the 19th/20th century used to perform Bach's Baroque natural-trumpet parts. In detail ↗

Wavering, alternating.

Emphasis on beats 2 and 4 in 4/4 time, typical of rock and pop. In detail ↗

Short, light piano piece. In detail ↗

Turkish long-necked lute (saz) with movable frets and three courses of strings. In detail ↗

Wind instrument with an air bag, chanter, and drone pipes. In detail ↗

West African xylophone with gourds as resonators. In detail ↗

Russian plucked string instrument with a triangular body and usually three strings. In detail ↗

Ensemble dance in ballet, made up of several individual dances in different rhythms. In detail ↗

Narrative vocal or instrumental piece. In detail ↗

18th-century English musical stage genre using popular tunes, e.g. The Beggar's Opera. In detail ↗

Dance work with musical accompaniment. In detail ↗

In opera, an additional wind and percussion ensemble, often stationed visibly on stage (“banda sul palco”). In detail ↗

A lute- or mandolin-like plucked instrument with steel or gut strings, still common today in Latin American folk music. In detail ↗

Square-shaped concertina central to tango music. In detail ↗

A historical Renaissance plucked instrument built like a cittern but strung and tuned like a lute, with steel strings. In detail ↗

Ukrainian plucked instrument with many strings. In detail ↗

A plucked instrument with a round, skin-covered resonating body. In detail ↗

An Indian bamboo transverse flute without a mouthpiece, with six or seven finger holes. In detail ↗

A strophic form from Meistersang: two identically built Stollen forming the Aufgesang, followed by a differently built Abgesang (AAB). In detail ↗

An ancient Greek stringed instrument for accompanying song, similar to the kithara and lyre but with more strings. In detail ↗

Gondolier's song in 6/8 or 12/8 time. In detail ↗

A poet-singer of the Celtic peoples who sang of heroic deeds and served as an early keeper of his people's history. In detail ↗

Rapid string crossing on a repeated pitch. In detail ↗

Middle male voice between tenor and bass. In detail ↗

An F clef placed on the third line of the staff. In detail ↗

The vertical line separating bars; the stressed first beat follows it. In detail ↗

Musical era between 1600 and 1750. In detail ↗

Baroque wooden transverse flute. In detail ↗

A technique where one finger presses down several strings at once (guitar, lute). In detail ↗

The short, bulging joint of the clarinet and basset horn that connects the mouthpiece to the rest of the instrument. In detail ↗

Mechanical organ driven by a crank with a pinned barrel or perforated card. In detail ↗

A pizzicato in which the string is plucked so forcefully that it snaps back against the fingerboard. In detail ↗

A historical bowed instrument with additional resonating strings, similar to the viola da gamba; the subject of many works by Haydn. In detail ↗

Lowest human singing voice. In detail ↗

Low-pitched member of the clarinet family in B♭. In detail ↗

The typical bass motion at a full close: usually a fifth down or a fourth up, from dominant to tonic. In detail ↗

F clef placed on the fourth line of the staff. In detail ↗

Deep, double-headed drum of large diameter. In detail ↗

A low trombone with a wide bore, usually fitted with a valve for a fourth lower. In detail ↗

A low-pitched brass instrument of the trumpet family, used among other places in opera orchestras. In detail ↗

Lowest brass instrument in the orchestra. In detail ↗

Low bass with a baritonal colour. In detail ↗

A slow, courtly processional dance of the 15th and 16th centuries. In detail ↗

A low clarinet in F with an extended range, valued especially by Mozart. In detail ↗

Baroque thoroughbass with figured bass.

Continually repeated bass pattern. In detail ↗

Low double-reed woodwind instrument. In detail ↗

The S-shaped metal tube connecting the bassoon's mouthpiece (reed) to the body of the instrument. In detail ↗

An instrumental piece that depicts a battle in sound, such as Beethoven's "Wellington's Victory." In detail ↗

The rapid breaking up of a chord in a fixed pattern, usually light or detached, distinct from an evenly ordered arpeggio. In detail ↗

"Beat"; ritmo a battuta = strictly on the beat. In detail ↗

Bar connecting the flags of several notes. In detail ↗

Individual time unit within a measure. In detail ↗

A stick or clapper of wood or metal used to strike a bell, timpani, drum or other percussion instrument. In detail ↗

The periodic swelling and fading heard when slightly detuned pitches sound together. In detail ↗

A virtuosic jazz style of the 1940s with fast tempos and complex harmony (Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie). In detail ↗

A scale used in modern jazz, formed by adding a chromatic passing tone to a seven-note scale. In detail ↗

A vibrato technique on the clavichord produced by varying finger pressure on a held key. In detail ↗

Anguished, oppressed, melancholy. In detail ↗

The flared opening at the end of a wind instrument that radiates the sound. In detail ↗

French for the flat sign ♭. In detail ↗

Pitch bend, e.g. glissando or string bending. In detail ↗

Section of the Mass following the Sanctus. In detail ↗

A lullaby, or an instrumental piece with a rocking accompaniment. In detail ↗

A folk dance from the region of Bergamo, also a fixed bass model used in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. In detail ↗

A sixteenth-century dance and song form related to the basse danse, usually in 6/8 time. In detail ↗

To extend a voice beyond its normal range.

A small, book-like folding portable regal (a reed organ) from the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries. In detail ↗

A two-voice vocal or instrumental piece, especially from the sixteenth century. In detail ↗

An organ stop with pairs of slightly detuned pipes that create a wavering tone, serving as an alternative to the tremulant. In detail ↗

A large jazz orchestra of trumpet, trombone, and saxophone sections plus a rhythm section. In detail ↗

AB form without a reprise. In detail ↗

Study of a composer's life. In detail ↗

"Whispered" tremolo on the harp. In detail ↗

"Whimsically, capriciously" – a bizarre, unpredictable manner of performance. In detail ↗

An African American dance craze of the 1920s. In detail ↗

Chord whose tones sound simultaneously. In detail ↗

A slightly lowered third, fifth, or seventh, characteristic of blues and jazz. In detail ↗

American 12-bar song form. In detail ↗

Standard harmonic scheme of the blues.

The minor pentatonic with an added diminished fifth, the blue note. In detail ↗

Spanish dance in triple meter with a characteristic accompanying rhythm. In detail ↗

Late medieval double-reed instrument. In detail ↗

A pair of small, joined Cuban hand drums of different sizes. In detail ↗

A blues piano style with a continuous, rolling eighth-note bass figure. In detail ↗

A Brazilian music style from the late 1950s blending samba and cool jazz (João Gilberto, Tom Jobim). In detail ↗

A slow American waltz in which only the first beat of the bar is stressed. In detail ↗

Sustained low drone, often on the tonic. In detail ↗

Stylistic label for music outside the courtly sphere.

Fast French dance in 2/2 time. In detail ↗

A Greek long-necked lute with paired metal strings, played with a plectrum. In detail ↗

Stick with stretched horsehair used to bow strings. In detail ↗

Bow used to play strings. In detail ↗

Change of bow direction at note boundaries. In detail ↗

The stick of the bow. In detail ↗

Played with the bow. In detail ↗

Type and direction of bow technique. In detail ↗

A bracket that joins several staves together. In detail ↗

Renaissance French round dance. In detail ↗

Family of lip-vibrated wind instruments. In detail ↗

A virtuosic aria with extended coloratura passages. In detail ↗

A brief interruption of the accompaniment in which a soloist plays alone. In detail ↗

Comma above the staff indicating a breath or short pause. In detail ↗

Brief breathing pause.

Medieval note value, equal to two whole notes. In detail ↗

A transitional section in jazz, pop, and rock that stands apart melodically and harmonically from its surroundings. In detail ↗

Brilliant, technically sparkling. In detail ↗

A mocking name for bass figures of two slurred half notes a third or sixth apart, whose notation resembles spectacles; typical of Rossini's accompaniment style. In detail ↗

With vigour and fire (con brio). In detail ↗

Successive sounding of chord tones. In detail ↗

"Rough, brusque" – a performance direction calling for an abrupt, forceful character. In detail ↗

An organ division placed directly above the console, in the case's "breast." In detail ↗

An ancient Roman wind instrument, coiled in a circle and carried over the shoulder; regarded as a forerunner of modern brass instruments. In detail ↗

Comic vocal role in opera. In detail ↗

A trumpet-like wind instrument used for giving signals. In detail ↗

A playful, coarsely comic piece of music. In detail ↗

Clef fixing the position of middle C. In detail ↗

The major key with no sharps or flats; relative major of A minor. In detail ↗

The minor key with three flats; relative minor of E-flat major. In detail ↗

A major key with seven flats; enharmonically equivalent to B major. In detail ↗

A major key with seven sharps; enharmonically equivalent to D-flat major. In detail ↗

Key with four sharps. In detail ↗

Fast closing section of an operatic aria. In detail ↗

Art song with politically satirical text. In detail ↗

A fourteenth-century Italian canonic form depicting hunting and everyday scenes. In detail ↗

Discord, unpleasant simultaneous sound. In detail ↗

Chord progression that produces formal closure. In detail ↗

Soloistic interlude featuring virtuoso improvisation. In detail ↗

Two slanted strokes ("railroad tracks") indicating a brief general pause. In detail ↗

A box drum from Peru; the player sits on it and strikes the front panel. In detail ↗

Diminishing in both volume and tempo. In detail ↗

An exchange between a leader (call) and a group (response), central to African American music. In detail ↗

Artistic music handwriting. In detail ↗

Calm, collected. In detail ↗

Calming, growing calmer. In detail ↗

A song form from Trinidad with witty, often socially critical lyrics. In detail ↗

An unprepared changing note resolved by a leap, used in contrapuntal writing. In detail ↗

Bell-like figuration, often using harmonics. In detail ↗

A fast Baroque dance movement in triple or compound time, closely related in style to the gigue. In detail ↗

Multi-voice form in which all voices perform the same melody offset in time. In detail ↗

In a singing manner, with a soft attack. In detail ↗

Multi-section composition for soloists, chorus and orchestra. In detail ↗

A Latin song of praise, specifically a biblical song outside the Psalms used in the liturgy (e.g. the Magnificat). In detail ↗

Song-like melodic line. In detail ↗

Half-sung, half-spoken liturgical delivery of sacred texts, for instance in synagogue or church. In detail ↗

Director of church music. In detail ↗

Pre-existing melody used as the basis of a composition. In detail ↗

Gregorian chant, monophonic plainsong. In detail ↗

Italian Renaissance strophic song. In detail ↗

Short, light canzona. In detail ↗

Capo, clamp on the guitar.

Clamp used to shorten the strings of a guitar. In detail ↗

A free, whimsical instrumental piece. In detail ↗

“Capricious” – a lively, whimsical manner of performance with unexpected turns. In detail ↗

Church-tower bell instrument played from a keyboard. In detail ↗

Multi-movement entertainment composition of the 18th century. In detail ↗

Spanish wooden hand percussion. In detail ↗

Singer whose boyish voice was preserved by castration; flourished in the 17th/18th century. In detail ↗

Comic canon of the English Renaissance. In detail ↗

Cleansing effect of tragedy. In detail ↗

Short, simple aria without repetition. In detail ↗

A keyboard instrument whose hammers strike steel plates set above resonators. In detail ↗

A unit for measuring intervals: an equal-tempered semitone equals 100 cents, the octave 1200. In detail ↗

“Seeking the note” – a singing technique in which the target pitch is subtly anticipated before it is due. In detail ↗

Cuban dance in 4/4 time. In detail ↗

Variation form built on a recurring bass pattern. In detail ↗

Trill running through several adjacent tones. In detail ↗

A simple single-reed instrument, forerunner of the clarinet; also the clarinet's low register. In detail ↗

Music for small ensembles. In detail ↗

Opera for small forces and a small performance setting. In detail ↗

Symphonic work for a small, soloistically scored instrumental group; the genre shaped especially by Schoenberg's Chamber Symphony (1906). In detail ↗

French art song or folk song. In detail ↗

The highest string of a string instrument, for example the violin's E string. In detail ↗

A short instrumental piece that expresses a mood or an image. In detail ↗

A small ten-string Andean lute, traditionally built with a body of armadillo shell or wood. In detail ↗

An American fad dance of the 1920s in fast duple time. In detail ↗

Bright, light. In detail ↗

An ancient and medieval way of directing singers through hand gestures showing tempo and melodic shape. In detail ↗

A low vocal register with resonance felt in the chest. In detail ↗

High clef combination of the Renaissance. In detail ↗

Choir of children and adolescents. In detail ↗

Half-stopped organ stop with a small tube in the cap, brighter than a fully stopped flute. In detail ↗

A large bass lute with an extended neck for open bass strings; a basso continuo instrument. In detail ↗

Pattern made visible by vibration (e.g. sand on a vibrating plate) that shows the nodal lines of sound production (Chladni figure). In detail ↗

A vocal ensemble with multiple singers per part; also a term for a piece written for such an ensemble. In detail ↗

Large-format manuscript containing polyphonic music. In detail ↗

Boys' choir. In detail ↗

Damping a cymbal immediately after striking it. In detail ↗

Group singing by a choir. In detail ↗

Unaccompanied liturgical chant (Gregorian chant) or a Lutheran hymn tune. In detail ↗

A collection of hymn tunes, usually with bass, for organists to accompany congregational singing. In detail ↗

A cantata whose movements are all based on the text and tune of a single hymn. In detail ↗

A composition built on a chorale tune, such as a chorale prelude or chorale fantasia. In detail ↗

Gregorian composition in chant style. In detail ↗

The simultaneous sounding of at least three different notes. In detail ↗

Rearrangement of chord tones into a different voicing. In detail ↗

The notes belonging to the chord, as opposed to passing and neighbour notes. In detail ↗

Written in note-against-note chordal texture. In detail ↗

An instrument that produces sound through vibrating strings (Hornbostel-Sachs classification). In detail ↗

Designed dance to a composition. In detail ↗

A singer who is a member of a choir, for example at an opera house or in concert. In detail ↗

The historical organ pitch standard, usually higher than chamber pitch. In detail ↗

Refrain of a song, or a complete chorus in jazz. In detail ↗

Greek for “color”: a chromatic half-step alteration, or a note sign that alters a pitch chromatically. In detail ↗

All twelve semitones of the octave in sequence; no note is privileged. In detail ↗

Melodic motion by semitones. In detail ↗

Cantata composed for the worship service. In detail ↗

Historical term for sacred concert music in church, e.g. the Baroque “concerto da chiesa.” In detail ↗

Mode of medieval and early modern music. In detail ↗

Modal scale from the medieval tradition.

A Baroque ornament: an appoggiatura falling into the main note from above, similar to the long appoggiatura. In detail ↗

Figured, marked with thoroughbass numerals. In detail ↗

A low brass instrument of Italian opera; in Verdi's scores the name for a bass trombone. In detail ↗

Arrangement of keys a fifth apart with increasing accidentals. In detail ↗

Semicircular ornamental figure. In detail ↗

Medieval plucked instrument. In detail ↗

Plucked instrument with a flat, pear-shaped body and metal strings. In detail ↗

Woodwind instrument with a single reed and cylindrical bore. In detail ↗

The mouthpiece of the clarinet and similar reed instruments. In detail ↗

High Baroque trumpet register. In detail ↗

Musical era between 1750 and 1820. In detail ↗

Medieval cadential formula or organum section. In detail ↗

Cadential formula in vocal writing. In detail ↗

Keyboard instrument whose strings are struck by metal tangents. In detail ↗

Historical keyboard instrument: an upright harpsichord with vertical stringing. In detail ↗

Sign that fixes pitch reference on the staff. In detail ↗

Sign for the pitch reference on the staff.

Click sound in speech. In detail ↗

Two-note descending neume. In detail ↗

Chord tones placed as close together as possible. In detail ↗

A motif attached after a cadence that confirms or varies its sense of closure. In detail ↗

Tone cluster of closely spaced pitches. In detail ↗

Closing section of a piece or movement; also the sign that directs a jump to it. In detail ↗

Short coda or small concluding passage. In detail ↗

“With the wood” – the string is struck or drawn with the stick of the bow. In detail ↗

Playing instruction: play the indicated part doubled an octave higher or lower. In detail ↗

The accompanist follows the soloist's tempo. In detail ↗

Combination of music with color and light, for instance through color organs or synaesthetic concepts. In detail ↗

Improvised embellishment of a melody with figurative ornaments, especially in 15th- and 16th-century organ arrangements. In detail ↗

Virtuosic, rapid vocal embellishment. In detail ↗

Rapid ornamental run in singing.

An additional audible tone produced when two tones sound together, such as a difference tone. In detail ↗

As before, as at the start. In detail ↗

The answer to a fugue subject, usually on the dominant. In detail ↗

Smallest audible interval difference. In detail ↗

Microinterval, e.g. Pythagorean comma.

4/4 metre, symbol C.

“Comfortable” – an easy-going, unhurried tempo. In detail ↗

Rhythmically free chordal accompaniment of a soloist by piano or guitar. In detail ↗

The interval that completes a given one to the octave — fourth and fifth, for instance. In detail ↗

Calm, composed.

Artistic creation of a musical work. In detail ↗

Composition fixed in writing. In detail ↗

Method of musical construction. In detail ↗

A metre whose beat divides into three, such as 6/8 or 9/8. In detail ↗

Wind supply driving the organ pipes. In detail ↗

An effects device that reduces the dynamic range of an audio signal by evening out level differences. In detail ↗

With love, tenderly. In detail ↗

With soul, soulfully. In detail ↗

With fire, with verve. In detail ↗

With expression. In detail ↗

With fire, fiery. In detail ↗

With grace. In detail ↗

With motion, slightly pressing forward. In detail ↗

Played with mute. In detail ↗

With spirit, lively. In detail ↗

A self-contained, concert-style aria written outside an opera or larger work. In detail ↗

A flute held transversely. In detail ↗

Performance space for classical music. In detail ↗

Reference pitch, today a' = 440 Hz. In detail ↗

In concertante, virtuoso style. In detail ↗

Solo group in a concerto grosso. In detail ↗

English term for the leader of the first violins. In detail ↗

Leader of the first violins.

A work for solo instrument(s) and orchestra; also a public music performance. In detail ↗

Baroque concerto with solo and tutti groups. In detail ↗

Agitated style featuring tone repetitions, coined by Monteverdi. In detail ↗

Leading an ensemble through beat patterns and gesture. In detail ↗

Medieval Latin song, monophonic or polyphonic, freely composed throughout. In detail ↗

An earlier medieval part-writing style (organum/conductus) in which all voices declaim the same text syllabically together. In detail ↗

Tall, barrel-shaped Afro-Cuban hand drum. In detail ↗

Melodic motion by steps. In detail ↗

Linking in voice-leading.

Second part of a period that answers the antecedent. In detail ↗

Music conservatory.

Higher music school. In detail ↗

Organ console containing manuals and pedalboard. In detail ↗

Pleasant simultaneous combination of tones. In detail ↗

English instrumental ensemble of the 16th and 17th centuries. In detail ↗

Baroque thoroughbass part. In detail ↗

The octave range from contra C to contra B, notated C₁–B₁. In detail ↗

Lowest clarinet. In detail ↗

Lowest tuba in the orchestra. In detail ↗

Low double-reed instrument an octave below the bassoon. In detail ↗

Contrapuntal piece, e.g. in Bach's "Art of Fugue". In detail ↗

Voices moving in opposite directions. In detail ↗

Medieval voice between tenor and discantus. In detail ↗

French round dance. In detail ↗

A restrained, chamber-music-like jazz style from around 1950 (Miles Davis, Gerry Mulligan). In detail ↗

"Covered"; drum muffled with a cloth. In detail ↗

Alto oboe in F with a pear-shaped bell (bulb bell). In detail ↗

A polychoral style with spatially separated choirs answering one another, typical of Venice around 1600. In detail ↗

Renaissance capped double-reed instrument. In detail ↗

French term for a soft-toned brass instrument. In detail ↗

Conical brass instrument with valves.

Renaissance wind instrument played with a lip-reed mouthpiece. In detail ↗

Italian for horn. In detail ↗

Fermata, hold sign placed above a note.

Liturgical feast with processional music. In detail ↗

A sociable French round dance with changing figures, often danced to close a ball. In detail ↗

Tone colour, sound shading.

Fugue whose answer is the inverted subject. In detail ↗

Accompanying voice to the main melody. In detail ↗

English term for contrapuntal writing. In detail ↗

A recurring counter-melody paired with a fugue subject. In detail ↗

Ornamentation table after François Couperin. In detail ↗

Strophic section of a rondo or song. In detail ↗

Baroque dance in triple metre; a fixed movement of the suite following the allemande. In detail ↗

A canon whose following voice performs the melody backwards. In detail ↗

Ratchet, loud percussion instrument. In detail ↗

Profession of faith; third chant of the Mass Ordinary. In detail ↗

Gradually growing louder, symbol <. In detail ↗

An interchangeable curved section of tubing used to retune a natural horn or natural trumpet to a different key. In detail ↗

Natural horn with interchangeable crooks (inventions), improved around 1750 to allow retuning into different keys. In detail ↗

Singer in the smooth microphone style. In detail ↗

Alternative fingering on wind instruments (or piano) for producing otherwise missing notes. In detail ↗

Chromatic contradiction of a note between two voices in successive chords. In detail ↗

Antique cymbals with definite pitch. In detail ↗

Renaissance capped double-reed instrument. In detail ↗

A medieval Welsh bowed lyre. In detail ↗

Hungarian dance with slow and fast sections. In detail ↗

Closing section of the Gloria in the Mass. In detail ↗

Playful character pieces.

A small sign at the end of a staff line showing the pitch of the next line's first note. In detail ↗

The French term for the barred half-circle sign indicating alla breve (cut time). In detail ↗

Abrupt ending of a section.

Sharp, incisive. In detail ↗

Metallic percussion plate. In detail ↗

Small cymbal. In detail ↗

A percussion instrument made of one or two curved metal discs. In detail ↗

Major key with two sharps (F sharp, C sharp); relative major of B minor. In detail ↗

Minor key with one flat; relative minor of F major. In detail ↗

Major key with five flats; relative major of B-flat minor, enharmonic to C-sharp major. In detail ↗

Minor key with eight flats, including one double flat; in practice almost always notated enharmonically as C-sharp minor. In detail ↗

Major key with nine sharps (two of them double sharps); in practice almost always notated enharmonically as E-flat major. In detail ↗

Minor key with six sharps; enharmonically equal to E-flat minor. In detail ↗

"From the beginning"; repeat from the start, abbr. D.C. In detail ↗

"From the sign"; repeat from the marked spot, abbr. D.S. In detail ↗

Music with clear metric pulse for dancing. In detail ↗

An early-medieval tenth-century pitch notation system with its own signs for pitch, a forerunner of modern staff notation. In detail ↗

"Digital Audio Workstation" – usually software for recording, editing, and mixing audio and MIDI data. In detail ↗

"Weak" – an Italian expression marking, also found as debole. In detail ↗

The dominant moves not to the tonic but usually to the sixth degree — the expected ending fails to arrive. In detail ↗

Italian performance direction calling for firm, energetic playing. In detail ↗

Italian marking for an expressive, speech-like delivery that highlights the text's declamation. In detail ↗

Text-appropriate stress and rhythm in vocal setting and singing. In detail ↗

Chord played note by note.

Growing softer, symbol >. In detail ↗

A rhythmic figure of ten equal notes in place of the regularly expected subdivision of a note. In detail ↗

Clearly defined, determined.

To be performed delicately. In detail ↗

"Half stop" – partial registration on the organ. In detail ↗

Downcast, depressed.

Highest voice part; also the term for the high, unbroken boy's voice. In detail ↗

Bowing technique with separated but even strokes. In detail ↗

Italian performance marking for firm, resolute playing. In detail ↗

Unintentionally drifting from correct pitch while singing, either flat or sharp. In detail ↗

Middle section of sonata form where themes are worked out. In detail ↗

With inner concentration and humility. In detail ↗

"The devil in music", historical name for the tritone. In detail ↗

A composition for two or more voices led in alternation and combination like a conversation. In detail ↗

Greek for octave; in French also used for the reference pitch and the tuning fork. In detail ↗

Medieval term for early forms of polyphony (organum); originally Greek for discord or dissonance. In detail ↗

System of the seven natural tones of a scale. In detail ↗

Notes or chords formed exclusively from the degrees of the underlying scale; opposite: chromatic/non-diatonic. In detail ↗

A chord built only from notes of the scale; every degree carries one. In detail ↗

A seven-note scale that moves from a root tone to its octave in a fixed pattern of whole and half steps. In detail ↗

Aleatoric composition created by throwing dice.

A wind instrument of the Australian Aboriginal peoples, made from a branch hollowed out by termites. In detail ↗

Sequence from the Requiem, "Day of Wrath". In detail ↗

A very small interval, among other things the difference between an octave and three pure major thirds; in Italian also the word for a sharp sign. In detail ↗

Closing formula of a psalm tone. In detail ↗

Noble, maestoso. In detail ↗

A person who pursues music for pleasure rather than as a profession; derived from the Italian dilettare (to delight). In detail ↗

Italian performance direction: con diligenza means "with diligence," calling for a careful, precise execution. In detail ↗

An Italian performance direction for a fading or dying away of the tone. In detail ↗

Perfect or minor interval reduced by a semitone. In detail ↗

Six semitones, the fifth narrowed by a semitone — in sound, the tritone. In detail ↗

Three superimposed minor thirds. In detail ↗

Triad built from two minor thirds. In detail ↗

Growing softer, synonymous with decrescendo. In detail ↗

Reduction of note values. In detail ↗

Medieval repeat sign. In detail ↗

Custos, guide sign at the end of a line. In detail ↗

Contrapuntal cadential formula of older part-writing theory in which the top voice, often ornamented with a suspension or syncopation, moves to the final note. In detail ↗

1970s dance music in quadruple metre. In detail ↗

Melodic motion proceeding by leaps. In detail ↗

A combination that calls for resolution; its frequency ratios are complex. In detail ↗

Modal scale built from equal intervals. In detail ↗

Sound distortion through overdrive. In detail ↗

Ancient Greek choral song in honor of Dionysus. In detail ↗

Cheerful multi-movement light music. In detail ↗

A dance interlude in opera or ballet; also an entertaining instrumental piece. In detail ↗

"Divided"; a part is split among several players. In detail ↗

The English term for improvised variations of an upper part over a repeating ground bass, mainly in the 16th and 17th centuries. In detail ↗

An early jazz style from New Orleans built on collective improvisation by trumpet, clarinet, and trombone. In detail ↗

West African goblet-shaped drum with a goatskin head, played with bare hands. In detail ↗

First syllable of solfège. In detail ↗

Baroque theory holding that music depicts and arouses specific emotional states (affections) in the listener. In detail ↗

Twelve-tone technique after Schoenberg.

Sweetly, gently. In detail ↗

Very gentle, extremely sweet. In detail ↗

Sorrowfully, plaintively. In detail ↗

Sorrowful, plaintive. In detail ↗

Fifth scale degree and principal chord to the tonic. In detail ↗

Dominant with an added minor seventh. In detail ↗

Double the speed — the beat becomes half as long. In detail ↗

Church mode on D. In detail ↗

Famous ancient statue of a spear-bearer by Polykleitos (5th c. BC); by extension a model of classical proportion theory, occasionally invoked in musicological discussions of symmetry.

Marked with a dot of augmentation.

The dot to the right of a note lengthens it by half its value. In detail ↗

Ornament of two small grace notes above and below the main note. In detail ↗

Lowest bowed string instrument. In detail ↗

Contrapuntal combination of two canons sounding at the same time. In detail ↗

Concerto for two solo instruments. In detail ↗

Two dots after a note extending its value to 1¾.

Note-value extension by three-quarters using two dots. In detail ↗

Lowering by two semitones, symbol ♭♭. In detail ↗

Double pipe with two playing tubes. In detail ↗

Fugue with two independent subjects. In detail ↗

F and B♭ horn combined in one instrument. In detail ↗

Raises the natural note by two semitones; needed when an already sharpened note rises further. In detail ↗

Simultaneously stopping and bowing two strings. In detail ↗

Tonguing technique (roughly "t-k") for fast note repetitions on wind instruments. In detail ↗

Simultaneous execution of a trill on two different notes. In detail ↗

A voice played by more than one performer. In detail ↗

Downward stroke of the bow, symbol ⊓. In detail ↗

The downward conducting stroke that marks the strong beat; counterpart of the upbeat. In detail ↗

Liturgical formula of praise, e.g. "Gloria Patri". In detail ↗

Drum embellishment of two grace notes.

Italian term for early opera, coined by the Florentine originators of the stile rappresentativo around 1600. In detail ↗

The last complete rehearsal before the performance. In detail ↗

Guitar tuning in which the lowest string is lowered a whole step (D instead of E). In detail ↗

Percussion instrument with a drumhead. In detail ↗

A combination of drums and cymbals for one player (drum set), central to jazz, rock, and pop. In detail ↗

Electronic device that produces programd drum rhythms. In detail ↗

Playing drums.

Electronic music style with shifted bass. In detail ↗

Characteristic flow or expressive shape of a melody or musical performance. In detail ↗

Slavic folk instrument, usually either a bagpipe or a simple reed pipe with finger holes. In detail ↗

Armenian double-reed instrument made of apricot wood, with a warm, soft tone. In detail ↗

Vocal or instrumental piece for two voices. In detail ↗

Composition for two performers, or an ensemble of two musicians. In detail ↗

Rhythmic figure of twelve equal notes in place of the regularly expected subdivision of a note. In detail ↗

Two notes performed in the time of three. In detail ↗

Length of time a tone sounds. In detail ↗

Sombre, muted.

First entry of the fugue subject in the home key. In detail ↗

Very softly, to die away. In detail ↗

Study of volume and its gradations. In detail ↗

Major key with four sharps; relative major of C-sharp minor. In detail ↗

Minor key with one sharp; relative minor of G major. In detail ↗

Major key with three flats; relative major of C minor. In detail ↗

Minor key with six flats; relative minor of G-flat major. In detail ↗

Training of musical perception. In detail ↗

The music of the early Christian era, arising from a mixture of Near Eastern, Jewish, and Greek traditions. In detail ↗

Escape tone that does not return to the main note. In detail ↗

Softer repetition of a phrase as a reverberation effect. In detail ↗

Conscious or unconscious borrowing of foreign stylistic elements without fusing them into an independent personal style. In detail ↗

Scottish dance in 2/4 time. In detail ↗

Note with the value of one-eighth of a whole note (quaver). In detail ↗

A rest lasting an eighth note. In detail ↗

Electrically amplified bass guitar, usually with four strings tuned E-A-D-G. In detail ↗

Guitar whose string vibrations pickups convert into electrical signals for an amplifier. In detail ↗

Music whose sounds are electronically generated or processed; coined as a compositional approach at the Cologne WDR studio from 1951. In detail ↗

Instrument with electric or electronic sound generation. In detail ↗

Lament or mourning piece. In detail ↗

Omission of the expected regular resolution of a dissonance; the harmony instead takes another path. In detail ↗

French for ornament. In detail ↗

Lip placement at the mouthpiece. In detail ↗

Opening in the head joint of the flute over which the air stream is blown. In detail ↗

Emphatic, insistent. In detail ↗

Encore performed after the concert. In detail ↗

Energetic, forceful. In detail ↗

Piano action in which the hammers are not mounted directly on the keys but on a separate rail. In detail ↗

Obsolete string instrument with sympathetic resonance strings beneath the fingerboard, related to the viola d'amore. In detail ↗

Identical-sounding pitches with different notation. In detail ↗

Reinterpretation of a note at the same pitch, e.g. C-sharp to D-flat. In detail ↗

Multi-voice Spanish genre of the 16th century with a comic character and multilingual text, related to the quodlibet. In detail ↗

Group of musicians; in opera, a vocal number for several soloists. In detail ↗

Music played between the acts of an opera or play. In detail ↗

A character’s first aria on entering in an opera, especially the prima donna’s. In detail ↗

Opening dance or entrance music. In detail ↗

Beginning of a voice; also a conductor's cue. In detail ↗

Sign (e.g. §, cross, asterisk) in a round marking where the imitating voices enter; also a conductor's cue for an entrance. In detail ↗

To be performed calmly, composedly. In detail ↗

Funeral lament for a deceased person, especially in Renaissance and Baroque music. In detail ↗

Closing formal section that, e.g. in sonata form, leads calmly into the end of a movement after the second theme. In detail ↗

Ancient Greek victory ode. In detail ↗

Intermediate section in a fugue or rondo. In detail ↗

Wedding song or wedding music, a genre of song from antiquity honouring a newly married couple. In detail ↗

Closing section of an ancient lyric choral song, following strophe and antistrophe. In detail ↗

Tuning that divides the octave into twelve equal semitones. In detail ↗

Choral scoring for only one voice type, i.e. only male or only women's/boys' voices (“voces aequales”). In detail ↗

Funeral music for four like trombones. In detail ↗

Electronic filter for selectively boosting or cutting individual frequency ranges of an audio signal. In detail ↗

Chinese two-string spike fiddle; the bow hair runs between the strings. In detail ↗

Piano-action mechanism that releases the hammer after the strike before the key fully returns, enabling fast note repetition. In detail ↗

Beginning of a work or movement. In detail ↗

Clearly enunciated, explicit.

Expressively. In detail ↗

Medieval instrumental dance. In detail ↗

Muted, "smothered" playing. In detail ↗

Practice piece for developing a particular playing technique. In detail ↗

Pleasant-sounding. In detail ↗

Low B♭ flugelhorn, tenor tuba. In detail ↗

Balanced, harmonious relationship of movement in music, dance and speech; a basic concept of rhythmics. In detail ↗

Passage drawn from a larger work. In detail ↗

Baroque musical-rhetorical figure expressing an exclamation through a striking leap or a marked melodic turn. In detail ↗

Musical funeral service or lament for a deceased person, known among others through Heinrich Schütz's “Musikalische Exequien.” In detail ↗

Extension of a phrase structure.

First section of a sonata movement or fugue. In detail ↗

Fine nuancing of tempo, dynamics, and tone color in performance that goes beyond the written notation. In detail ↗

Artistic movement of about 1910–1925 expressing inner experience by extreme means. In detail ↗

Extemporised, improvised. In detail ↗

Lengthening phrase structure. In detail ↗

Contrapuntally elaborate composition whose learnedness is visible only on the page and fails to convince the ear. In detail ↗

Bass clef placed on the fourth line.

Major key with one flat (B-flat); relative major of D minor. In detail ↗

Minor key with four flats; relative minor of A-flat major. In detail ↗

F-shaped sound holes in the top of string instruments. In detail ↗

Key with six sharps. In detail ↗

Minor key with three sharps; relative minor of A major. In detail ↗

Fourth syllable of solfège. In detail ↗

Latin word for face, often found in liturgical texts.

Easy, effortless. In detail ↗

Dying away to nothing.

Portuguese song, mostly melancholic, accompanied by Portuguese and classical guitar. In detail ↗

Small bassoon in a higher tuning. In detail ↗

Medieval designation for chromatic notes. In detail ↗

Diminished fifth used as a dissonance.

High male head voice, falsetto. In detail ↗

Renaissance chordal psalm-setting style. In detail ↗

“Fanatically, enthusiastically” – Italian performance direction. In detail ↗

English instrumental fantasia of the 16th and 17th centuries. In detail ↗

Spanish dance in 3/8 or 3/4 time. In detail ↗

Signal-like piece for brass, mostly on notes of the triad. In detail ↗

Free, improvisatory composition. In detail ↗

“Exuberantly, fantastically” – Italian performance direction. In detail ↗

German term for fantasia.

Character piece in Schumann's manner. In detail ↗

Provençal chain dance in 6/8 time. In detail ↗

“Magnificently” – Italian performance direction. In detail ↗

Medieval three-voice texture with parallel sixths. In detail ↗

Historical name for E-flat major as the basic key of military brass (trumpets, horns). In detail ↗

Hold sign placed above a note ⌒. In detail ↗

“Wildly, fiercely” – Italian performance direction. In detail ↗

“Solemnly, festively” – Italian performance direction. In detail ↗

Folk term for the violin. In detail ↗

With fire, passionate. In detail ↗

Small military transverse flute. In detail ↗

Interval of seven semitones. In detail ↗

Polyphonic vocal music with embellished voice-leading. In detail ↗

Ornamental accompanying figures. In detail ↗

A group of notes arising from the dissolution of main notes of a melody into smaller note values. In detail ↗

The figured bass model of the Baroque. In detail ↗

Numerals placed above or below the bass line that specify the chords of a figured bass. In detail ↗

To sustain a tone evenly. In detail ↗

Short rhythmic filler figure. In detail ↗

Parts that are not led independently melodically but only complete the harmony. In detail ↗

Music composed for or used in a film. In detail ↗

The concluding close of a movement or piece in the home key. In detail ↗

Last movement of a multi-movement work. In detail ↗

Principal closing tone of a mode. In detail ↗

“End” – the closing point of a piece after a repeat (da capo al fine). In detail ↗

A finger crossing over the thumb at the piano. In detail ↗

Board on the neck on which the strings are pressed to shorten them. In detail ↗

Indication of which finger plays a note. In detail ↗

Position of the fingers on fingerboard or keys. In detail ↗

Playing the guitar without a plectrum. In detail ↗

“Hoarsely, dully, weakly” – Italian performance direction. In detail ↗

Embellished melodic figure, coloratura. In detail ↗

First inversion: the third is in the bass. Lighter and more buoyant than root position. In detail ↗

The first bracket at repeats. In detail ↗

Asymmetrical metre of 2+3 or 3+2 quarter notes. In detail ↗

Do always names the same pitch, whatever the key — the normal case in Romance-speaking countries. In detail ↗

Ornamented stroke with a short grace note. In detail ↗

Andalusian art of music and dance made of song (cante), guitar (toque), and dance (baile). In detail ↗

Flute-like, bowed over the fingerboard. In detail ↗

Plaintive, mournful. In detail ↗

Execution in which the notes follow each other unforcedly without noticeable breaks in key or rhythm. In detail ↗

An organ pipe that produces sound through an air stream at the mouth, unlike a reed pipe. In detail ↗

Conical brass instrument in B♭. In detail ↗

Family of conical brass instruments. In detail ↗

Concert flute (English/French term). In detail ↗

One of the oldest woodwind instruments; the sound arises from blowing across an edge. In detail ↗

Historical term for a small organ (positive) containing only flute stops (flue pipes). In detail ↗

Wind-playing technique in which the tongue produces a rolled “r” while playing. In detail ↗

International art and music movement of the 1960s that places the idea above the finished work. In detail ↗

Sound synthesis method in which one oscillator modulates the frequency of another. In detail ↗

Iberian dance and bass model (“La Folia”), varied many times. In detail ↗

Traditional music of a region. In detail ↗

Orally transmitted traditional song. In detail ↗

Length measurement of organ stops in feet. In detail ↗

With strength, vigorously.

Lively dance from Friuli in 6/8 time. In detail ↗

Italian synonym for form. In detail ↗

Loud. The basic level on the loud side, written f. In detail ↗

Loud then immediately soft; symbol fp. In detail ↗

Early form of the modern piano. In detail ↗

Very loud, one step above Forte. In detail ↗

Extremely loud; louder is rarely prescribed. In detail ↗

Historical term for instruments that realized the bass part harmonically in the age of figured bass, such as organ, harpsichord, or theorbo. In detail ↗

Organ stop that sounds the note c, or one of its octaves, on the key c (foundation stops, e.g. 8'/16'). In detail ↗

Four quarter notes per bar, by far the commonest metre. Stresses on one and three. In detail ↗

Interval of five semitones. In detail ↗

American ballroom dance in 4/4 time. In detail ↗

Lively French round dance in 6/8 time, popular in Germany in the 19th century. In detail ↗

“Frankly, boldly” – Italian performance direction, usually with “con.” In detail ↗

Franco-Flemish composers of the 15th and 16th centuries, such as Ockeghem, Josquin and Lassus. In detail ↗

Italian for phrase. In detail ↗

“Cold, frosty” – Italian performance direction. In detail ↗

Without strict tempo, rubato. In detail ↗

Jazz style from about 1960 that abandons fixed harmonic, metric, and formal schemes (Ornette Coleman). In detail ↗

Brass instrument with tightly coiled tubing, funnel mouthpiece, and wide bell. In detail ↗

Baroque overture with slow introduction and fugue. In detail ↗

Historical G clef on the lowest staff line, no longer in use today. In detail ↗

“Fresh” – Italian performance direction for a fast, lively execution. In detail ↗

Raised ridges across the fingerboard of instruments such as the guitar, lute, and viol. In detail ↗

Clavichord in which several keys share a single string course (as opposed to unfretted). In detail ↗

Vocal production with audible friction. In detail ↗

The grip end of a string bow with the device for tightening the hair. In detail ↗

Italian Renaissance strophic song. In detail ↗

Italian for fugue. In detail ↗

Fugue-like section without strict fugal form. In detail ↗

Small, short fugue. In detail ↗

Full tone, without restraint. In detail ↗

Authentic cadence ending on the tonic on a strong beat. In detail ↗

Symphony orchestra in full instrumentation. In detail ↗

Symbol for harmonic function (T, S, D). In detail ↗

Harmonic analysis after Hugo Riemann. In detail ↗

Rameau's imagined sequence of chord roots (basse fondamentale). In detail ↗

Slow march for funerals. In detail ↗

Afro-American style with syncopated groove. In detail ↗

Fast Bohemian dance. In detail ↗

Furious, stormy. In detail ↗

Early 20th-century movement embracing noise music. In detail ↗

Treble clef placed on the second line.

Major key with one sharp (F-sharp); relative major of E minor. In detail ↗

Minor key with two flats; relative minor of B-flat major. In detail ↗

Major key with six flats; enharmonically equal to F-sharp major. In detail ↗

Minor key with nine flats (two of them double flats); in practice usually notated enharmonically as F-sharp minor. In detail ↗

Major key with eight sharps (one of them a double sharp); in practice usually notated enharmonically as A-flat major. In detail ↗

Key with five sharps. In detail ↗

Classical Japanese court music. In detail ↗

Graceful, courtly. In detail ↗

Light, pleasing compositional style of about 1720–1770 between Baroque and Classical. In detail ↗

Lively Renaissance dance in 3/4 time. In detail ↗

Fast 2/4 dance of the 19th century. In detail ↗

Indonesian percussion ensemble. In detail ↗

French for scale.

Popular, widely known song; originally sung in the street. In detail ↗

French dance in duple metre with a half-bar upbeat. In detail ↗

Vessel flute made of an animal horn; also a conical organ stop. In detail ↗

Rest in all parts, symbol G.P. In detail ↗

Upbeat of a higher order that does not belong to the following motif but leads into a new idea. In detail ↗

Letter-based notation for keyboard and lute. In detail ↗

A very soft, muted stroke or note that adds extra groove to a rhythm. In detail ↗

Fast dance closing the suite, usually in 6/8. In detail ↗

Playful, jocular. In detail ↗

Joyful, cheerful. In detail ↗

Historical form of upright grand piano with vertically running strings. In detail ↗

Exact, in strict tempo. In detail ↗

Glass harmonica, glass-music instrument. In detail ↗

Instrument of rotating glass bowls rubbed with moist fingers (B. Franklin). In detail ↗

English part song, mostly for male voices (17th–19th century). In detail ↗

Gliding through the tonal space between two notes. In detail ↗

Metal-bar percussion instrument with bright timbre. In detail ↗

Second main section of the Mass. In detail ↗

Instrumental variations on well-known melodies in Spanish lute and organ music of the 16th century. In detail ↗

Opening between the vocal folds in the larynx; central to tone production in singing. In detail ↗

End point of a motion.

Suspended bronze disc with definite pitch. In detail ↗

Italian vocal ornamentation of the 16th century with coloraturas, trills, and runs. In detail ↗

African American sacred music with chorus, soloists, and call and response. In detail ↗

Ornamental anticipatory note. In detail ↗

Chant of the Mass after the reading; also the book of Mass chants. In detail ↗

Stop on the harmonium (or organ) that brings the full works to sound. In detail ↗

Piano with horizontal strings and action. In detail ↗

Grand, lofty. In detail ↗

Form of notation that uses symbols, texts, or colors instead of or alongside classical staff notation. In detail ↗

Heavy, very slow. In detail ↗

Gracefully, charmingly. In detail ↗

Octave range from C to B. In detail ↗

Monophonic Latin liturgical chant of the Roman Church. In detail ↗

Traditional Alpine ornament symbol; also documented as an attack ornament in yodelling.

West African professional musician and storyteller who passes knowledge on orally across generations. In detail ↗

Compelling rhythmic interplay of a band that invites movement. In detail ↗

Old, mordent-like ornament of four quick notes of equal length that circle around a main note. In detail ↗

English variation form over a constantly repeated bass. In detail ↗

Ornamental figure composed of several notes.

Turn around the main note.

Medieval mnemonic device assigning the solmization syllables to the joints of the fingers. In detail ↗

Plucked instrument with six strings tuned E–A–d–g–b–e¹. In detail ↗

Single-string bowed instrument of the Balkans, accompanying epic songs. In detail ↗

Russian board zither with plucked strings. In detail ↗

Strings made from animal gut, mainly for string instruments; today used chiefly in historically informed performance. In detail ↗

Chinese zither with a curved soundboard and movable bridges, usually 21 strings. In detail ↗

Medieval two-part singing in thirds or sixths. In detail ↗

Cuban dance in 2/4 time. In detail ↗

Wedge-shaped sign for a crescendo or decrescendo across several bars. In detail ↗

Hunting horn signal announcing that the quarry is brought to bay or taken. In detail ↗

A progression coming to rest on the dominant — open, questioning, unfinished. In detail ↗

A resting point within a melody where a musical idea comes to a partial close before a new one begins. In detail ↗

Old time signature from which today's C sign for common time developed. In detail ↗

Note worth two quarter notes (minim). In detail ↗

Rest equal in value to a half note. In detail ↗

Interval of a minor second.

A diminished triad with a minor seventh. Softer than the fully diminished one and with a clear root. In detail ↗

Horn tone with the bell half-stopped.

A horn tone with the hand only partly closing the bell — half-stopped. In detail ↗

String instrument whose strings are struck with mallets. In detail ↗

Electromechanical organ with tonewheel generators and drawbars (Laurens Hammond, 1935). In detail ↗

Played with the hand inside the bell for a brassy tone. In detail ↗

Jazz style of the 1950s that combines bebop with blues and gospel elements. In detail ↗

Overtone produced by lightly touching the string. In detail ↗

Possibility of assigning a note, interval, or chord to different keys depending on context, for instance enharmonically. In detail ↗

Music-theoretical concept, shaped mainly by Hugo Riemann, that treats major and minor sonorities as mirror-related modes. In detail ↗

Minor scale with raised seventh degree. In detail ↗

Overtone series used as a scale. In detail ↗

System of chord progressions.

The harmonic series as a scale. In detail ↗

Mouth organ or accordion. In detail ↗

Keyboard instrument with free reeds. In detail ↗

Study of the simultaneous combination of tones. In detail ↗

String instrument with vertical strings and pedals. In detail ↗

Keyboard instrument with plucked strings. In detail ↗

Guitar laid across the knees and played with a steel bar. In detail ↗

A high vocal register felt to resonate mainly in the head. In detail ↗

The top section of a flute or oboe, carrying the embouchure hole or reed socket. In detail ↗

With heart, with courage. In detail ↗

Low baritone oboe. In detail ↗

Dramatic, powerful tenor. In detail ↗

Circularly wound tuba carried over the shoulder. In detail ↗

Reinterpretation of two triple-time bars as three groups of two. In detail ↗

Seven-step diatonic series of notes, like today's major scale. In detail ↗

Heroic, powerful. In detail ↗

Holding back, ritenuto. In detail ↗

Simultaneous performance of one melody in slightly differing variants. In detail ↗

Six-note tone series after Guido of Arezzo. In detail ↗

Pair of cymbals of the drum kit opened and closed with a foot pedal. In detail ↗

Upper range of an instrument. In detail ↗

Music culture from the Bronx of the 1970s with rap, DJing, and samples. In detail ↗

Medieval vocal technique with short rests dividing the melody. In detail ↗

Soft-toned organ stop. In detail ↗

Texture with a leading melody and chordal accompaniment. In detail ↗

Especially memorable musical or textual phrase that sticks in the memory. In detail ↗

Characteristic progression of natural-horn writing. In detail ↗

Classification of musical instruments by the way sound is produced (1914), e.g. idiophones, membranophones. In detail ↗

English dance, often in 3/2 time. In detail ↗

Acclamation in the Mass. In detail ↗

Historical organ wind-chest design using flexible hoses; rare, mainly in the 18th/19th century.

Music made in the domestic setting. In detail ↗

French for octave. In detail ↗

Wordless singing with a closed mouth, producing a muffled, nasal tone. In detail ↗

Humorous character piece. In detail ↗

In the style of Hungarian folk music. In detail ↗

Valveless natural horn. In detail ↗

Historical courtly wind music (especially horns) that musically accompanied the start, end, and kill of the quarry in a hunt. In detail ↗

String instrument whose strings are bowed by a crank-turned wheel. In detail ↗

Festive song of praise. In detail ↗

Collection of liturgical songs. In detail ↗

Rhetorical figure of exaggeration; in music, affect heightened by extreme intervals or dynamics. In detail ↗

Plagal form of the Dorian mode (2nd church mode). In detail ↗

Plagal form of the Lydian mode. In detail ↗

Plagal form of the Mixolydian mode. In detail ↗

Plagal form of the Phrygian mode (4th church mode). In detail ↗

Iambic metre, short-long. In detail ↗

Recurring principal motive used by Berlioz. In detail ↗

Leitmotif used for characterisation. In detail ↗

Self-sounding percussion instrument. In detail ↗

Cadence of supertonic, dominant, and tonic; a basic building block of jazz harmony. In detail ↗

Rhythmically confusing texture in which the stresses of several parts are shifted so that the metre seems unclear. In detail ↗

Imitation of a motif or theme in another voice. In detail ↗

Commanding, imperious.

In mensural notation, the twofold (instead of threefold) value of an otherwise perfect note. In detail ↗

Early 20th-century style focused on tone colour. In detail ↗

Character piece for piano that seems improvised. In detail ↗

Spontaneous tone-creation in performance. In detail ↗

Pressing, growing faster. In detail ↗

Music that sounds as part of the plot on or behind the stage, also called incidental music. In detail ↗

Pitch change in a psalm tone. In detail ↗

An accidental valid only within the current bar — unlike the key signature. In detail ↗

Inner parts of a polyphonic texture between the top and bottom parts, such as alto and tenor. In detail ↗

Restless, agitated. In detail ↗

Tool for producing musical sound. In detail ↗

Music performed by instruments alone, as opposed to vocal music. In detail ↗

Transcription of vocal music into tablature. In detail ↗

Physical superposition of sound waves in which vibrations can reinforce or cancel each other. In detail ↗

Interlude. In detail ↗

Interlude between acts or movements. In detail ↗

Cadence occurring within a formal section. In detail ↗

Artistic rendering of a work. In detail ↗

Deceptive cadence V–VI.

Pitch distance between two notes. In detail ↗

The lower note moves up an octave. A third becomes a sixth, major becomes minor, and the numbers always add to nine. In detail ↗

Accuracy of pitch; also the opening of a chant. In detail ↗

Festive opening piece, especially of the 16th and 17th centuries. In detail ↗

“Intrepid” – bold, fearless in delivery. In detail ↗

Slow opening of a movement or work. In detail ↗

Opening chant of the Mass. In detail ↗

Two-voice keyboard piece by Bach.

Inventio, polyphonic keyboard piece by Bach. In detail ↗

Inversion of a chord or interval. In detail ↗

Counterpoint whose voices can be swapped. In detail ↗

Antiphon opening the first nocturn (Matins) in the Roman Divine Office. In detail ↗

Church mode on C, identical with major. In detail ↗

In the style of Irish folk music.

A metre with unequal groups, such as 5/8 or 7/8; common in Balkan folk music. In detail ↗

Medieval compositional technique in which a rhythmic pattern is repeated independently of the melody (esp. 14th-century motets). In detail ↗

Spanish solo dance in 3/8 time with a typical castanet rhythm. In detail ↗

Turkish military music with cymbals, drums, and triangle; model for the “alla turca” fashion. In detail ↗

Mexican folk dance in two parts: an instrumental introduction followed by a sung section. In detail ↗

Instrument with a springy metal tongue whose sound is shaped by the mouth cavity. In detail ↗

Afro-American musical tradition since around 1900. In detail ↗

Musical style since the 1960s that combines jazz with funk rhythm and rock energy. In detail ↗

Widely known piece of the jazz repertoire often used as a basis for improvisation. In detail ↗

Thrown, bouncing bow stroke. In detail ↗

Organ stop; "play". In detail ↗

Fast English-Irish dance, forerunner of the gigue. In detail ↗

Cheerful, playful.

Traditional song of the Sámi that evokes people, animals, or landscapes. In detail ↗

Medieval minstrel. In detail ↗

Spanish folk dance in triple time. In detail ↗

Joyfully excited.

Melismatic closing cry of the Alleluia. In detail ↗

Connecting tone or melodic bridge between two chant phrases. In detail ↗

Tuning by pure intervals, for example fifth 3:2 and major third 5:4. In detail ↗

Hungarian folk dance in 2/4 time, often with singing. In detail ↗

Honorary title for outstanding opera and concert singers. In detail ↗

Finnish plucked instrument of the zither family, central to Finnish folk music. In detail ↗

Historically a singing or instrumental ensemble at churches and princely courts; origin of the term “Kapellmeister.” In detail ↗

Director of a court chapel or opera house. In detail ↗

Term for the last dance of a dance gathering. In detail ↗

Defined scale with a fixed key signature. In detail ↗

Mechanical pitch control on a wind instrument. In detail ↗

The accidentals at the start of the staff; they hold for the whole piece until changed. In detail ↗

Arrangement of keys on a keyboard instrument. In detail ↗

Instrument played from a keyboard. In detail ↗

Historical brass instrument with keys. In detail ↗

Historical trumpet with keys for chromatic notes (Weidinger, 1801); forerunner of the valve trumpet. In detail ↗

Ancient Greek plucked instrument in lyre form. In detail ↗

Distribution of a line across changing timbres, so that the timbre itself acts melodically (Schoenberg). In detail ↗

Instrumental festive music of Eastern European Jews, marked by clarinet and violin. In detail ↗

Folk bowed instrument.

Folk bowed instrument held on the knee. In detail ↗

Hand shapes for the scale degrees; they make the melody visible in space. In detail ↗

A South Slavic and Balkan round dance, often accompanied by singing. In detail ↗

Concerting, virtuoso. In detail ↗

A West African bridge harp with usually 21 strings and a calabash resonator. In detail ↗

A Japanese arched-board zither with usually 13 strings and movable bridges. In detail ↗

Energetic, powerful. In detail ↗

Polish dance in 2/4 time. In detail ↗

A Polish folk dance in triple metre. In detail ↗

A historical school choir that sang sacred songs in the street for alms, ancestor of choirs such as the Thomanerchor. In detail ↗

First section of the Ordinary of the Mass. In detail ↗

A direction that the beat stays the same speed despite a change of time signature. In detail ↗

Sixth syllable of solfège. In detail ↗

Lamenting, mournful. In detail ↗

A setting of the Lamentations of Jeremiah for Holy Week. In detail ↗

Lament featuring a descending bass line. In detail ↗

Austrian folk dance in 3/4 time. In detail ↗

The sharp edge at the mouth of a flue organ pipe against which the air stream produces the tone. In detail ↗

German for growing weary: calmer and softer. In detail ↗

Broadly, expansively. In detail ↗

Somewhat less broad than largo. In detail ↗

Extremely broad and slow, slower than Largo. In detail ↗

Very broad, slow. In detail ↗

An organ stop at 1 1/3 foot pitch, named after an old French fipple-flute instrument. In detail ↗

Vocal organ; the vibrating vocal folds act as a “cushioned pipe” producing the fundamental tone of the human singing voice. In detail ↗

Sacred language of the Western Church. In detail ↗

Italian devotional song in the vernacular (13th–16th century). In detail ↗

General layout of notation.

Score with melody and chord symbols used as a playing basis in jazz and pop. In detail ↗

Dissonant chords (e.g. seventh chord, diminished triad) that require resolution to a consonant sonority. In detail ↗

Semitone below the tonic, the leading note. In detail ↗

A chord formed by shifting the root of a major triad down a semitone, or the fifth of a minor triad up a semitone (C major → E minor). In detail ↗

Beginning with the leading tone.

Additional line above or below the staff. In detail ↗

Designation for the lower piano part. In detail ↗

Bound: notes joined without an audible gap. In detail ↗

Legato, played with a slur. In detail ↗

Slur that joins notes into legato. In detail ↗

Instrumental piece of epic-lyrical character based on a legend of a saint or of folklore. In detail ↗

Light, weightless. In detail ↗

A recurring motif that identifies a person, idea or situation (Wagner). In detail ↗

Gradually becoming slower. In detail ↗

Extremely slow, the superlative of Lento. In detail ↗

Slow, calm. In detail ↗

“Group of Six” – association of six young French composers formed in Paris in 1918. In detail ↗

A historical notation system representing pitches with letters (A–G); a forerunner of modern staff notation. In detail ↗

A low frequency oscillator used to cyclically modulate sound parameters such as pitch or volume. In detail ↗

Text book of an opera. In detail ↗

A short, memorable melodic phrase used in improvisation. In detail ↗

Strophic art song. In detail ↗

A nineteenth-century men's choral society, the first founded in 1809 by Zelter. In detail ↗

Joined group of notes in mensural notation. In detail ↗

Liturgical cycle with associated musical feasts. In detail ↗

Order of worship. In detail ↗

Electroacoustic music whose sound production takes place in real time during performance. In detail ↗

Animated, fast, vigorous. In detail ↗

"In place" – cancels a preceding octave transposition instruction. In detail ↗

Mode on B with a diminished fifth. In detail ↗

Mode on B with a diminished fifth.

A note value in mensural notation, usually twice the length of the breve. In detail ↗

Vibrations in which particles move parallel to the direction the wave travels, as with sound in air. In detail ↗

Repeated, self-contained musical sequence played back continuously. In detail ↗

Several notes in one bow stroke, each gently articulated. In detail ↗

Lowering a note by a semitone (flat) or a whole tone (double flat), e.g. from E to E-flat. In detail ↗

Performance direction: mournful, dirge-like, usually at a slow tempo. In detail ↗

Cradle song. In detail ↗

"Long", especially a long-held fermata. In detail ↗

Coaxing, caressing. In detail ↗

Plucked instrument with bent-back neck and frets. In detail ↗

Historical registration device on harpsichord or early piano that gave the tone a muted, lute-like color. In detail ↗

Lute player. In detail ↗

In the style of Lutheran church music. In detail ↗

Major with a raised fourth degree; open and wide in sound. In detail ↗

Ancient stringed instrument. In detail ↗

Song-like, expressive character. In detail ↗

Polyphonic vocal piece of the Renaissance. In detail ↗

Tone painting that depicts the text in a madrigal. In detail ↗

Majestic, dignified. In detail ↗

Master, conductor. In detail ↗

Italian for major. In detail ↗

Magnetic tape for sound recording.

Mary's song of praise (Luke 1:46–55), part of Vespers. In detail ↗

The main keyboard of the organ intended for playing with the hands, with the most powerful stops. In detail ↗

First theme in sonata form. In detail ↗

Most important theme of a movement. In detail ↗

Tonal mode with a major third above the tonic. In detail ↗

English term for major mode.

Sequence whole-whole-half-whole-whole-whole-half. In detail ↗

Two semitones, the whole-tone step of the scale. In detail ↗

Eleven semitones, a semitone below the octave — tense and floating. In detail ↗

Nine semitones, the inversion of the minor third. In detail ↗

Four semitones, ratio 5:4. It makes a triad major. In detail ↗

Root, major third, perfect fifth — the brightest of the four triad types. In detail ↗

A male singer in the soprano range. In detail ↗

Cuban dance with syncopated rhythm. In detail ↗

Fading, dying away. In detail ↗

Small plucked instrument with a rounded body. In detail ↗

Small type of lute with a shorter neck, fewer frets and fewer strings than the large lute. In detail ↗

Style between Renaissance and Baroque. In detail ↗

Italian for "hand"; mano destra (right hand) and mano sinistra (left hand) assign a part to a hand in piano scores. In detail ↗

The organ's hand-played keyboard. In detail ↗

Direction for organ pieces to be played on the manuals alone, without pedal. In detail ↗

Melodic model of Arabic, Persian and Turkish music, combining a fixed scale with characteristic melodic turns. In detail ↗

Strongly accented, each tone emphasised. In detail ↗

Marching music in 4/4 or 2/4 time. In detail ↗

Italian for march.

Mexican ensemble and music style with violins, trumpets, guitars and singing. In detail ↗

Mallet instrument with wooden bars and resonator tubes, lower and mellower than the xylophone. In detail ↗

"Hammered" stroke with a sharp bow stop. In detail ↗

Hammered, with a sharp attack or bow start. In detail ↗

Ornament on the harp made by repeatedly striking one note on two strings; in older keyboard music also a name for the mordent. In detail ↗

Martial, march-like. In detail ↗

English court masque with music, dance and poetry (16th/17th century). In detail ↗

Principal liturgical work of the Catholic Church. In detail ↗

The unchanging parts of the Mass: Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus and Agnus Dei. In detail ↗

The chants of the Mass that change with the church year. In detail ↗

Technical final processing of a sound recording as the last step before release. In detail ↗

Largest mensural note value, two longas. In detail ↗

Polish dance in triple time with the accent on the second or third beat. In detail ↗

Metrically organised time unit. In detail ↗

Third scale degree, mediant of the tonic. In detail ↗

Medieval bowed string instrument, a forerunner of the violin. In detail ↗

Bourgeois poet-singers in German towns of the 15th and 16th centuries. In detail ↗

Parent scale of South-Indian Carnatic music. In detail ↗

Melancholy, gloomy. In detail ↗

Several notes sung on a single syllable. In detail ↗

F horn used in marching bands. In detail ↗

Minor with raised sixth and seventh ascending. In detail ↗

Study of melodic construction. In detail ↗

Spoken text accompanied by music. In detail ↗

Succession of tones that makes musical sense. In detail ↗

Instrument in which a stretched membrane produces the sound, such as a drum (Hornbostel–Sachs). In detail ↗

“Less motion” — slower from this point on. In detail ↗

Notation of polyphonic music from the late thirteenth to the early seventeenth century. In detail ↗

Ratio of note values in mensural notation. In detail ↗

Cheerful, jolly. In detail ↗

Swell and decrease in volume on a sustained tone. In detail ↗

Sad. In detail ↗

Organization of strong and weak beats. In detail ↗

A new metre in the middle of a piece; it appears after the barline. In detail ↗

Study of metre and verse measure. In detail ↗

Tempo measuring device calibrated by Maelzel. In detail ↗

Tempo marking in beats per minute, referred to a note value. In detail ↗

With half voice, subdued. In detail ↗

Moderately loud, symbol mf. In detail ↗

Dots under a slur: sustained, yet slightly separated. In detail ↗

Middle female voice. In detail ↗

Moderately soft — between Piano and Mezzoforte. In detail ↗

Third syllable of solfège. In detail ↗

Music with intervals smaller than a semitone, such as quarter tones or sixth tones. In detail ↗

Industry standard for exchanging musical control information between electronic instruments. In detail ↗

Snare drum with tightened snares. In detail ↗

"Threatening": a performance direction for a strongly accented, menacing expression. In detail ↗

Historic note value of mensural notation, roughly equal to today's half note. In detail ↗

Repetitive musical style since the 1960s. In detail ↗

High medieval German courtly love poetry. In detail ↗

Mode with a minor third above the tonic. In detail ↗

English term for minor mode.

One semitone, the narrowest step in the system — the basis of every leading tone. In detail ↗

Ten semitones. It turns a major triad into a dominant seventh chord. In detail ↗

Eight semitones, the inversion of the major third. In detail ↗

Interval of three semitones. In detail ↗

Root, minor third, perfect fifth. A single semitone separates it from major. In detail ↗

Marks a minor-key section within an otherwise major-key movement, for example in variations or dances. In detail ↗

French dance in 3/4 time; movement of the suite, symphony and sonata. In detail ↗

Membrane sound-modifier, kazoo. In detail ↗

Fugue in retrograde or inversion. In detail ↗

Setting of the penitential Psalm "Miserere mei, Deus" (Psalm 51), known through Allegri's version. In detail ↗

Solemn, large-scale setting of the Mass. In detail ↗

Italian for measure.

Major with a lowered seventh. Without a leading tone the cadence does not aim — the sound of folk and rock. In detail ↗

Organ stop with several pipes per key that reinforces the overtones. In detail ↗

Jazz that improvises over long stretches on modes rather than fast chord changes (Miles Davis, Kind of Blue). In detail ↗

Scale type or church mode; in mensural notation also the ratio of longa to brevis. In detail ↗

Moderately, moderato. In detail ↗

Moderate tempo. In detail ↗

Change of key within a piece. In detail ↗

"Very"; intensifies the tempo or expression word. In detail ↗

Short, lyrical piano piece (Schubert). In detail ↗

Instrument with a single string for determining interval ratios. In detail ↗

Accompanied solo singing around 1600. In detail ↗

Single-voice music. In detail ↗

Quick alternation with the lower neighbour note. In detail ↗

Dying away: growing softer and slower at once. In detail ↗

In motion, fast. In detail ↗

Polyphonic vocal work on a liturgical text. In detail ↗

Smallest meaningful musical unit. In detail ↗

Continuously running mechanical rhythm. In detail ↗

Blowing device of a wind instrument. In detail ↗

Do is the tonic of whatever key you are in, not a fixed pitch. The more productive route for ear training. In detail ↗

Synonym for a movement of a multi-part work.

Self-contained section of a multi-movement work.

Flowing, pressing onward.

Liturgical chant of the Christians in medieval Spain, closer to the Gallican than to the Roman rite. In detail ↗

Fingering or blowing techniques that make an instrument produce more than one note at once. In detail ↗

Galician dance in duple metre, moderately fast. In detail ↗

18th-century keyboard style with continuous broken octaves in the bass as an accompaniment figure. In detail ↗

French dance imitating the bagpipe. In detail ↗

A mechanical musical instrument in which a pinned cylinder or disc plucks metal teeth. In detail ↗

Expert assessment of music and performances, mediating between work, interpretation and audience. In detail ↗

An ancient idea that the movement of the celestial bodies produces sounds, still received today as a musical-philosophical motif. In detail ↗

Stand to hold sheet music. In detail ↗

Medieval term for accidentally altered tones. In detail ↗

Late-Renaissance style of refined text expression. In detail ↗

Entertaining stage work with singing, dancing and spoken dialogue (Broadway, West End). In detail ↗

Philosophical study of musical beauty, distinct from music theory and acoustics. In detail ↗

An aleatoric composition through a roll of dice. In detail ↗

Scholarly study of music.

Music composed from recorded sounds. In detail ↗

Direction for wind or percussion players to change the tuning, for example for timpani or horns. In detail ↗

Change from one hexachord to another by reinterpreting a note in solmisation. In detail ↗

A device for softening and altering the tone of strings, winds, and piano. In detail ↗

Medieval sacred drama with music on biblical subjects, first performed in churches, later in marketplaces. In detail ↗

Trill or ornament ending. In detail ↗

Postlude, a closing piece. In detail ↗

Stopped organ stop with a flute-like, horn-like tone that emphasises fundamental and overtone. In detail ↗

Singing fault in which too much air escapes through the nose and the tone sounds nasal. In detail ↗

Fundamental frequency of a vibrating body. In detail ↗

Valveless horn of the early Classical era. In detail ↗

A white piano key. In detail ↗

Aeolian minor scale. In detail ↗

Symbol ♮ cancelling a preceding accidental. In detail ↗

The notes of the harmonic series playable on a valveless wind instrument. In detail ↗

Trumpet without valves, limited to the natural tones. In detail ↗

Organ stop sounding the twelfth (2⅔ foot) with a nasal tone, built open or stopped. In detail ↗

Opera composers of the 18th century from Naples, such as A. Scarlatti and Pergolesi. In detail ↗

A major triad on the lowered second degree, usually in first inversion, before the dominant. In detail ↗

Narrow part of a string or lute instrument over which the strings run to the pegbox. In detail ↗

Performance direction "negligent": to play casually, without effort or emphasis. In detail ↗

A non-chord auxiliary note. In detail ↗

Post-1920 style reviving older forms. In detail ↗

Early notational sign placed above the Latin text. In detail ↗

Circle of composers around Liszt and Wagner; program music and music drama. In detail ↗

Umbrella term for advanced art music since about 1910. In detail ↗

Compositional attitude in new music since the 1970s that stresses emotional intelligibility and traditional elements. In detail ↗

"Nothing"; to fade away to silence. In detail ↗

Nine eighth notes per bar in three groups of three. In detail ↗

Interval of a second plus an octave. In detail ↗

Chord with an added ninth. In detail ↗

Noble, dignified. In detail ↗

Notturno for piano. In detail ↗

Pitchless sound event. In detail ↗

Neither slurred nor detached — notes slightly separated. In detail ↗

A note that does not belong to the sounding chord, e.g. passing tone or suspension. In detail ↗

A note or chord that lies outside the diatonic scale of a key, usually produced by chromatic alteration. In detail ↗

Composition for nine instruments. In detail ↗

"Note against note": the simplest form of counterpoint, in which all voices move in the same rhythm. In detail ↗

System for writing down musical tones. In detail ↗

Written symbol for a musical tone. In detail ↗

Flag attached to a note stem. In detail ↗

Letter name of a tone. In detail ↗

Vertical line attached to the note head. In detail ↗

Duration of a written note. In detail ↗

The oval main part of a note, whose position shows the pitch. In detail ↗

Narrative piano piece (Schumann). In detail ↗

The strip at the top end of the fingerboard over which the strings run. In detail ↗

Essential, soloistic in character. In detail ↗

Organ division above the Hauptwerk. In detail ↗

One voice holds its pitch while the other moves. In detail ↗

Soprano double-reed woodwind instrument. In detail ↗

Low Baroque tenor oboe. In detail ↗

Interval of twelve semitones. In detail ↗

Clef with a small 8, transposed by an octave. In detail ↗

Work for eight players. In detail ↗

Emphasis between the beats, that is, on the unstressed parts of the bar. In detail ↗

Chant of the Mass during the preparation of the gifts. In detail ↗

Electronic instrument by Maurice Martenot (1928) with keyboard and ribbon for gliding tones. In detail ↗

Octave range from c' to b'; contains standard concert pitch a'. In detail ↗

Organ stop whose pipes are not closed at the top (opposite: stopped). In detail ↗

Unfingered, freely vibrating string. In detail ↗

Introductory movement or section. In detail ↗

Opening choral movement, e.g. of a cantata. In detail ↗

First movement of a cyclic work. In detail ↗

Stage work set continuously to music. In detail ↗

Italian comic opera. In detail ↗

"Half-serious" opera: a serious plot with occasional comic scenes. In detail ↗

Serious Italian opera of the 18th century. In detail ↗

Light musical stage genre. In detail ↗

Work, numbered as op. In detail ↗

Multi-movement work for soloists, choir and orchestra on a mostly sacred subject, not staged. In detail ↗

Large instrumental ensemble. In detail ↗

Distribution of parts among instruments. In detail ↗

Mechanical musical instrument that imitates the sound of an orchestra with reeds and additions. In detail ↗

"Ordinary": an instruction to return to normal playing after a special technique (for example sul ponticello). In detail ↗

Keyboard instrument with pipework. In detail ↗

Tin-lead alloy used to make metal organ flue pipes; a higher tin content gives a better sound. In detail ↗

Three-part organ writing, often distributed over several manuals and pedal; no fixed form. In detail ↗

Medieval hurdy-gurdy. In detail ↗

"With full organ": playing on the organ with the plenum of stops. In detail ↗

Study of musical instruments. In detail ↗

Early polyphony in which further voices are added to a chant melody. In detail ↗

Alternative reading offered in the score. In detail ↗

A constantly repeated melodic or rhythmic figure. In detail ↗

To be played an octave higher (8va) or lower (8vb). In detail ↗

Arabic short-necked fretless lute. In detail ↗

The highest and lowest voice of a multi-part texture. In detail ↗

Series of integer-multiple partials.

Introductory instrumental music. In detail ↗

Sustained sonic texture in electronic music. In detail ↗

Sorrowful, doloroso.

Model a cappella writing after Palestrina; the basis of counterpoint teaching. In detail ↗

Guitar technique in which the strings are damped with the heel of the picking hand. In detail ↗

Free use of diatonic tones outside functional harmony. In detail ↗

A row of joined pipes of different lengths, closed at the bottom. In detail ↗

Stage work without spoken text. In detail ↗

Forbidden parallel fifth motion in strict counterpoint. In detail ↗

Two voices moving in parallel a fourth apart; judged acoustically unfavorable by older theory. In detail ↗

Voices moving in the same interval. In detail ↗

Parallel octaves between two voices, forbidden in strict part-writing. In detail ↗

Two voices progressing at a constant interval of a seventh. In detail ↗

Permitted parallel motion in thirds. In detail ↗

Free, often virtuosic arrangement of a well-known work (Liszt). In detail ↗

Sung in a speaking, lightly scanned manner. In detail ↗

Reuse of a work with new text. In detail ↗

Component of the harmonic spectrum. In detail ↗

A bass line as a practice basis for improvisation and composition. In detail ↗

Baroque variation cycle or suite. In detail ↗

Larger sections of a work.

Variation form over a constantly repeated bass theme, usually in triple time. In detail ↗

Particular passage in the score.

A fast run of notes developed from the working-out of a motif, usually in scale or chord form. In detail ↗

Transition register of the singing voice. In detail ↗

Italian dance and bass pattern of the 16th century. In detail ↗

Fast French dance in 3/8 or 6/8 time. In detail ↗

Melodic note connecting two chord tones. In detail ↗

Musical setting of the story of Jesus' suffering. In detail ↗

With great feeling, appassionato. In detail ↗

With passion. In detail ↗

Opera assembled from pieces by different composers. In detail ↗

Pastoral piece, often in 6/8 time. In detail ↗

Slow processional dance in duple time, 16th century. In detail ↗

Bach's secular cantata in a folk-like style. In detail ↗

Foot keyboard of the organ or piano mechanism. In detail ↗

Concert harp whose strings can be retuned by pedals. In detail ↗

Sustained bass tone beneath changing harmonies. In detail ↗

English term for sustained bass tone.

Seven-note gamelan scale with unequal steps, usually used as five notes. In detail ↗

Contemplative, introspective. In detail ↗

Five-note scale common in folk music. In detail ↗

Percussion instrument group. In detail ↗

Losing itself — growing softer and less defined. In detail ↗

Authentic cadence with the tonic in both soprano and bass. In detail ↗

Seven semitones, ratio 3:2. After the octave, the most stable interval. In detail ↗

Five semitones, ratio 4:3. Sounds open and presses for resolution. In detail ↗

Unison, fourth, fifth, octave. In detail ↗

The sounding realization of a musical work before an audience, including performing forces, venue, and direction. In detail ↗

Eight-bar phrase with antecedent and consequent. In detail ↗

"Ever-moving", a virtuoso piece in constant note values. In detail ↗

Heavy, weighty. In detail ↗

Improvisatory character piece.

Caesura, melodic interruption. In detail ↗

Slur grouping a phrase together. In detail ↗

Articulation of music into phrases. In detail ↗

Minor with a lowered second degree; the semitone right above the tonic carries the flamenco sound. In detail ↗

Half cadence with a falling fourth in the bass (iv6 → V in minor), named after the Phrygian mode. In detail ↗

Pleasing, agreeable. In detail ↗

Very soft, one step below Piano. In detail ↗

Extremely soft, at the edge of audibility. In detail ↗

Soft, symbol p. In detail ↗

Keyboard instrument with hammer action. In detail ↗

Solo concerto for piano and orchestra. In detail ↗

Method book for learning piano. In detail ↗

Full name of the piano.

Art music for the Scottish bagpipe (piobaireachd). In detail ↗

A piece in minor ends on a major triad — a sudden brightening at the last moment. In detail ↗

Smallest, octave-transposing flute. In detail ↗

Electromagnetic pickup. In detail ↗

French term for mordent. In detail ↗

Chinese short-necked lute with a pear-shaped body and four strings. In detail ↗

Basic form of a sound-producing wind instrument: an air stream is split at a flue and sets an air column sounding. In detail ↗

Staccato bowing for strings in which several notes are played briefly separated within one bow stroke. In detail ↗

Highness or lowness of a tone. In detail ↗

Individual sound of a definite pitch.

Italian for "more": strengthens a preceding direction, for example più allegro = faster, più forte = louder. In detail ↗

“More motion” — faster from this point on. In detail ↗

Strings plucked with the finger. In detail ↗

Calm, placid. In detail ↗

Subdominant-to-tonic cadence.

Subdominant to tonic, without a leading tone. Known as the amen ending of chorales. In detail ↗

Mode whose range extends below the finalis. In detail ↗

Without lustre, neutral.

Small piece used to pluck strings. In detail ↗

Medieval ornamental notational sign. In detail ↗

Breath; also long melismas in chant. In detail ↗

"A little". In detail ↗

"Little by little", gradually. In detail ↗

Serial music with isolated tone-points. In detail ↗

Bohemian dance in 2/4 time. In detail ↗

Polish dance in 3/4 time. In detail ↗

Style featuring multiple choirs. In detail ↗

A sonority of two or more chords stacked on top of each other, notated with a horizontal line. In detail ↗

With several simultaneous voices. In detail ↗

Simultaneous use of different rhythms. In detail ↗

The simultaneous sounding of several keys. In detail ↗

Pompous, festive. In detail ↗

A sliding transition between two notes, chiefly in voice and strings. In detail ↗

A small, portable organ of the Middle Ages. In detail ↗

Carried, between legato and staccato. In detail ↗

Position of the left hand on the fingerboard. In detail ↗

A small non-portable organ; also a division of a large organ. In detail ↗

Valveless signal horn of mail coaches. In detail ↗

Closing piece, postludium. In detail ↗

Closing piece.

Medley of popular melodies. In detail ↗

Root and fifth only, without the third. It survives heavy distortion and fits over major and minor alike. In detail ↗

Prayer scene in opera. In detail ↗

Introductory piece, often before a fugue. In detail ↗

Introductory instrumental piece. In detail ↗

Consonant preparation of a dissonance. In detail ↗

Piano whose sound is altered by objects placed between the strings (John Cage). In detail ↗

Organ stop, usually equivalent to the 4-foot principal; the large visible pipes in the organ case. In detail ↗

As fast as possible. In detail ↗

Very fast, around 168 to 200 beats per minute. In detail ↗

Leading female singer in an opera. In detail ↗

Triad on the I, IV, or V degree of a key (tonic, subdominant, dominant). In detail ↗

Unison, prime.

"First" player in piano four-hands. In detail ↗

The open main stop of the organ. In detail ↗

Instrumental music that depicts extra-musical content. In detail ↗

Characteristic succession of chords. In detail ↗

The movement of notes or voices from one degree to the next. In detail ↗

Mensural notation using numerical ratios. In detail ↗

Biblical song text from the Book of Psalms. In detail ↗

Liturgical psalm singing. In detail ↗

Historic harp-like plucked instrument with a triangular frame, played with the fingers. In detail ↗

Mensural dot of augmentation. In detail ↗

Driving motion.

Difference between twelve pure fifths and seven octaves (about 23.5 cents). In detail ↗

Zither-like plucked instrument with numerous strings, common in Arabic, Turkish, and Greek music. In detail ↗

Ecstatic Sufi singing from Pakistan and northern India (Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan). In detail ↗

Four-part piece; also the name for the four voices of a choral setting. In detail ↗

French dance in five sections. In detail ↗

Four notes in the time of three. In detail ↗

Chord construction in fourths. In detail ↗

A quarter of a whole note; in most metres it is the beat. In detail ↗

A rest lasting a quarter note. In detail ↗

Work for four players. In detail ↗

"Almost, as if", often used in comparisons. In detail ↗

Organ stop (stopped flue) in which the fifth sounds softly along with the fundamental. In detail ↗

Historic lute- or zither-like plucked instrument with several string courses and a flat body. In detail ↗

Composition for five performers. In detail ↗

Five notes in the time of four. In detail ↗

Fifth voice of 16th-century polyphonic vocal compositions, scored as soprano, alto, tenor or bass depending on the work. In detail ↗

A humorous combination of well-known melodies or texts. In detail ↗

The melodic framework of Indian classical music. In detail ↗

Syncopated piano music of African American origin around 1900 (Scott Joplin). In detail ↗

Raising a note by a semitone (sharp) or a whole tone (double sharp), e.g. from C to C-sharp. In detail ↗

Gradually becoming slower. In detail ↗

A Swiss herding melody used to call cattle, also known by its French name Ranz des vaches. In detail ↗

Rhythmic speech-song, a central element of hip-hop. In detail ↗

Tool with five parallel pens for drawing all five staff lines at once by hand. In detail ↗

Noise instrument in which a cogwheel catches a wooden tongue. In detail ↗

Fairly, rather; slightly strengthens a marking. In detail ↗

The second degree of solfège, a major second above Do. In detail ↗

Four-part vocal setting following strict counterpoint.

Writing out the figured bass in full. In detail ↗

The return of a formal section, above all of the exposition in sonata form. In detail ↗

Solo passage in French organ music. In detail ↗

Solo concert by a single artist, usually at the piano; the term goes back to Liszt. In detail ↗

Italian for recitative. In detail ↗

A duct flute with seven finger holes and a thumb hole. In detail ↗

Bohemian dance in triple time and fairly fast tempo; variant Rejdovačka in 2/4 time. In detail ↗

Vibrating tongue of cane used on woodwind instruments, single or double. In detail ↗

Collective term for the reed stops (reed pipes) of an organ. In detail ↗

Organ pipe with a reed. In detail ↗

Fast Scottish-Irish dance in duple time. In detail ↗

Refrain, recurring song section. In detail ↗

Small organ with reed pipes. In detail ↗

Jamaican music style with stressed offbeats and slow tempo (Bob Marley). In detail ↗

A rank of pipes of the same tone color in the organ; also a range of a voice. In detail ↗

Preparatory practice for a performance. In detail ↗

Rinforzando, louder. In detail ↗

Reinforced, suddenly louder; symbol rf, rfz.

A key closely related to the home key of a piece, such as the relative or dominant key. In detail ↗

Major/minor pair sharing the same key signature. In detail ↗

Calm, easy-going.

Devout, religious in character. In detail ↗

Unconscious echoes of other works in a composition, as opposed to conscious imitation. In detail ↗

Double bar line with dots. In detail ↗

Reciting tone in plainchant. In detail ↗

The totality of works that a musician or ensemble has ready for performance. In detail ↗

Restatement of tones or sections. In detail ↗

Mass for the dead. In detail ↗

Scholarly engagement with music. In detail ↗

Bellows in an organ or harmonium that store wind rather than generating it. In detail ↗

Resolution of a dissonance. In detail ↗

Remaining sound after a tone ends. In detail ↗

How promptly and cleanly a tone speaks when playing an instrument or singing. In detail ↗

Alternating chant between a cantor and a choir. In detail ↗

Sign for a voice's silence over a certain note value. In detail ↗

With restraint. In detail ↗

Crab motion, reversed order. In detail ↗

Combination of retrograde and inversion. In detail ↗

Continuous reflections of sound waves in a room, as opposed to the discrete echo. In detail ↗

Doctrine of musical affect and expression. In detail ↗

African American popular music of the 1940s and 50s combining blues, jazz and gospel. In detail ↗

Study of rhythmic motion. In detail ↗

Baroque ornament: repeated, accelerating alternation of a note with its upper neighbour, often as a preparation for a trill. In detail ↗

Pre-classical imitative instrumental piece. In detail ↗

A canon whose performing instructions (entries, intervals) are deliberately not notated and must be worked out by the performer. In detail ↗

Repeated rhythmic figure. In detail ↗

Lively French dance in duple time. In detail ↗

Strict, exact. In detail ↗

Reinforced, suddenly louder. In detail ↗

The tutti string group in the concerto grosso. In detail ↗

Resolute, energetic. In detail ↗

Holding back, gradually slowing. In detail ↗

Held back at once — unlike Ritardando, which slows gradually. In detail ↗

Rhythmically accented. In detail ↗

Recurring refrain in the concerto. In detail ↗

Popular music style of the 1950s combining rhythm and blues with country (Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry). In detail ↗

Popular music descended from rock and roll, built on electric guitar, electric bass and drums. In detail ↗

Compositional tradition from the mid-16th century centerd on Palestrina, marked by a strict a cappella church style. In detail ↗

Lyrical character piece. In detail ↗

Musical era 1820–1900. In detail ↗

Medieval French song and poetic form; ancestor of the Baroque rondo with its refrain. In detail ↗

Medieval technique of strict voice exchange, in which parts trade their phrases in rotation. In detail ↗

Form with a refrain and contrasting couplets. In detail ↗

The note on which a chord or scale is built. In detail ↗

The root is in the bass — the most stable position of a chord. In detail ↗

Repeated stepwise sequence of a short phrase, criticised by older theory as a compositional flaw. In detail ↗

Openwork, round sound hole in the soundboard of lutes. In detail ↗

Resin rubbed onto the bow hair of a string instrument. In detail ↗

Medieval term for a round (a vocal canon), the ancestor of the English round. In detail ↗

Ornamented rapid run of notes. In detail ↗

Traditional dance in a circle. In detail ↗

Organ division positioned behind the organist's back. In detail ↗

Afro-Cuban music and dance genre built on drums, clave and song. In detail ↗

Light 19th-century entertainment music. In detail ↗

Caribbean-derived dance music shaped in 1960s/70s New York, built on the clave. In detail ↗

Bouncing, springing bow stroke. In detail ↗

Lively Italian leaping dance. In detail ↗

Leaping motion. In detail ↗

Marian antiphon. In detail ↗

Brazilian music and dance style in duple time with syncopated percussion. In detail ↗

Ancient stringed instrument. In detail ↗

Electronic device that stores recorded sounds (samples) and plays them back at different pitches. In detail ↗

Using a fragment of an existing sound recording in a new musical context. In detail ↗

"Holy" acclamation of the Mass. In detail ↗

African lamellophone (thumb piano). In detail ↗

A slow, stately dance in triple meter; a fixed movement of the Baroque suite. In detail ↗

A bowed instrument of North India and Pakistan with melody strings and numerous sympathetic strings. In detail ↗

A Catalan circle dance. In detail ↗

Metal double-reed instrument. In detail ↗

An independent part of a multi-part work. In detail ↗

A metal single-reed woodwind instrument, invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. In detail ↗

Italian for scale.

Stepwise series of tones within an octave. In detail ↗

Position of a note within the scale. In detail ↗

Improvised vocal singing with nonsense syllables. In detail ↗