Music term
click below
click below
Music term
Normal Size Small Size show me how
Music terms
Music terms and their definitions
Music term | Definition |
---|---|
Allegro | fast |
a2 | both |
Andante | Moderatly slow |
Sostenuto | sustained |
Sempre | always |
Ad Lib | at the perfomer's liberty |
poco | little |
Con lengo | with the wood of the bow |
div. | divided parts |
Tempo Primo | first tempo |
tutti | all |
Con moto | with motion |
Marcatto | accented |
G.P. | Grand Pause |
Poco a Poco | little by little |
Staccato | short and separated |
Moderato | Moderately |
A tempo | original tempo |
Cantando | singing |
Solo | one |
Ritard | gradually slow down |
Meno mosso | less motion |
Decrescendo | Decreasing in loudness |
Diminuendo | Gradually softer |
Sonore | sonorously |
Accel. | accelerate |
Pesante | Heavy |
Fine | The end |
Feroce | fierce |
Forte | Loud |
Fortissimo | Very loud |
Glissando | Gliding, rapid scales, played with a sliding movement |
Interval | Distance in pitch between notes |
Dolce | Sweetly |
Tacet al fine | be silent to the end |
Largo | At a slow, dignified pace |
Lento | Slow |
Legato | Smoothly |
Arco | to bow the violin rather than pluck the strings |
Piu vivo | more animated/briskly |
Octave | Interval made up of 8 successive notes of scale |
Percussion instruments | Instruments that are struck including drums, cymbals, xylophone, tambourine, castanets, etc. |
Pianissimo | Play very softly |
Piano | Play softly |
Pitch | Highness or lowness in sound of one note compared with another |
Pizzicato | Playing strings by plucking rather than bowing |
Presto | Very fast |
Prima donna | Principal female singer in a cast |
Rallentando | Getting slower |
Rest | Sign denoting silence |
Ritardando | Slowing down |
Scale | Progression of successive notes ascending or descending |
Brass | 1. trumpet 2. French horn 3. trombone 4. tuba i.e. euphonium, cornet, figle horn, melophone, sousaphone |
Sharp | Conventional sign indicating that the note should be raised by a semitone |
Soprano | Highest female voice |
Staccato | In a short, detached fashion |
Staff | Framework of lines and spaces on which music is written |
Stringed instruments | 1. violin 2. viola 3. cello 4. double bass i.e. guitar, mandalyn, banjo, piano, harp |
Syncopation | Shifting of accent onto a beat not normally accented |
Tenor | High male voice |
Time signature | Figures written at the beginning of a piece indicating kinds of beats in a bar and their number |
Espr | (gasping espressivo)to be played with expression |
Vibrato | Rapid regular fluctuation in pitch of a note |
Woodwind instruments | 1. flute 2. oboe 3. clarinet 4. basoon i.e. piccolo, recorder, bass clarinet, english horn |