Multilingual Music Glossary

# A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Hint: Don't worry about accents over letters, just skip them.

Found a word you don't know? No problem. Look it up in the Music Glossary!

We are currently providing explanations for 2484 terms from 12 languages, including English, Italian, French, German, Spanish, Dutch, Swedish, Finnish, Latin…

You may browse the glossary alphabetically, or directly search for a term by using the search box above.

If you are looking for a symbol, check out our Guide to Musical Symbols.

Please note: a music glossary is just like a dictionary. It contains explanations to musical terms. If you are looking for a piece, please go here instead: search tunes.

Some random terms

  • come prima [Italian] “As before”. A directive to return to a previous tempo or to play a particular passage in the manner of a previous passage.
  • Tafelmusik [German] Literally, “table music”. Music that is performed at feasts and banquets.
  • swing A style of jazz playing whose flexible, improvised rhythms resist notation.
  • nobile [Italian] “Noble“, grand, impressive.
  • Stimmung [German] Mood. Also, tuning.
  • resonator Term referring to those parts of instruments which resonate or vibrate, thus enhancing the sound of the instrument.
  • polka A lively ballroom dance of Bohemian origin in duple meter greatly, popular in the 19th century. Also a short, lyric piano composition.
  • lointain [French] “Distant”, “faraway”.
  • salsa [Spanish] A contemporary Latin American dance music principally of Afro-Cuban tradition.
  • cue-notes In a separate part, notes belonging to another part with the purpose of hinting when to start playing. Usually printed in a smaller type.
  • claque [French] A group of people employed to stimulate applause and other expressions on the part of the audience.
  • well-tempered A term applied to an instrument that is voiced and tuned satisfactorily, with the pitches, tone, and timbre having the desired quality of sound.
  • Empfindung [German] Feeling, sentiment.
  • embouchure [French] The placement of the lips, lower facial muscles and jaws in playing a wind instrument.
  • licenza [Italian] A directive to perform a certain passage with some freedom of manner.