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

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

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Some random terms

  • opus [Latin] A number, often assigned by a publisher, used to classify a particular work of a composer.
  • sehr [German] “Very”, “much”.
  • bluegrass A form of American country music, inspired by the music of immigrants from the United Kingdom and Ireland as well as jazz and blues. In bluegrass, as in jazz, each instrument takes its turn playing the melody and improvising around it, while the others perform accompaniment.
  • syncopation Deliberate upsetting of the meter or pulse of a composition by means of a temporary shifting of the accent to a weak beat.
  • isorhythmic motet Medieval and early Renaissance motet based on a repeating rhythmic pattern throughout one or more voices.
  • shanty A song sung by sailors while working on a ship. A shanty has a chorus, which is sung by all, and verses that are usually sung by one voice.
  • chord A set of three or more (according to certain definitions, even two) different notes that sound simultaneously.
  • passepied [French] A baroque dance in triple meter.
  • Minnelied [German] A love song composed in the Minnesang tradition.
  • perfect Term applied to the intervals of a unison, octave, fourth, and fifth when they are exactly in tune and not augmented nor diminished.
  • chromatic Any music or chord that contains notes not belonging to the diatonic scale.
  • overtone A constituent frequency of a sound other than the fundamental frequency.
  • quasi [Italian] “Almost”.
  • volando [Italian] Flying.
  • leap Any movement from one note to another through means of an interval that is greater than a second.