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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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…

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Some random terms

  • mazurka A lively Polish dance in 3/4 or 3/8 time with the accent usually on the second or third beat of the measure.
  • weniger [German] “Less”.
  • isorhythmic motet Medieval and early Renaissance motet based on a repeating rhythmic pattern throughout one or more voices.
  • hymn Song in praise of God; often involves congregational participation.
  • eclogue A rustic poem usually having to do with shepherds, springtime and love. In Romantic piano music, a light, lyrical, uncomplicated composition.
  • chromatic Any music or chord that contains notes not belonging to the diatonic scale.
  • sextuple meter Compound metrical pattern that consists of six beats to every measure.
  • clef In musical notation, a symbol at the beginning of a staff that determines the pitches of the lines and spaces. The most common clefs are treble, for indicating pitches mostly above middle C, and bass, for indicating pitches mostly below middle C.
  • sextuplet A group of six notes played in the time usually taken to play four.
  • big band A type of musical ensemble associated with playing jazz music and which became popular during the Swing Era from the early 1930s until the late 1940s. A big band typically consists of approximately 12 to 25 musicians and contains saxophones, trumpets, trombones and a rhythm section.
  • forefall An ascending appoggiatura.
  • timbre [French] The quality of a sound; that component of a tone that causes different instruments (for example a flute and a violin) to sound different from each other while they are both playing the same note.
  • aeolian A mode used in Gregorian chant based upon the sixth tone of the major scale. In the key of C, the aeolian mode would be based on A, and would include A, B, C, D, E, F, G, A.
  • trepak A Russian dance in quick duple meter.
  • piccolo [Italian] Literally, “small”. A small flute that sounds an octave above the regular flute, and also an octave above its written music.