Multilingual Music Glossary

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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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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

  • Reigenlied [German] Medieval dance form in triple meter, characterized by repeated notes and phrases.
  • troppo [Italian] Too much.
  • tiento [Spanish] A Spanish Renaissance composition resembling the ricercare or the fantasia.
  • cut off An arm and hand motion by a conductor that indicates to an ensemble that they stop performing. This is normally done at the end of a composition, at the end of a movement or section, or on a fermata.
  • di molto [Italian] “By much”.
  • hemiola In modern musical parlance, a metrical pattern in which two bars in simple triple time are articulated as if they were three bars in simple duple time.
  • parallel keys Two keys, one major and one minor, having the same tonic.
  • pentatonic scale A scale of five tones. Commonly, these tones correspond to the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th and 6th of a major scale.
  • veloce [Italian] Fast.
  • sciolto [Italian] A directive to perform at ease, in a light, free manner.
  • springer An ornament consisting of the main tone followed by the tone above it followed by the tone above that, then returning to the original main tone.
  • pitch Highness or lowness of a tone, depending on the frequency (rate of vibration).
  • Dixieland An early style of jazz originating in the early 20th century in New Orleans with a simple, cheerful character.
  • rest A symbol standing for a measured break in the sound with a defined duration.
  • coda [Italian] Literally, “tail”. The last part of a piece, usually added to a standard form to bring it to a close.