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

  • galliard [French] Lively triple-meter French court dance.
  • windway The pathway or duct in the mouthpiece of a edge-blown aerophone that directs the air stream over the fipple and onto the labium where the air is split and vibrates to produce a sound.
  • non-harmonic note In part writing, a note that is dissonant with other notes in the same chord.
  • boogie-woogie A style of piano-based blues that became very popular in the late 1930s and early 1940s, but originated much earlier, and was extended from piano, to three pianos at once, guitar, big band, and country and western music, and even gospel. Whilst the blues traditionally depicts a variety of emotions, boogie-woogie is mainly associated with dancing.
  • quadruplum [Latin] Polyphony having four voices. Also, the highest of these voices.
  • soprano [Italian] The highest female voice.
  • chart Colloquial or jazz term for a score or arrangement.
  • K Either Köchel or Kirkpatrick.
  • catch A humorous composition for three or four voices common in England during the 16th century. The parts are written so that each singer catches up to the other parts, giving the words different meanings than if each line was sung alone, usually to a humorous or bawdy effect.
  • concerto grosso [Italian] A baroque style of music in which a small group of solo instruments (the concertino) plays in opposition to a larger ensemble (the ripieno).
  • upbeat The last beat of any measure, usually a weak beat.
  • fifth An interval of five diatonic degrees, counting the first and last degree.
  • flageolet [French] A simple recorder with four finger holes, popular in the 17th century in England.
  • countersubject The secondary theme of a fugue, heard against the subject.
  • cantoris [Latin] Literally, “of the cantor”. In Anglican church music, referring to the half of the choir sitting on the cantor's side of the church.