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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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

  • passing note In part writing, A non-harmonic note that appears between two notes in stepwise motion. Usually it is a link between a melodic interval of a third in one of the voices.
  • pas [French] “Not”.
  • guerriero [Italian] Martial, warlike.
  • Minnesinger [German] A poet or musician of the Minnesang tradition in Germany, active during the 12th through the 15th centuries.
  • canzona [Italian] A 16th-century multipart vocal setting of a literary canzone, or a 16th- and 17th-century instrumental composition.
  • register A division of the range of an instrument or singing voice. Usually registers are defined by a change in the quality of the sound between a lower range and a higher range.
  • tacet [Latin] Literally, “he is silent”. An indication that a performer is to be silent for some time.
  • whole note The note with the longest duration in currently used Western music notation.
  • principal A section leader in a large ensemble (band or orchestra) also called first chair, except for the first violins, where the leader is termed the concertmaster.
  • envelope An acoustical term referring to the attack, steady state (or duration), and decay of a sound.
  • 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.
  • crown The cap at the end of the head joint of a flute that unscrews to expose the cork, and which helps keep the head joint cork positioned at the proper depth of insertion.
  • diabolus in musica [Latin] Literally, “the devil in music”. A medieval name for the tritone.
  • Renaissance The music of the period circa 1400–1600, directly following the Middle Ages and preceding the baroque era. Its style is characterized by charming melodies, imitative harmonies and lively ornamentation.
  • dynamics The softness or loudness of a sound or note.