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

Hint: Don't worry about accents over letters, just skip them.

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…

You may browse the glossary alphabetically, or directly search for a term by using the search box above.

If you are looking for a symbol, check out our Guide to Musical Symbols.

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

  • parlando [Italian] “Speaking”.
  • overtone A constituent frequency of a sound other than the fundamental frequency.
  • einfach [German] Simple.
  • mais [French] “But”.
  • breath mark Indication of where to breathe in vocal and wind instrument parts. It may look like a large comma or apostrophe or like a tick/checkmark (✓), and is always written above the staff.
  • pop Term born as an abbreviation of popular music, that since the 1950s has been used in the sense of a musical genre, originally characterized as a lighter alternative to rock and roll.
  • rinforzare [Italian] To reinforce.
  • sereno [Italian] Serene, calm.
  • fine [Italian] Literally, “end”. An indication of where a composition ends when there is a repeat.
  • maestoso [Italian] Majestic.
  • Schleppend [German] Dragging.
  • degree Any tone of the diatonic scale.
  • moins [French] “Less”.
  • stinger A chord at the end of a march that is used to punctuate the ending of the composition. The stinger is typically played by the entire ensemble on the last beat of the last measure of the composition and contains an accent.
  • comic opera A sung dramatic work of a light or comic nature, usually with a happy ending.