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

  • key On a woodwind instrument, the keys are the metal disks that close or open soundholes by means of levers operated by the performer's fingers.
  • symphonic poem A piece of orchestral music in one principal self-contained section called a “movement” in which a program from a poem, a story or novel, a painting, or another source is illustrated or evoked.
  • sextuplet A group of six notes played in the time usually taken to play four.
  • larghissimo [Italian] An extremely slow tempo, slower than largo.
  • quintus [Latin] Term used in the 16th century for the fifth voice in a composition having five or more vocal parts. Sometimes it was a countermelody added on top of the usual four voices.
  • vocal cords The vocal organs in the human being which produce sound.
  • shanty A song sung by sailors while working on a ship. A shanty has a chorus, which is sung by all, and verses that are usually sung by one voice.
  • florid Rich, embellished.
  • consonant A chord (or an interval) that is pleasing and harmonious to the ear.
  • paso doble [Spanish] Literally, “double step”. A Spanish dance in a brisk duple meter, typically 2/4 time.
  • tune An air or melody, a succession of sounds that has definite character and shape and is pleasing to the ear.
  • trio sonata [Italian] A baroque sonata for two treble instruments and continuo, generally requiring four performers.
  • transposition Shifting a melody up or down in pitch, while keeping the same relative pitches.
  • villereccio [Italian] Rustic, rural.
  • coda [Italian] Literally, “tail”. The last part of a piece, usually added to a standard form to bring it to a close.