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

  • poco [Italian] “Not very”, “not much”.
  • moins [French] “Less”.
  • absolute music Music that is not explicitly “about” anything. In contrast with program music, absolute music has no words and no references to stories or images or any other kind of extra-musical idea.
  • dotted note A note that has a dot placed to the right of the notehead, indicating that the duration of the note should be increased by half again its original duration.
  • Feldmusik [German] Music performed outdoors on wind instruments.
  • piccolo [Italian] Literally, “small”. A small flute that sounds an octave above the regular flute, and also an octave above its written music.
  • modal Having to do with modes; this term is applied most particularly to music that is based upon the Gregorian modes, rather than to music based upon the major, minor, or any other scale.
  • minuet A 17th-century court dance in moderate triple meter, originating in France.
  • bourrée [French] An old French dance in use during the Baroque period, very rapid and hearty, usually in 2/4 or 2/2 time.
  • vif [French] A tempo directive meaning “lively”.
  • loure [French] A slow, dignified French dance of the 17th and 18th centuries usually in 3/4 or 6/4 time.
  • break In the flute or other wind instrument, the place between the lower register of the instrument and the higher. For example, the break on the flute is between C-sharp and D.
  • transposition Shifting a melody up or down in pitch, while keeping the same relative pitches.
  • soli [Italian] “Alone” (plural form). A directive to perform with an entire section of an ensemble.
  • prelude An instrumental composition intended to introduce a larger composition or a set of compositions.