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

  • col [Italian] “With the”
  • passepied [French] A baroque dance in triple meter.
  • transposition Shifting a melody up or down in pitch, while keeping the same relative pitches.
  • big band A type of musical ensemble associated with playing jazz music and which became popular during the Swing Era from the early 1930s until the late 1940s. A big band typically consists of approximately 12 to 25 musicians and contains saxophones, trumpets, trombones and a rhythm section.
  • stretto [Italian] In a fugue, that situation in which the subject and answer overlap one another, or when two subjects enter in close succession.
  • Cecilia [Italian] Saint honored as the patroness of music.
  • solo [Italian] A passage that is to be performed by a single performer.
  • phrygian The mode based upon the third note of the major scale. In the key of C major, phrygian mode would start on the key of E, and include all the notes of the C major scale.
  • treble The highest part of a polyphonic composition.
  • smear A slang term for a glissando performed on a trombone.
  • spiritoso [Italian] Spirited, lively.
  • fermata An element of musical notation indicating that a note should be sustained for longer than its note value would indicate.
  • aubade [French] A song or instrumental composition concerning, accompanying, or evoking daybreak.
  • mancando [Italian] A directive for the volume to grow quieter and die away.
  • 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.