Multilingual Music Glossary
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
- sereno
![[Italian]](https://www.flutetunes.com/img/languages/it.png "Italian")
Serene, calm. - grandioso Majestic, grand, noble.
- placido Calm, placid.
- passepied
![[French]](https://www.flutetunes.com/img/languages/fr.png "French")
A baroque dance in triple meter. - accompaniment Additional but subordinate music used to support a melodic line. Also, the art of playing along with a soloist or ensemble in a supporting manner.
- thirty-second note A note having the time duration of one thirty-second of a whole note.
- riser A metal section on the head joint of a flute, shaped like a ‛top hat with the top cut off’, which raises the lip plate from the head joint tube.
- chest voice The lowest register of the voice.
- pentatonic scale A scale of five tones. Commonly, these tones correspond to the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th and 6th of a major scale.
- comodetto Diminutive form of comodo.
- contralto The lowest female voice.
- drone A harmonic or monophonic effect or accompaniment where a note or chord is continuously sounded throughout much or all of a piece, sustained or repeated.
- fragmentation The technique of developing a theme by dividing it into smaller units; most common in the music of the Viennese Classicists.
- motive The briefest intelligible and self-contained fragment of a musical theme or subject.
- pietoso Pitiful, merciful, compassionate.