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

  • mezza voce [Italian] Literally, “half voice”. A directive to perform in a quiet or restrained manner.
  • syllabic The style of chant which sets one note to each syllable of text.
  • gai [French] Gay, merry.
  • 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.
  • ronde [French] Lively Renaissance round dance or country dance associated with the outdoors, in which the participants danced in a circle or a line.
  • rapidamente [Italian] Rapidly.
  • countermelody A sequence of notes, perceived as a melody, written to be played simultaneously with a more prominent melody.
  • section A group of identical or similar instruments in an ensemble.
  • gebrochen [German] “Broken”.
  • pibroch Scottish traditional theme and variation form music to be performed on the bagpipe. This term refers to the more serious, courtly music rather than to dance music and military music.
  • luttuoso [Italian] Mournful.
  • tiento [Spanish] A Spanish Renaissance composition resembling the ricercare or the fantasia.
  • penny whistle A folk wind instrument similar to the recorder, but usually made of tin. It generally has six finger holes, and is prominent in British and Irish folk music.
  • mode A series of notes into which the octave is divided according to specific systems. These systems or modes are used as the basis for composing music. Examples of modes are the major and minor scales.
  • al segno [Italian] A directive to return to the sign.