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

  • Requiem [Latin] A composition to honor the deceased.
  • octave Interval between two tones seven diatonic pitches apart; the upper tone vibrates twice as fast as the lower one.
  • tempestoso [Italian] Stormy.
  • larynx The upper part of the trachea in the human throat. It is the mechanism that varies the tone of the voice.
  • anonymous A person whose name is unknown.
  • cantabile [Italian] Songful, in a singing style.
  • 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.
  • con anima [Italian] “With soul”, with feeling.
  • risoluto [Italian] Bold, resolute.
  • metrical modulation The shifting from one meter to another in the middle of a composition.
  • disco Commercial dance music popular in the 1970s, characterized by strong percussion in a quadruple meter.
  • funk American musical style that originated in the 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, soul jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music.
  • non-harmonic note In part writing, a note that is dissonant with other notes in the same chord.
  • reggae Jamaican popular music style characterized by offbeat rhythms and chanted vocals over a strong bass part.
  • romantic The era of music following the classical period, going from about 1815 to 1910.