Multilingual Music Glossary

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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

  • allegrissimo [Italian] A fast tempo marking, faster than allegro.
  • immer [German] Ever, always.
  • hautbois [French] Oboe.
  • aubade [French] A song or instrumental composition concerning, accompanying, or evoking daybreak.
  • leggiero [Italian] Light, delicate.
  • patter song A comic song in opera and operetta, characterized by a moderately fast to very fast tempo with a rapid succession of rhythmic patterns in which each syllable of text corresponds to one note (there are few or no melismatic passages).
  • serenade [French] Night music; a classical instrumental genre that combines elements of chamber music and symphonic music.
  • white noise Sounds containing every audible frequency at approximately the same intensity.
  • terraced dynamics Expressive style typical of some early music in which volume levels shift abruptly from soft to loud and back without gradual crescendos and decrescendos.
  • recital A performance given by a soloist or a small ensemble.
  • Übung [German] Exercise.
  • calma [Italian] Calm.
  • binary measure A measure containing two beats.
  • windway The pathway or duct in the mouthpiece of a edge-blown aerophone that directs the air stream over the fipple and onto the labium where the air is split and vibrates to produce a sound.
  • lip plate The part of a flute which contacts the player's lower lip, allowing precise positioning and direction of the air stream.