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

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

  • ganz [German] Whole, entire, all.
  • family A grouping of instruments which produce sound in the same manner and are constructed in the same way but in different sizes, such as the flute family, the clarinet family, the violin family and so on.
  • son [French] Sound.
  • common chord A chord that appears in more than one key. Frequently used in modulation.
  • tempestoso [Italian] Stormy.
  • open-hole A flute finger key with a perforated center, allowing the use of techniques such as pitch bending or glissando.
  • vite [French] Fast.
  • head voice The highest register of the voice, excluding falsetto.
  • tenuto [Italian] A directive to perform a certain note or chord of a composition in a sustained manner for longer than its full duration.
  • pianississimo [Italian] Extremely soft, softer than pianissimo.
  • quadrille [French] An early 19th century ballroom dance for four or more couples.
  • tief [German] Deep, low.
  • castrato Male singer who was castrated during boyhood to preserve the soprano or alto vocal register, prominent in seventeenth and early eighteenth century opera.
  • bizzarro [Italian] Odd, whimsical, irregular.
  • alt [German] Term used to indicate the tones of the first octave above the treble staff (G5 to F6), which are said to be “in alt”.