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

  • stanza [Italian] The division of a poem that consists of a series of lines arranged together. This is usually in the form of a recurring pattern of meter and rhyme.
  • tempestoso [Italian] Stormy.
  • soli [Italian] “Alone” (plural form). A directive to perform with an entire section of an ensemble.
  • 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.
  • air A short song, melody or tune, for voice or instrument.
  • salsa [Spanish] A contemporary Latin American dance music principally of Afro-Cuban tradition.
  • affabilmente [Italian] Easily, gently and agreeably.
  • 15ma [Italian] A directive to perform two octaves higher than written.
  • comodetto [Italian] Diminutive form of comodo.
  • Raabe numbers A numbering system identifying compositions by Franz Liszt.
  • ohne [German] “Without”.
  • form The structure of a composition, the frame upon which it is constructed.
  • polyrhythm The simultaneous use of several rhythmic patterns or meters, common in twentieth-century music and in certain African musics.
  • close The ending of a composition or passage.
  • mancando [Italian] A directive for the volume to grow quieter and die away.