Multilingual Music Glossary
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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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Some random terms
- forefall An ascending appoggiatura.
- turn An ornament consisting of four notes, alternating the main note with the one above it and the one below.
- divisi
![[Italian]](https://www.flutetunes.com/img/languages/it.png "Italian")
Literally, “divided”. A directive in ensemble music that instructs one section to divide into two or more separate sections, each playing a separate part. Often these separate parts are written on the same staff. - boogie-woogie A style of piano-based blues that became very popular in the late 1930s and early 1940s, but originated much earlier, and was extended from piano, to three pianos at once, guitar, big band, and country and western music, and even gospel. Whilst the blues traditionally depicts a variety of emotions, boogie-woogie is mainly associated with dancing.
- oral tradition Music that is transmitted by example or imitation and performed from memory.
- pianoforte A dynamic marking (fp) directing the performer to attack the written note at the dynamic level of piano (soft) followed by an immediate increase in volume to forte (loud).
- middle C First C below the 440 Hz A. It is the note on the ledger line halfway between the bass and treble clef on the grand staff. It is the lowest C that a concert flute can make.
- crescendo A directive to smoothly increase the volume.
- key On a woodwind instrument, the keys are the metal disks that close or open soundholes by means of levers operated by the performer's fingers.
- foxtrot Ballroom dance popular in the 19th century.
- root position The position of a chord when the base pitch of the chord is in the lowest voice.
- perfect Term applied to the intervals of a unison, octave, fourth, and fifth when they are exactly in tune and not augmented nor diminished.
- recapitulation In sonata-allegro form, the final presentation of the original theme group, first presented in the exposition.
- woodwind quintet Standard chamber ensemble consisting of one each of the following: flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon and French horn (not a woodwind instrument).
- perdendo Losing volume.